Asus, Acer Push Back Plans for New Netbooks
Asus, Acer looking at revised netbook rollout plans.
The big Taiwanese makers of popular netbooks Asus and Acer are not going to introduce the usual plethora of new netbook models in the second half of 2009, according to Digitimes. This is a rather dramatic shift especially for Asus, a company that introduces seemingly endless variations of Eee PC netbooks.
The change in plans is said to be because of Intel's plans to release the new Atom "Pinetrail" platform in 2010 instead of 2009, thus affecting the plans for all OEMs designing netbooks around the new technology.
Acer will reportedly just rely on its current 10-inch Aspire One netbook to carry it through the year, while Asus will still have its touchscreen-based Eee PC T91 and T101 timed with the release of Windows 7. Asus also plans to bring out an Android netbook this year, though there haven't been any confirmed dates for that product.
With netbook technology temporarily at a standstill, OEMs can shift their attentions towards building ultra-thin notebooks for the mainstream market thanks to Intel's CULV chips.
Of course, before that can go into full swing, someone has to figure out the right type of affordable casing material.
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Funny as that pic seems like my idea of the average Netbook demographic.
I think the bubbles finally burst on the Netbooks
I think that the bubble has not burst, but the capabilities are so similar, there needs to be some innovation... More inexpensive touch devices...
Intel seems to be the ones holding things back. That ticks me off quite a bit.
gee, Intel holding back innovation, never would have seen that coming....
To be fair, intel's MO has rarely been to 'withhold' innovation so much as it has been to make people PAY for that innovation when they are not pushed by a rival like AMD. Granted, it is obvious from their release of the i7 that they have been known to pull this once in a while, I generally feel they like to release the best of the best, like their SSDs...
I think that the bubble has not burst, but the capabilities are so similar, there needs to be some innovation... More inexpensive touch devices...Intel seems to be the ones holding things back. That ticks me off quite a bit.
touch devices for small foot print PCs is the worst idea ever... on the lines of glossy screens... because they trendy iCrap made them appear popular does not mean they are across all platforms... not every has the fingers of an elf either...
You are correct that 'touch' per se is not the way to go, and that was not my intended market...
To me, touch is synonymous with tablet. I want tablet functionality, in that i want it for things like MS OneNote. When that is affordable and sufficiently functional (battery, performance, heat, capacitive, etc) you will have a killer product.
Yes, touch is almost useless without serious serious design consideration...
Wheres the ION love?
Granted, it is obvious from their release of the i7 that they have been known to pull this once in a while, I generally feel they like to release the best of the best, like their SSDs...
How do you think about their IGP? Are they best of the best or lamest of lamest?
I think the IGP is a different situation. I think this is a case where their marketing department feels that they need to wait until their product is at least on par with their claims to date about performance. I bet that if they released it right now, it would be better than their current offerings, but well below where they want them to be. By waiting until a complete product is available on the scope of the x25, they preserve their ability to claim and market for a superior market segment.
wouldn't anyone like to see amd get into the game?
with their awesome low power chipsets they could probably own even the ion platform?!?!? (i heard there coming with the huron platform but not for netbooks)
their IGP may not be the best of the best graphics wise but it has the widest usage
I still see no purpose of netbooks.
I still think their EeePc 901 with SSD is their flagship!
Longest battery life, fastest SSD, and smallest frame around the screen.
True, the keys are rather small, but that's ok for such a netbook!
I got big fingers, and type pretty ok on it!
Hey, what about the Nano from Via? I don't get it why any netbook maker isn't going this way, the CPU from Via has shown so much potential over the Atom.
Only Dell is going with Nano CPUs with its new servers. http://via.com.tw/en/resources/pre [...] se_no=3568