|
Netbook is a generic name given to a category of small, lightweight, legacy-free, and inexpensive computers that were introduced in 2007. Netbooks compete in the same market segment as tablet computers and Chromebooks (a variation on the portable network computer). At their inception in late 2007〔(''ComputerWorld'', "What was the first netbook?" May 11, 2009 )〕 as smaller notebooks optimized for low weight and low cost—netbooks omitted certain features (e.g., the optical drive), featured smaller screens and keyboards, and offered reduced computing power when compared to a full-sized laptop. Over the course of their evolution, netbooks have ranged in size from below 5" screen diagonal to 12". A typical weight is (). Often significantly less expensive than other laptops, by mid-2009, some wireless data carriers began to offer netbooks to users "free of charge", with an extended service contract purchase. In the short period since their appearance, netbooks grew in size and features, and converged with smaller, lighter laptops and subnotebooks. By August 2009, when comparing a Dell netbook to a Dell notebook, CNET called netbooks "nothing more than smaller, cheaper notebooks", noting, "the specs are so similar that the average shopper would likely be confused as to why one is better than the other", and "the only conclusion is that there really is no distinction between the devices". In an attempt to prevent cannibalizing the more lucrative laptops in their lineup, manufacturers imposed several constraints on netbooks; however this would soon push netbooks into a niche where they had few distinctive advantages over traditional laptops or tablet computers (see below). By 2011, the increasing popularity of tablet computers (particularly the iPad)—a different form factor, but with improved computing capabilities and lower production cost—had led to a decline in netbook sales. At the high end of the performance spectrum, ultrabooks, ultra-light portables with a traditional keyboard and display have been revolutionized by the 11.6″ MacBook Air, which made fewer performance sacrifices albeit at considerably higher production cost.〔(Apple MacBook Air review (11-inch, Summer 2012) ), "Remember Netbooks and ultraportable laptops? Those 10- and 11-inchers were all the rage a few years ago, but thanks to the rise of larger-screened Ultrabook laptops and smaller-screened tablets, they've been disappearing from the computer landscape. One significant 11-incher still remains: the 11-inch MacBook Air. When it debuted in late 2010, it was the answer to the Netbook Generation. Now it stands alone, not only as a speedy ultraportable, but as one of the few 11-inch Ultrabook-class laptops around. The closest Windows equivalent we've reviewed recently, the Dell XPS 13, is larger and heavier."〕〔(Life with the MacBook Air: The netbook I've been waiting for ), TechRepublic〕 Capitalizing on the success of the MacBook Air,〔(MacBook Air vs. Ultrabooks ), ''PC Magazine''〕 and in response to it, Intel promoted Ultrabook as a new high-mobility standard, which has been hailed by some analysts as succeeding where netbooks failed.〔(Enterprise Mobility: Ultrabooks Will Succeed Where Netbooks Failed: 10 Reasons Why ), ''eWeek''〕〔(The Ultrabook Revolution ), ''PC World'', Aug 21, 2012〕〔 As a result of these two developments, netbooks of 2011 have kept price as their only strong point, losing in the design, ease-of-use and portability department to tablets (and tablets with removable keyboards) and to Ultrabook laptops in the features and performance field.〔(iPad vs ultrabook vs netbook: Which is right for you? ), CNET UK.〕 Many major Netbook producing companies stopped producing them by the end of 2012.〔(Asus (and the rest) won't make any more in 2013 ). The Guardian〕 Many netbook products were replaced on the market by Chromebooks, a variation on the network computer concept in the form of a netbook. With the rise of Chromebooks in 2014, Microsoft began a new effort at creating viable netbooks, with ''Windows 8.1 with Bing''. HP re-entered the non-Chromebook netbook market with the ''Stream 11'' in 2014. == History == The origins of the netbook can be traced to the highly popular Toshiba range of Libretto sub-notebooks. The 6" Libretto 20 dates back to early 1996 and weighed only 840g. Apple also had a line of PowerBook Duos that were ultra-portable Macintosh laptops in the mid 90s. More recently, Psion's now-discontinued netBook line, the OLPC XO-1 (initially called US$100 laptop) and the Palm Foleo were all small, portable, network-enabled computers.〔〔(Psion's NetBook Pro Abandons EPOC in Favor of Windows CE ).〕 The generic use of the term "netbook", however, began in 2007 when Asus unveiled the Asus Eee PC. Originally designed for emerging markets, the device weighed about and featured a display, a keyboard approximately 85% the size of a normal keyboard, a solid-state drive and a custom version of Linux with a simplified user interface geared towards netbook use. Following the Eee PC, Everex launched its Linux-based CloudBook; Windows XP and Windows Vista models were also introduced and MSI released the Wind—others soon followed suit. The OLPC project, known for its innovation in producing a durable, cost- and power-efficient netbook for developing countries, is regarded as one of the major factors that led top computer hardware manufacturers to begin creating low-cost netbooks for the consumer market.〔(OLPC: The History Of One Laptop Per Child ), techradar.com〕 When the first Asus Eee PC sold over 300,000 units in four months, companies such as Dell and Acer took note and began producing their own inexpensive netbooks. And while the OLPC XO-1 targets a different audience than do the other manufacturers' netbooks, it appears that OLPC is now facing competition. Developing countries now have a large choice of vendors, from which they can choose which low-cost netbook they prefer.〔Kraemer et al.: "One Laptop Per Child: Vision vs. Reality", ''Communications of the ACM'', June 2009.〕 By late 2008, netbooks had begun to take market share away from notebooks. In contrast to earlier, largely failed attempts to establish mini computers as a new class of mainstream personal computing devices built around comparatively expensive platforms requiring proprietary software applications or imposing severe usability limitations, the recent success of netbooks can also be attributed to the fact that PC technology has now matured enough to allow truly cost optimized implementations with enough performance to suit the needs of a majority of PC users. This is illustrated by the fact that typical system performance of a netbook is on the level of a mainstream PC in 2001, at around one quarter of the cost. While this performance level suffices for most of the user needs, it caused an increased interest in resource-efficient applications such as Google's Chrome, and forced Microsoft to extend availability of Windows XP to secure market share. It is estimated that almost thirty times more netbooks were sold in 2008 (11.4 million, 70% of which were in Europe)〔(70% of Netbook sales are in Europe ).〕 than in 2007 (400,000).〔(Analysis: Did Intel underestimate netbook success? )〕 This trend is reinforced by the rise of web-based applications as well as mobile networking and, according to Wired Magazine, netbooks are evolving into "super-portable laptops for professionals".〔(Puny, Trendy Netbooks Are Growing Up to Suit Business Users )〕 The ongoing recession is also helping with the growing sales of netbooks. In Australia, the New South Wales Department of Education and Training, in partnership with Lenovo, provided Year 9 (high school) students in government high schools with Lenovo S10e netbooks in 2009, Lenovo Mini 10 netbooks in 2010, Lenovo Edge 11 netbooks in 2011 and a modified Lenovo X130e netbook in 2012, each preloaded with software including Microsoft Office and Adobe Systems' Creative Suite 4. These were provided under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Digital Education Revolution, or DER. The netbooks ran Windows 7 Enterprise. These netbooks were secured with Computrace Lojack for laptops that the police can use to track the device if it is lost or stolen. The NSW DET retains ownership of these netbooks until the student graduates from Year 12, when the student can keep it. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago—Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bisseser—is also providing HP laptops to form 1 Students (11-year-olds) with the same police trackable software as above. Greece provided all 13-year-old students (middle school, or ''gymnasium'', freshmen) and their teachers with netbooks in 2009 through the "Digital Classroom Initiative". Students were given one unique coupon each, with which they redeemed the netbook of their choice, up to a €450 price ceiling, in participating shops throughout the country. These netbooks came bundled with localised versions of either Windows XP (or higher) or open source (e.g. Linux) operating systems, wired and wireless networking functionality, antivirus protection, preactivated parental controls, and an educational software package. Microsoft and Intel have tried to "cement" netbooks in the low end of the market to protect mainstream notebook PC sales, because they get lower margins on low-cost models. The companies have limited the specifications of netbooks, but despite this original equipment manufacturers have announced higher-end netbooks models as of March 2009. Ending in 2008 the report was that the typical netbook featured a weight, a screen, wireless Internet connectivity, Linux or Windows XP, an Intel Atom processor, and a cost of less than $400 US. A mid-2009 newspaper article said that a typical netbook is , $300 US, and has a screen, of random-access memory, a hard disk drive, and a wireless transceiver for both home and a mobile network. Buyers drove the netbook market towards larger screens, which grew from in the original Asus Eee PC 700 to models in the summer of 2009.〔(Eee PC 1008HA )〕 Having peaked at about 20% of the portable computer market, netbooks started to slightly lose market share (within the category) in early 2010, coinciding with the appearance and success of the iPad.〔(Apple's iPad nabs Netbook market share )〕 Technology commentator Ross Rubin argued two and a half years later in Engadget that "Netbooks never got any respect. While Steve Jobs rebuked the netbook at the iPad's introduction, the iPad owes a bit of debt to the little laptops. The netbook demonstrated the potential of an inexpensive, portable second computing device, with a screen size of about 10 inches, intended primarily for media consumption and light productivity."〔(Switched On: The Netbook Legacy ) By Ross Rubin, Jul 8th 2012, Engadget〕 Although some manufacturers directly blamed competition from the iPad, some analysts pointed out that larger, fully fledged laptops had entered the price range of netbooks at about the same time.〔(Are Netbooks Finally Dead? ) by Tim Bajarin, January 30, 2012 'PC Magazine''〕 The 11.6-inch MacBook Air, introduced in late 2010, compared favorably to many netbooks in terms of processing power but also ergonomics, at 2.3 pounds being lighter than some 10-inch netbooks, owing in part to the integration of the flash storage chips on the main logic board.〔(Apple 11-inch MacBook Air Review ), by Mark Spoonauer on October 21, 2010, Laptopmag.〕 It was described as a superlative netbook (or at least as what a netbook should be) by several technology commentators,〔(Air – my new favourite netbook ) by Chris Nuttall, ''Financial Times''〕〔〔 even though Apple has never referred to it as such, sometimes describing it—in the words of Steve Jobs—as "the third kind of notebook."〔(MacBook Air a great Windows Netbook, for a price ), CNET〕 The entry level model had a MSRP of $999,〔 costing significantly more than the average netbook, as much as three or four times more.〔 In 2011 tablet sales overtook netbooks for the first time, and in 2012 netbook sales fell by 25 percent, year-on-year.〔(Netbooks plummet while tablets and smartphones soar, says Canalys ), The Guardian〕 The sustained decline since 2010 had been most pronounced in the United States and in Western Europe, while Latin America was still showing some modest growth.〔(Are Netbooks Dead? The Prognosis Is Grim Netbook sales are declining precipitously. ) By Loyd Case, ''PC World'', Feb 21, 2012]〕 In December 2011, Dell announced that it was exiting the netbook market.〔(Dell Abandons Netbooks in Favor of Ultrabooks ) by Melanie Pinola, PCWorld, Dec 16, 2011〕 In May 2012, Toshiba announced it was doing the same, at least in the United States. An August 2012 article by John C. Dvorak in ''PC Magazine'' claimed that the term "netbook" is "nearly gone from the lexicon already", having been superseded in the market place largely by the more powerful (and MacBook Air inspired) Ultrabook—described as "a netbook on steroids"—and to a lesser extent by tablets.〔(Where Did All the Netbooks Go? ) by John C. Dvorak, August 23, 2012, PC Magazine〕 In September 2012 Asus, Acer and MSI announced that they will stop manufacturing 10-inch netbooks.〔 Simultaneously Asus announced they would stop developing all Eee PC products, instead focusing on their mixed tablet-netbook Transformer line.〔(Intel may need to adjust roadmap for PC-use Atom processors ), Monica Chen, Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES, 3 September 2012〕 With the introduction of Chromebooks, major manufacturers produced the new laptops for the same segment of the market that netbooks serviced. Chromebooks, a variation on the network computer concept, in the form of a netbook, require internet connections for full functionality. Chromebooks became top selling laptops in 2014. The threat of Google Chrome OS based Chromebooks prompted Microsoft to revive and revamp netbooks with ''Windows 8.1 with Bing''. HP re-entered the non-Chromebook netbook market with the ''Stream 11'' in 2014.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Netbook」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|