We know that netbooks haven’t exactly endeared themselves to the computer industry but the latest to jump on the Netbook bashing bandwagon is somewhat surprising as it is none other than , CEO of the leading computer company Dell, one of the biggest suppliers of Netbooks.
Now you would think that someone who is actively selling Netbooks would be inclined to recommend them, I mean that’s what business is all about isn’t it, you promote your own products.
It seems not. From recent reports it would seem that Michael Dell believes the novelty of having a Netbook will wear off and that customers won’t find long term satisfaction with a Netbook.
Apparently in an interview with Don Clark at the Churchill club in California, he says “If you take a user who’s used to a 14- or 15-inch notebook and you say ‘Here’s a 10-inch netbook,’ they’re gonna say ‘Hey, this is so fantastic. It’s so cute. It’s so light. I love it. But about 36 hours later, they’re saying ‘The screen’s gonna have to go. Give me my 15-inch screen back.”
He goes on to say “We see a fair amount of customers not really being that satisfied with the smaller screen and the lower performance – unless it’s like a secondary machine or it’s a very first machine and the expectations are low. But as a replacement machine for an experienced user, it’s not what we’d recommend. It’s not a good experience, and we don’t see users very happy with those.”
So what he’s saying is that his own customer feedback is informing him that we aren’t going to be getting much with a Netbook unless we’re inexperienced, or we have low expectations or it’s a secondary device. This is hardly promoting the product.
However, this open disdain for Netbooks, despite their popularity, is something that we are seeing more and more of, the computer industry just don’t like Netbooks even though Netbooks sell well, regardless of people’s reasons for buying them.
In fact sales of Netbooks have steadily risen ever since they were introduced two years ago this month, admittedly at the expense of higher priced laptops, and there’s the crux of the matter.
Forget functionality, capability, screen size, processing power or customer satisfaction, or indeed any other reason for bashing the Netbook, the real reason that Michael Dell and others aren’t keen on Netbooks is simply because Netbooks are eating into profits they might have had if Netbooks had never come along. End of story.
Me, I love em.
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Everyone knows screen size is a trade-off. What netbooks lack in screen size (and, in many cases, keyboard size), they gain in portability, especially in weight.
Important to note here that this trade-off can be mitigated somewhat by opting for an ultra-thin full-size laptop like a MacBook Air, but that itself comes with a trade-off in affordability.
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