The return of the netbook

I still remember when I opened that tiny Asus Eee PC, with its 7” screen and a devilish interface of the Linux distribution that it included. I was all illusion and hope of being able to carry a laptop in my pocket... which quickly led to frustration and disappointment due to the lousy performance of the computer

Now, at IFA2014, a new commitment to those small devices has hatched, but with the capabilities that almost 8 years of technological development give them. And it can be said without a doubt that we are facing the return of netbooks.

Those rickety beginnings

Although the origin of the Netbook concept is considered to come from early 1996 with the Toshiba Libretto - a sub Netbook of just 6” – really the arrival in 2007 of the Asus Eee PC 700 computer was the starting signal to these ultra-mobility-oriented laptops.

They were characterized as low-cost computers with no CD/DVD drive, small solid-state storage drives, low screen resolution, and poor computing power.

Thus, for example, the Intel Atom N270 that moved the Asus Netbook achieved a score of 310 compared to the 1000 points obtained by a processor such as the Intel Core 2 Duo.

However In 2008 there was a veritable explosion in sales, and multiple manufacturers entered the market with increasingly larger and more powerful. Even processors from the manufacturer AMD such as the MV-40 or the C-60 entered the fray.

Also, there was a widespread migration from the Linux versions that were initially integrated, towards a majority use of Windows XP, due to the bad user experience that was obtained with the penguin distributions compared to the old popular Microsoft operating system.

But market reality set in, and slow Netbooks were forgotten in the corner of failed inventions as they evolved into full-fledged laptops , and before the arrival of a new concept brought by the hand by Apple and formally described by Intel: the ultrabook.

Revolution of an old concept

I would point out three important reasons that have marked the renaissance of the Netbook concept, and the firm commitment of multiple manufacturers in this old market niche:

• The failure of Windows RTFor reasons that would give rise to a long analysis article, Microsoft failed to excite or motivate any manufacturer to follow it in the commitment to ARM/RT devices. Which closed the door to computers based on that architecture, low cost and limited operating system.
• The success of Chromebooks Which have shown that a current low-cost device, even with an operating system that is practically the only thing that allows you to do is use a Web browser, it has an important market niche for those users who need to go beyond the capabilities of an iOS or Android tablet.
• The birth and promotion of Windows 8.1 with Bing. A version of Windows, complete, without limitations, with all the capabilities of the latest Redmond operating system… and that is free for integrators of devices less than 10”.

This is how the most diverse Netbooks are happening without pause, which are characterized by using the latest versions of the 64-bit Intel Atom processor – the Z37XXX series– and have a cost below €250.

The list is getting longer and includes 8” tablets like the ASUS Vivo Tab 8, JOI 8 or the Acer Iconia Tab 8 W, 10” and 11” devices like the Toshiba Encore Mini, the Acer Aspire ES1, the HP Stream Notebook or the Asus EeeBook X205, and even 15” laptops but based on the increasingly powerful Intel Atom processors.

But the return and viability of Netbooks have as their main cause Moore's Law enunciated by Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel. The one that indicates that the number of transistors per surface unit in integrated circuits doubles every 18 months. Ultimately meaning that the computing power has increased exponentially since that distant 2007

Thus, the latest version of Atom allows you to easily move a modern operating system such as Windows 8.1, and the usual programs of the market niche to which the Netbook is directed.

To round off the offer of the reborn concept, in many cases an annual subscription to Office 365 is included in the purchase price, turning these computers into true online and offline workstations.

The future

The mass media, both traditional and online, focus the resurgence of Netbooks on the comparison and competition between them and Chromebook devices. Which seems wrong to me .

Rather, Netbooks have as their main selling point that buyers can acquire a device with mobility features, integrating full Windows, and at a very affordable price .

And expectations for the future are very good with the arrival, in 2015, of the new generation of processors Atom Airmont , implanting manufacturing at 14nm (currently it is 22nm) and that will mean the beginning of what Intel has called “converged cores”, microprocessors that can be used for both computers and telephones.

Meanwhile, on the operating system side, Microsoft's direction of unifying Windows (9) to fit the display device, offering the unique user experience and backwards compatibility that expected from Redmond developments.

Thus, even though the generation of 2014 are already useful and powerful tools for those users who put mobility and price above benefits, in the near future After no more than a year we will see a second generation that will multiply the computing power and battery life, due to technological evolution.

In XatakaWindows | Windows 8.1 with Bing: what Windows RT should have been, The first tablets and laptops with Windows 8.1 for less than 200 euros are here, Special IFA 2014 In Xataka | IFA Special 2014, Netbook, rest in peace (2007-2012)