Dell Criticizes Netbooks, Praises Windows 7

Michael Dell is Simon Cowell's brother

But wait! Windows 7 will make everyone go buy macs, that's what the past has told us!

Michael Dell needs to realize that Netbooks aren't full size notbook replacements.

I have to agree with Dell on these topics.

"Take a user who's used to a 15-inch notebook and then give him a 10-inch netbook. He'll say 'Oh, this is so cool, it's so lightweight.' Then 36 hours later he'll say the screen's not big enough, give me my 15-inch back," said Dell, according to IDG."

He has a point and I think he is right on this one for at least most people.

He's right, and I'm sure Dell's data supports his claim. Just what? A month ago? There was a survey that indicated that a very high percentage of Netbook users were not satisfied with their purchase. Reasons given were commonly performance, screen size, and so on. The bottom line is that people purchasing netbooks often do no realize what pieces of crap they are, and if they did understand netbook sales would be at least halved.

He's not really criticizing the netbook, he's just making a statement that a lot of people go for them because they look cool, then realise it's not the replacement to a laptop/PC.

I agree with Dell's two statements. I gave our households netbook a go for about a week, but I just ended up using my android phone and laptop in the end.
Windows 7 is excellent, even without the "latest processor technology", though I don't find myself giddy in anticipation for Office 10.

^I tried running Win7 on a retired northwood Celeron 2.2GHz /w 1GB RAM and a 6600GT and it was a dog. Opening windows explorer took seconds as opposed to fractions of one in xp, and scrolling through a large folder caused CPU usage to spike to 100 and become very laggy to mouse input. So while the "latest processor technology" isn't needed, you won't get a good experience with old/ultra-low-end hardware...

Aside from that, I think netbooks are good as long as you have realistic expectations.

I

I have MS Wind 10 inch netbook. And Dell 14 inch notebook (and yes, powerful enough for Crysis). I use MS Wind every day (in the train during commute and backyard at home). Last time I used Dell was 6 months ago. So there are those who love netbooks and use them without any regrets.

I dont think its windows 7 that is the problem. I am running windows 7 on a laptop 1.4 ghz gen 1 centrino platform and it runs like a champ. Much faster that xp loaded on the same machine (i dual boot).

Netbook is for small screen, slower and lightweight. That is its purpose. If you want to play games or video chat or programming, then netbook isn't for you.

Know what you want, get what you need.

That's awkward! My XP runs much faster on a Core2Duo 1,66GHz than Win7!

Not for me!
I love the size of the 9" netbooks, but only dislike the small resolution.
They could have increased the resolution on 10" netbooks to 1280x720 or similar, without causing too much eyestrain to the user.
In essence, what most people want is see all their information on one screen, preferably without scrolling.
A bump in screensize is not the solution if it does not go together with a bump in resolution as well.

Besides many of the netbooks' hardware is made for 720p video's; it would also make sense to match the screens as well!

So to me, the only disappointment is the resolution.
And like some users have mentioned, a netbook is not a notebook, and does not replace a notebook!
It's a lightweight, small, very affordable device to read documents, do some light browsing and document editing, and at best watch a 720pmovie with it.
It is not created to watch blueray video's, or play the latest games.
But even still, it performs better than a Wii. Why then are there so little comments about Nintendo's Wii (which is slower than a netbook)?

Yeah you have a different problem, I have windows 7 rc on both a aspire one netbook and two old centrino laptops, and it runs like a champ. Just as fast as xp. No areo though.

Atom / ARM based portable computer + OS like Android or Moblin = NETbook.
Atom / ARM based portable computer + Windows XP = Crappy Notebook.

Netbook has its purpose and as some people already said. Know what do you need and want. If you need netbook get netbook and use it as netbook.
If you need a notebook, please get a notebook. You can get Core2 Duo for all most the same price as netbook.
Mr. Dell, go and fire your marketing director for marketing netbooks as notebooks.

Marketing issues aside, each offers something for the customer. Some prefer a netbook, which means that don't really require anything else but Internet use and maybe some small apps. Some prefer to spend more and buy a notebook, i.e. a bit more computing power.

I think part of the problem is lack of education on the part of the buyer. They don't realize what a netbook really is for, for minor things like a little mobile web browsing, it's not meant to be able to be your mobile office like a laptop can be. I think they need to be purchased knowing the limitations and realizing what it's meant for. Not just saying LOOK A CHEAP LAPTOP!
My dad personally has a Dell Mini 10v with Ubuntu, and it runs amazingly for only having an Atom processor and 1GB of memory. I would venture a guess it would not be as great with XP, let alone Vista. He loves it, not because it's everything a laptop is, but because it suits his needs, and he knew it would before he bought it. He uses it for emails on the go, and for keeping track of small things, and a little word processing, and simply having internet access wherever theres Wifi without the huge bulky case that comes with a 15" laptop.

Net books = for long trips where battery life is important and for just checking emails,etc.

Notebook = actually getting things (office work,etc)done.

Any one who's used a netbook to type a school/research report knows the pain of having a small KB and screen.

Who is Simon Cowell?

He doenst like Netbooks? Well i have an Acer D250 and i love it! and i dont like Dells annoying music in their ads on tv, so i guess we are even...(blah blah blah...oh no...blah blah blah dimond ring...) grrr

He should be happy most PC users or at least mid - level users are buying these 'netbooks' as 2nd or even third options. What a chum, he should praise this segment for raising initial awareness and additional sales.

Hopefully the future netbooks/chipsets will support at least 3GB of RAM. I'm sure it will speed things up in Win7.

Office 2010? Pssh. I don't give two ****s about Microsoft office. Open office does everything I need to do and it is free.

What's Google?

I work at a technology complex associated with a major US university. The students who work at the complex have quite a few of those smaller notebooks and netbooks. The big problem as I see it is eye strain but then I am a senior citizen.

Quite a few of the 10" and 11" netbooks are starting to come with a 1366x768 display. I've forced myself to hold off on purchasing a netbook until 1366x768 was more of a standard netbook option. I'm still holding off though, until after the holidays, hoping to find either a great deal or to see how the netbooks running Win7 are performing.

Dell doesn't like netbooks because they can't make as much money off them as a high powered notebook. Netbooks are the fastest growing segment in portable computer sales and if "a fair amount of customers" have been unsatisfied, then why do a fair amount of people continue to buy them. They are here to stay.

The moment you are talking about 11" or larger screens and 1366x768 resolutions you are talking about ultra portable notebooks.

The only "netbook" aspect about them is that they are typically sorely underpowered compared to a "normal" ultraportable. But in theory you'll get better battery life out of it though this is not always the case.

I don't get why people have such a problem with netbooks. Clearly the issue is with them, not the device. If you purchase a device with a smaller screen and lower powered hardware... Why the heck should you think it's going to be the same as using a notebook? They're not, nor are they for, the same thing.

I am quite happy with my netbook. Well, sort of. I have one of the EeePC 900s, so an upgrade to one of the AMD or newer Atom ones would definitely be nice.