NetbookTech

Despite the fact that VIA and NVIDIA suspended plans on creating a new netbook platform, NVIDIA is still interested in the netbook/mini-notebook space. However, as PC World reports, the company is playing it by ear right now – waiting for the market to “mature before jumping in”.

According to NVIDIA’s CFO, Marv Burkett, “We’re not saying we’re not interested; it’s a matter of how the market will evolve.”

Of course if NVIDIA were to enter the netbook market, the most likely space it would enter in would be the chipset market. The company already has integrated graphic chipsets for both the desktop and notebook market – it would only make sense that NVIDIA would expand into the netbook market.

However, the company has also shown that it’s capable of building complete system-on-chip (SoC) solutions such as the Tegra processor which includes an Arm processor, a GeForce GPU, and other components. With ARM building up momentum for the netbook market, could we see NVIDIA eventually enter the market with a similar SoC solution built around an ARM core? That would be interesting eh?

Of course, all of this is just theory for now since NVIDIA has publicly stated that it’s taking a wait and see approach to the market. What does this mean for consumers? We’re pretty much stuck with Intel integrated graphics for the majority of netbooks in the near future.

[Check it out]

If you’re looking for another netbook buying guide (what? ours wasn’t good enough for you?!??!), then do check out PC Magazine’s latest guide published today. They provide a good rundown as to what to expect from a typical netbook system and then offer up several choices to look at including the Acer Aspire One, the ASUS N10, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, the HP Mini 1000, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10, and the MSI Wind. Of course if you need additional help, check out our holiday buyers guide here. Whatever you choose, there’s no doubt that now is a good time to jump into a netbook system.

[Check it out]

Hoping AMD will enter the netbook processor market? Well you might have to wait a bit longer.

The company held their 2008 Financial Analyst Day today where they unveiled their upcoming 2009 and 2010 processor roadmap. On the roadmap, the company unveiled several new platforms and processors targeting the ultra-portable notebook market. This market is basically one represented by ultra-portable, ultra-light, slim, small form factor notebooks such as the MacBook Air and Voodoo Envy 133 notebook. According to AMD spokesman John Taylor (via News.com):

“The target is the slim form factor with a larger screen. Not a 10- or 11- or 12-inch screen”

The two platforms coming out in 2009 are the “Congo” and “Yukon” platform which, according to AMD, will provide a “full PC experience” – something that, according to AMD, is not possible with a netbook system.

The Congo platform consists of:

• “Conesus” CPU
• 2 CPU cores
• RS780 + SB710 chipsets
• ATI Radeon HD
• ATI Avivo HD
• BGA packaging for slim designs
• 802.11n and 3G support

The Yukon platform consists of:

• “Huron” CPU
• 1 CPU core
• RS690E + SB600 chipsets
• ATI Radeon
• ATI Avivo
• BGA packaging for slim designs
• 802.11n and 3G support

AMD is shooting to offer sub-25 watt processors platforms (CPU + chipset). For comparison purposes, the current Turion processors operate at over 30 watts, the mobile Core 2 Duos operate somewhere between 10 and 17 watts, and the Intel Atom is sub 8 watts. For comparison purposes, the Atom + accompanying chipset is roughly 11.5 watts (the N270 is rated at around 2.5 watts). Thanks to Paul for the clarification.

Now down the road in 2010, AMD will be introducing the “Nile” platform which consists of a dual core Geneva CPU in a BGA packaging.

So what does this ultimately mean for the netbook market? For now, it appears AMD is still on the outside looking in. Their focus remains on more capable system designs which makes sense from a financial standpoint. They stand to gain the most revenue/gross margins from that category as opposed to the lower margin netbook market. The company does acknowledge that there’s “tremendous interest and excitement about the mininotebook category”. However, AMD also points out that the main growth drivers for this market are the “High Growth Markets” and the “Mature Markets” – both of which are arguably covered by AMD platforms.

For the High Growth Markets, AMD claims that people want to buy the best system they can with the money that they have. The claim here is – netbooks are not that best value – but rather a system based on the AMD Kite Refresh Platform is ideal. If you’re not familiar with the Kite Refresh, it consists of a Turion 64 X2 dual core or Mobile Sempron single core processor, 802.11n Wi-Fi, DDR2-800 memory etc.

For mature markets, individuals are purchasing netbooks as secondary or their nth device for “basic web access”. AMD again has their market covered with their upcoming “Yukon” platform which aims to deliver a full PC experience.

Thus based on the provided slides, it certainly appears AMD is focused on delivering the best platform experience for ultra-portable notebooks and for now ceding the netbook market to Intel. This isn’t to say that we won’t see netbook like systems based on AMD processors. Hardware vendors could certainly get creative enough with their offerings and bring out 13 or sub 13 inch systems featuring the Congo or Yukon platform. The ultimate determining pieces to that would be a combination of price and power efficiency. The thermal envelop on the respective processors for these platforms are still higher than respective ULV Core 2 Duos and Intel Atom processors.

Finally, please don’t be fooled by other articles in the press like PC World’s “AMD Jumps Into the Netbook Fray” article or PC Mag’s “AMD Answers Intel’s Atom with Conesus”. First, Conesus addresses the ultra-portable market that Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processors address. You’ll never see Atom processors for the ultraportable market – they’re simply not powerful enough. As for the PC World article, they have it all wrong. Again – just read the roadmap slides and you’ll see the emphasis is on larger scale systems. Again – this makes sense because quite frankly it makes the most financial sense for AMD.

In the meantime, it’s still pretty much a wait and see approach with AMD. It looks like the Intel Atom processor will be the shape of netbooks to come for the near future.

[Check out AMD’s client processor slides]

[Check it out]

Is Linux on netbooks doomed? That’s the question posed by two new articles hitting the net – one over at the Industry Standard entitled “Netbooks: An opportunity for Windows, and a threat to Linux” and the other over at InformationWeek entitled “Linux on Netbooks: Doomed Already?”.  The basic argument isn’t exactly new here. Consumer demand and familiarity with Windows is helping to drive the platform’s popularity over Linux – despite the fact that Linux offers flexibility and of course, a free/low cost platform.

Ian Lamont of the Industry Standard also points out that Microsoft is making a concerted effort to ensure Windows 7 runs well on netbooks. The company might not be able to sell Vista on netbooks but they’ll be damned if they’re not going to make Windows 7 work well for these systems. 

All of this points to a possible decreasing demand for Linux enabled netbooks (notice we’re not saying that Linux itself will become unpopular – just for netbook systems). Sure, Linux will certainly remain popular with computing enthusiasts and do-it-yourselfers but the average Joe will likely opt for a Windows equipped netbook than a Linux variant.

Yet Serdar Yegulalp points out an important aspect of Linux – the OS provides “a far greater degree of malleability than with Windows.” Unfortunately we’ve yet to see the “malleability” fully realized on the netbook platform. Most vendors have have failed to add the extra oomph to the table - instead opting for simple user interface enhancements such as a simplified launch-pad UI or large visual icons on top of an otherwise complex OS.

There is hope though – one company that seems to have slowly paved the way for innovations with Linux is HP with their recently announced Mini 1000 MIE. The company announced that they not only created a new user interface on top of Linux, but they’re focused their efforts around digital content – making it easier for users to readily access music, videos, photos, email, the web, etc.

That’s a step in the right direction.

What we need now is innovation from the Linux front. In order for Linux to stand out ahead of Windows on the netbook platform, hardware vendors need to think outside of the box. Linux provides many unique opportunities that are simply not addressable with Windows. As Mr. Yegulalp points out, you could make “instant-on” a real possibility with Linux and netbooks. This would certainly be out of the question with Windows. How cool would it be for you to simply flip open your netbook and be up and running in 2-3 seconds?

Companies can also rethink how they shape netbook systems. Why stick with a clamshell design? How about creating inexpensive netbooks using a slider design? How about adding extensive touch capabilities into Linux – turning it into an awesome touch platform for vertical markets.

The ultimate goal here is for IHVs would be to play up to Linux’s strengths and not expose its weaknesses through poor user interfaces and difficult setups. Linux is certainly not dead on netbooks although it is possibly facing a decline in popularity. If there’s ever a time to think outside of the box for Linux, it would be now.

AMD is expected to release details of their new netbook strategy this week along with details of their new processor. According to APC Mag, the company will also address two key issues with today’s netbooks  – video and battery performance.  Today’s video/graphics performance is really subpar and you can thank Intel’s crappy integrated graphics for that one. As far as battery life is concerned, most users need to purchase a six cell battery in order to enjoy 5+ hours of power. Clearly we need better solutions.

Thus, it’s probably a safe bet that AMD will be unveiling a processor/graphics solution for netbook systems – leveraging the graphics expertise within the ATI division against their expertise in low power mobile processors.

All of this can only be good news for you the consumer. Having AMD in the netbook picture will result in lower processor prices which will translate to lower netbook costs. AND we all know lower prices are a very good thing for consumers.

[Check it out]

The netbook processor market has been thoroughly dominated by a single vendor thus far – Intel. While there have been a small handful of systems based around the VIA C7-m processor, the vast majority of netbook systems have all incorporated the Intel Atom processor. However, this will most certainly change in the months to come. AMD announced earlier this month that they would be detailing their netbook strategy at some point next month and now ARM has announced that they will be releasing processors that will also be destined for netbook systems.

In an interview with ZDNet.co.uk, Rob Coombs - Director of Mobile Solutions at ARM – announced that the company’s next generation processor, the Cortex-A8, would find it’s way into “small low-cost subnotebooks”. According to Coombs, “In the future we’re going to be in netbooks, .. Expect announcements in the next few months.”

The Cortex-A8 is the successor to the current ARM11 processor and is due out shortly while the Cortex-A9 is the multi-core sibling to the A8 processor and will probably come out in 2010. Devices using the Cortex-A8 processor are also due out next year. While Coombs refused to reveal who was making netbook systems around the A8 processor, he did tell ZDNet.co.uk to look at the company’s published list of licensees which includes companies such as Samsung, STMicroelectronics, TI, Broadcom, Panasonic, Freescale, etc. Companies signed up for the A9 include NEC, NVIDIA, STMicroelectronics, and Toshiba.

Operating System support for netbooks based around the ARM processor will certainly be interesting. While neither Windows XP or Windows Vista supports ARM, many other OS’s do support the chip architecture including Windows CE, several Linux distributions, and a version of OS X (namely the iPhone). One would assume that vendors coming out with Cortex-A8 based netbooks will most likely go with Linux since it’s free and will not require a paid license like Microsoft’s Windows CE.

In any event, it’ll be great to see many more vendors come into the processor market. Having multiple choices will certainly push the chip vendors to design and manufacture smaller, more efficient and more powerful processors in the long run. 

[Check it out]

Wall Street analysts at Apple’s quarterly conference call yesterday received a special surprise – Steve Jobs himself was on hand to answer questions about the company’s performance and where it was going. Of course the question of netbooks came up again, and Steve had some interesting things to say.

As most of you already know from last week’s MacBook/MacBook Pro  announcement event, Jobs considers the netbook market a “nascent” category – something they will monitor but not get involved in .. yet. Yet at the very core, it boils down to this. Apple won’t get involved with every single computing market out there (think Tablet PC as an example). The market has to have demand, and it has to generate a good gross profit margin for the company. Remember, Apple has long charged more for their products than comparable PC products simply on the basis that their products were better than PC counterparts. If a Windows based netbook is going for $399 – what would a comparable Apple netbook cost? $499? Surely it can’t be $399 also because then Apple is telling us their product is value wise the same as a Windows based netbook. So.. is $100 dollars the added value of an Apple branded product? Is it $50 dollars? Is it more as is the case for MacBooks and MacBook Pros?

Or of course, you can put it the way Steve puts it – “We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that.” Translation – we don’t want to enter into that market because it might dilute our brand.

So in the meantime, what is Apple’s response to the netbook? It’s the iPhone of course. In this single device, you can do many of the same things that a netbook can – although a major piece that’s missing is office productivity software. However, the iPhone has a growing application developer audience, it has A LOT of users, and it’s pocketable – something a netbook can’t claim.

Of course, Apple reserves the right to change it’s mind down the road…

[Check it out]

With the explosive growth of netbooks and the near dominance of Intel Atom processors in this particular market, one can’t help but wonder where is AMD in all of this? Well according to NetworkWorld, AMD is planning to lay out their product strategy for netbooks at an analyst meeting next month. Dirk Meyer, AMD’s president and CEO, had this to say on Thursday during the company’s conference call with financial analysts:

“We do have strategies together with our OEMs for pushing our solutions both down into smaller form factors and lower notebook price points”

AMD’s plans for the netbook segment apparently required a “complicated answer” which was not suitable for a phone conversation. Um.., yeah that sounded more like them saying “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

In any event, I am particularly excited about the notion of AMD entering the netbook market with their own processor/chipset offering. While I’m perfectly content with the Intel Atom processor, I utterly hate Intel integrated graphics (mind you, this is coming from a person who used to work in the Intel Graphics Components Division too!).

It should be interesting to see what AMD will do in this space. They certainly have all the necessary resources to make a competitive if not more effective product offering than the Intel Atom/Intel chipset combination.

On the processor side of the equation, AMD has the Geode processor which has a lower thermal envelope than the Intel Atom processor. However the company could also retool an older AMD processor and turn it into a super efficient processor – say make the old K8 into a small 45 nm product with a low thermal output. That would be utterly sweet.. but pure conjecture at this point. However, where the fun really kicks in would be on the graphics front with AMD’s line of ATI products. We all know ATI integrated graphics would be a far better solution than Intel graphics.. but what if the company decided to throw graphics, Northbridge and Southbridge components into a single die? Consider the heat and size advantages that this solution would provide? OK.. so I might be dreaming but it’s not inconceivable of AMD to pursue this route.

What does this mean to all of you netbook users out there? Better, faster, more efficient netbooks down the road. Oh yeah…

[Check it out]

Have netbooks gotten to the point where they’ve become a disruptive force in the computing market? Fortune Magazine certainly thinks so as they’ve written up a piece found here on CNN Money.com entitled “Disruptors: The ‘netbook’ revolution. The article goes over the short history of the netbook; how ASUS got it going with the Eee PC; and how with simple goals (making it cheap and easy to use), ASUS will sell nearly 5 million Eee PC units in 2008. Yes.. this certainly got the competition peaked in 2008 – just look at how many other vendors jumped into the market with netbook systems.

If you’re not a believer that netbooks are a disruptive force then you haven’t looked at the notebook bestsellers list at Amazon.com recently. In fact, the list should be called the bestseller netbooks list instead!

But while netbooks are certainly a disruptive force, is it a “revolution”? I’m not so sure about that one – in fact, I’m more inclined to call it just another market segment for mobile PCs. Yes, it’s making heads turn and yes, it’s probably hurting sales of notebook systems.. but a netbook has limitations and there will still be plenty of folks who will want higher end notebooks for heavier duty work. Just look at the desktop PC market – we’ve got cheap sub $500 dollar systems; we’ve got sub $1000 dollar systems, and we have crazy expensive gaming/multimedia rigs. It ends up being a segmented market.

At the end of the day, perhaps the netbook market revolutionizes the way we think of portable computers. Realistically, notebooks were never really accessible to the masses until recent years with the advent of sub-$600 dollar prices. Even then.. notebooks were considered “expensive” – especially relative to desktop PCs. Now with sub $500 dollar prices, netbooks are poised to become as commonplace as say a high end phone. It provides Moms and kids the luxury of carrying a complete PC wherever they go – whether it’s a the school yard, the cafeteria, or in the backyard. At the end of the day, it’ll be second nature to carry a netbook – just like it’s second nature to carry your phone or purse.

[Check it out]

I found this interesting article over at Philippine based BusinessWorld Online entitled “Diminutive netbook sends large ripples on digital pond”. The article gives a nice overview of the netbook market – from how it got started to the effects of the netbook on the current computing climate. If you’re a long time follower of netbooks, there’s probably not a whole lot of new info in there BUT there is one small interesting statistic from the article. According to Jason Teh, Deputy Marketing Manager of Asus Technology Philippines, “80 % of those that buy netbooks are women.” Now I’m not sure if that’s global or only in the Philippines but it’s certainly an interesting stat. It goes to show that netbooks aren’t just for the geeks out there who want to mod a small system. Clearly netbooks are striking an audience that cares about form factor and style. Let’s face it – women do care more about “cute” things than men do so it’s utterly no surprise that netbooks are doing well with the female population. Heck my female coworkers thought the red Lenovo S10 was “cute” and hence.. they’re thinking about getting that system.

[Check it out]