Windows 7: Does W'dows need more padding to fend off Apple's iPad?

That just made my day. lol. Thank you.

Seems to me that some mysterious pc thinktank somewhere must have noticed that the netbook phenomena had peaked in terms of market share and thought we need something new to hook the "boutique" businessmen and women.

This iPad number one doesn't look like something many people would find useful but it's no coincidence that everyone else is working on something similar with proper operating systems on.
I reckon that this kind of device will be this years netbook. They'll be really cool.

Thing is a couple of my friends with netbooks have now gone back to their laptops. They thought they could put up with the limitations of a netbook for work but missed their computers. They've also got powerful desktops at home and iPhones.

So yeah. iPads, Slates, whatever will be this years boutique gadget for rich folk imho and will avoid the lid in the face problem for business meetings.

Of course eventually we'll all have power rings that project a GUI in front of us

Hi there
Your colleagues bought their Netbooks for probably the wrong reason -- It's NOT meant to be a Laptop replacement - but a workable tool when travelling away from home --especially in situations where you don't want to carry much -- if any luggage.

The small screens aren't really THAT much of a limitation for LIMITED USE -- if you want to spend the whole day making HUGE spreadsheets or want to have long Photoshop sessions then a netbook isn't really suitable --although with a decent net connection you can always RDP to a remote computer for runnning powerful apps.

The netbooks are also good for those who find the limitation of smart phones for example with their really tiny screens and non existent keyboards really problematic.

Of course like any other gadget the market will mature -- this is trhe time when the doomsayers will come out with "The market is now dead".

You won't get the same growth in a mature market but Netbooks are definitely NOT dead if you use them for the purpose they are really intended for.

Cheers
jimbo

You should've posted this instead =P

I agree with Jimbo45. Over 30 million netbooks were sold in 2009 and 2010 is shaping up to be even better for netbooks. People like the portability. I just bought one myself and I love it. It's an Acer Aspire One 532h with the new Atom N450. I upped the RAM to 2GB and put in a larger hard drive. It runs Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit just fine. I don't feel limited by the screen or resolution and it's not too slow for me at all. With Chrome installed, I can browse the web at a good speed and do everything else I need or want to do with a computer. Pretty good for $300 US.

The small size and light weight are huge selling points. I've owned over a dozen laptops and I was so tired of lugging around big 5 or 6 lb laptops. Who needs that? And why pay hundreds more for processing power that you don't use or need?

As for the iPad... what a joke! Who would buy one of those things? More overpriced, reduced-functionality crap from Apple. No thanks. It has so many limitations that I don't know where to begin. A netbook has 10 times the functionality at half the price.

I think HP needs to start hyping up the Slate they are going to be releasing soon.

That thing is going to kick the ipad's ass at least spec wise. An example full flash, full OS etc.

I have a 9-pound laptop (yes, it's a laptop not a desktop replacement). It's 1.5 inch think. And yes it has lots, not loads, of processing power. It just depends on the person, really. Example, I don't think you would do good with Digital Signage on netbooks.