http://www.joeydevilla.com/2009/05/2...netbooks-suck/

Apart from the annoying fast food comparisons, what do you think about the basic point of the article?

About as stupid as can be expected from someone who's into fast food gourmet comparisons...

2 reasons this article sucks (technically 3)

1. too metaphorical. dude needs to come out say it.

2. no mid's or NITs on his scale.

and finally, because he used a picture of skinny Shatner, when everybody knows that fat Shatner [or Fatner (TM)] pwnz.

It's going to be a long time before users prefer their mobile phones for typing letters to a full-sized (or almost full-sized) keyboard. And it will be a long time before users prefer to watch movies on cell phones. Sure, these can be overcome eventually by some kind of technology, but I think that eventually computers will be everywhere and you won't need a mobile phone except when backpacking or something like that.

Here is a saying that you can attribute to me and send it in to wherever you send immortal sayings to: "All technology is transitional."

I think that the idea of someone texting while walking down the street is fairly absurd, even though people do it. I used to read books while walking down the street, and that was absurd too.

The typical person walking down the street is at most listening to something, and I think that will continue to be typical for many decades. People who are driving cars already have computers with them and will get more.

Mobile phones are just a transitional technology.

Of course being tablet fans, thats a great device to have. I don't know why some people can't see the potential, but there is a place for bigger tablets/netbooks.

A tablet is like a fiction book actually. It's not perfectly pocketable, but it's not as big as a dictionary or an encyclopedia. If you want to read something entertaining you take it with you, on the couch, in the cafe, under a tree, in the train... But if you want to do some serious work you need a big and heavy dictionary or encyclopedia or something - that's the laptop. You can take the laptop to those places also, but it's heavier, bulkier, warms your lap and some cafe tables are just too small.

The smartphone is for doing things while walking, standing or generaly while you're mobile (duh). It's like those free newspapers that are handed over at bus stations. You get your fix while on the move, but it's not that good as having a real book and certainly can't get much information like from a big reference book.

So there you have it, with this book analogy you can very easy see where the usecases are for smartphones, tablets, laptops.

Hahaha well aren't netbooks today just another category of laptops already. What separates netbooks from laptops now except size? And if tomorrow they start to make smaller laptops aren't those just going to be netbooks? It's just a marketing trick to set them apart, but I don't see anyone that does more on the computer than surf the web or email, to use only a "smaller laptop thats not a netbook".

lol @ "Monarch Burger and Jester Burger"

Price :-)

Nah, old laptops that are as powerful or even more powerful than todays netbooks can be bought very cheap. And there are new expensive netbooks that sometimes cost as much as a normal laptop.

Yeah, until recently you could buy a decent 8-9" machine for ~200 quid (we have a couple here). Now everyone seems to be pushing 12" monsters for twice the price, which is totally missing the point of what made the device class popular in the first place :-|

It shows that a lot of people are clueless where to put that netbook thingy marketwise.
It's actually very simple, look where people read a book and that's the same usecase where people will use a netbook/tablet. Both are the same formfactor and both need some more attention compared to texting or twittering that you'd do with your smartphone.

I recently bought an Acer 9" for under £200. It's more powerful than my current home desktop PC, more portable, has a usable keyboard, and connects to my 19" LCD monitor to give me a good resolution when I need it. Hell, it runs quicker than my new work ThinkPad, but that's mostly because it runs Linux nor Windows. If you want a desktop replacement from your laptop, then buy a desktop.