Two years ago no one knew what this netbook craze was all about. Today, they say that the trend towards netbook like laptops (laptops that are standard size aka 13-15″ but with netbook features) will ultimately demise these ultra portable computers that we love so much.

Truth of the matter is that netbooks are just getting started. Most computer users do two things with their laptops: check emails and surf the web. Most times all this is done from an Internet browser. Yes, they do listen to music and work on the odd document file but all those tasks can be handled by a netbook without out it going bezerk.

Add the small size and portability factor coupled with the low prices and you have a winning combination.

If you’re still sitting on the fence, go ahead and buy your netbook. It’s no fad. Happy shopping!

We all love deals right? After all, who likes to pay full price for an item that can be obtained elsewhere at a better price? Let’s talk about the $100 netbook notebooks you probably have come across many times.

Are you getting a deal or are you getting duped on these $100 netbook notebooks?

First, I should mention that there are two types of $100 netbooks:

1) The little-known compact laptop brands with niche operating systems such as Android or Linux that cost the manufacturer little to make that ultimately the customers gets a pretty cheap price.

In this category, I can think of the HiVision PW700B, a sub $100 netbook that runs Linux

2) Well known ultra portable netbooks such as Acer Aspire One or MSI Wind that are offered at less than $100 by retailers or phone operators as long as the customer agrees to get on a two year data plan.

Here, I can think of the $100 netbook notebooks offers made by RadioShack in the US and Vodafone in some parts of Europe if I recall correctly.

In the first case, the sub $100 is a gamble because the brand is obscure and hence the quality of these netbooks is everyone’s guess. Furthermore, you need to be comfortable with the niche operating systems. If you’re the conventional type who likes to stick to what you’re familiar with, I would think twice on these types of deals. On the other hand, if you’re a computer pro and know your stuff inside out, grab the deal and run with it!

Where things really get interesting is with the $100 netbook notebooks offered on condition of signing a two year data plan contract. As a consumer, this is where you really need to be well informed and know how the game is played otherwise you’re in for a little costly surprise.

Chances are that you probably a mobile phone and that you are on a contract. If you are not, you definitely know someone who is and you have heard her or his story. You get the phone for free or really cheap as long as you agree to a two year contract.

You get to use your minutes and in the case of $100 netbook notebooks, your data plan for two years and all is good.

But how often does the phone last for two years? The thing either breaks down before the end of the contract or you find yourself needing a new one for reasons that are unique to you. If you do it after one year, you spend money on a new device and you’re still under the commitment of the two year contract in which twelve months remain!

Some people are comfortable with this of course and I am no judge but personally, I never get a free to cheap phone just to find myself on a contractual obligation to the phone company.

That’s what all these $100 netbook notebooks type-deals are all about. They may be of good service to you or they can be terrible masters. For instance, if your $100 netbook breaks and it’s your fault, you will still have to pay your monthly fee while shelling out your cash for a replacement compact laptop.

It also goes without saying that in the case of the Radio Shack deal, the $100 netbook deal actually costs you $1500 over two years.

Now that you know what the real truth is on these $100 netbook notebooks offers that you see left, right and center go out there and shop wisely.

Good luck!

Oh happy morning for those in the US who have been impatiently waiting for the 10″ Acer Aspire One netbook. It has just been announced that as from today, you can get your hands on the upgraded most popular netbook for only $350. You can find your Aspire One AOD150 netbook at any authorized reseller and retailer.

See the press release: Next Generation Acer Aspire One Netbook Now Available for U.S. Customers

Not surprisingly, the whole demand for PC has spiraled downwards except for netbooks that are seeing an explosion in demand. But this demand comes at a cost for companies such as Intel and Microsoft who would rather sell their expensive products in normal laptops than cheaper variations in netbooks.

In our own netbook coverage, here are some of the items that Netbook Era mentioned this past week:

- Plenty pics of the Aspire One 10″ netbook

- A cute pink MSI Wind U100 netbook that is a good valentine Day gift 

- A more functional version of Jolicloud, the netbook operating system.

As usual, please subscribe to the RSS feed if you have not done so already. See you next week!

Acer has decided to drop the 8″ netbook version and only market the 10″. I really think that it’s a good idea because 8″ netbooks are really small compared to the 10″ and yet the 10″ are still portable, light and you can actually type on the keyboard without finding it awkward and browse the net like you would on a laptop.

I have written before that 10″ netbooks are the future. For Acer to drop the 8.9″ sometimes this year allows it to market one model only and retain it’s sales leadership over Asus. It would be hard to sell two different versions that do not seem to have any differences.

I hope that all netbook manufacturers are paying attention and will follow lead.

See more pics: 10-inch Acer Aspire One breaks cover: Photo Gallery

While a great selection ultimately benefits the netbook user aka the customer, too much choice is a turn off. I write about netbooks all day and of all people, i am having a hard time keeping up with the new netbooks that have been announced this week so far! All the manufacturers of these new mini notebooks obviously expect to sell millions of them and thus make money in this tough times.

The bad news is that only a few brands will fare well while the rest will sink as quickly as they surfaced. At this time of writing, I would not be lying if I said that there are probably more than 100 netbooks that a potential buyer would have to choose from if all the brands or models were put in front of her.

That’s just too much and it may turn against the netbook industry as a whole. What’s causing the recession in the first place? Excess is one of the culprit. 

Big brands such as HP, Lenovo, Dell and Sony will make money from netbooks because of their strong brands. But brands such as InTheMixx, Commodore and BenQ may find that their netbooks will not sell plenty.

The ultimate winner may be Acer with their Aspire One. That’s because the potential buyer will be so confused with the many netbooks available to her that she will just go with the popular choice which is Acer followed closely by Asus.

Everyone jumping on the netbook bandwagon shows that the netbook is a promising concept. The downside is that the confusion may turn off consumers and hurt many brands as a result.

Acer is on a roll wanting to keep the pole position in netbook sales. The latest deal on the Acer Aspire One netbook is $299.99 for a few days. That’s an enticing sales promotion that will have people rush to Best Buy to grab their own mini laptop but like everything in life, it seems that there’s a catch.

See: Acer, Best Buy Slash XP Netbook Price to $299

Netbooks are positioned as cheap laptops so naturally Walmart and other discounters are going to start selling them. It’s a good deal for Acer as the more Aspire Ones are sold, the cheaper they will get and the more popular they will get in return and so on. Eventually, the Acer Aspire one netbook can be king with the mere fact that most people tend to buy a best selling/cheap item.

See more: Acer Aspire One Mini laptop at Wal-Mart for $419.00

Speaking of Acer, it was announced that they would release a new Gateway LT1001G netbook. Just in case you did not know, Acer bought out Gateway last year and so it’s normal that the Gateway LT1001G netbook has a striking resemblance to the Acer Aspire one netbooks.

A new way to get your hands on the Acer Aspire one mini laptop was unveiled. The deal is that you could get the ultraportable notebook for $99 but there was a catch. The deal, that is a Radio Shack offer, may actually not be that much of a bad idea (See: Why The Radioshack 3G Acer Aspire One Netbook Deal Almost Sucks).

An interesting netbook bag by Voltaic that also recharges your mini notebook was mentioned while we also heard of Jolicloud, a netbook operating system from Netvibes’ founder. The race for netbook operating systems is on and it’s no wonder that it was reported that Google’s Android could be seen in netbooks.

The Android operating system is usually found in smartphones but netbooks sell more than the iPhone according to figures that were released. Maybe that’s why Google is so interested in mini portable PCs. Netbook Era was rather annoyed at those “netbooks vs iPhone” reports because they were comparing two unrelated things.

The New York Times wrote a handy guide to SSD and how they relate to netbooks. One of the things they do is improve battery life. But it seems that an  Asus Eee PC 901 netbook  powered by a 10-cell battery was another way to extend battery life.

Naturally, a few predictions were made notably the fact that netbooks were going corporate in 2009 and that the future of these ultraportable notebooks was in 10″ models as the smaller sizes are just too impractical with their tiny screens and keyboards.

Quite a few netbook reviews were documented: Zepto A12, MSI Wind U100-483JP, Asus N10Jc-A1, Fujitsu Amilo Mini Ui 3520, ASUS N10J, Gigabyte M192 and the  Averatec 1000 netbooks.

Also, quite a few new netbooks or wannabe netbooks were written about: Alpha 400 MIPS, Gateway LT1001G, Axioo PICO DJM 616, Sony VAIO VGN-TT15GNR, Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 and the XDA Flint.

More handy guides were written on how to buy the best DJ netbook and about the best netbook ever. 

As usual, the deals were  in full prominence: HP Mini 1000, Acer Aspire One, LG X110, Lenovo IdeaPad S10, and the Dell Mini 9 netbooks.

And so, those were the highlights of the past week (7th-14th December 2008). Thanks for reading us, your number one netbook blog!

Netbooks are no fad. I have said it many times (Are Netbooks a Fad?). This new category is just a niche that may one day overtake the full-fledged notebook category.

One of the proofs (another one being corporate adoption. See: Prediction: Why Netbooks Are Going Corporate in 2009) that the netbook movement is going to really explode in 2009 and beyond is the fact that there are now many offers that promise a netbook for a really low price in exchange for a subscription to a mobile broadband plan just like it’s done in the mobile phone industry.

While this concept is still new, it’s not very difficult to figure out if it’s worth it from a buyer’s perspective. It’s just a matter of looking at the mobile phone situation.

The first of such deals include a netbook for about $99 and a commitment to sign-up for a two year contract. In Australia, some offers actually give away the netbook for free! (See: At Last, One Way to Get a Free Dell Netbook. Yes, There’s a Catch)

Is it worth it?

Like most things in life, it depends.

People are saying that in the case of the Radio Schack deal (where you get a $99 Acer Aspire One netbook with integrated 3G wireless technology if you sign-up for a two-year plan AT&T mobile broadband plan that start at $60/month), ultimately the netbook will cost $1540. (See: How to Buy an Acer Aspire for only $100. But there’s a “But!”)

Such observers say that you will be spending $1540 while you could get the Acer Aspire One netbook for around $300. In their opinion, it’s a total rip-off.

While it may look so, it’s really not because at the end of the day, it’s not as if you’re not using your mobile broadband. In other words, you are getting an Internet service on top of a mini-laptop.

If you’re always on the move and want Internet access everywhere and are comfortable with owning a computer for two years without needing an upgrade or replacement, this deal is worth considering.

On the other hand, if you find yourself changing computers like you change, err, socks and you really don’t need mobile broadband because everywhere you go there’s a Wi-Fi signal that you can tap into, these types of deals are not worth your consideration.

In my case for instance, I know that 2009 will be the year of the netbook where new faster models will be introduced that feature longer battery life, better design, better prices (ie: cheaper than what’s found today) and with more hard drive space.

As a computer user, I replace my machines every year. I am also lucky to live in a city where there’s free Wi-Fi almost everywhere I find myself daily so while I am on the move, I can always stay connected.

So, the thought of being stuck in a contract with an Acer Aspire one netbook or other ultraportable notebook that I got for a “deal” in exchange of a two year marriage, does not appeal to me at all.

A) I want to be able to replace my netbook without being forced to pay for the older one B) I am not that much in a hurry to be needing mobile broadband (another consideration: the more popular data plans get, the cheaper they will get).

Should you seriously consider the Radio Shack type deals?

Yes if you’re comfy with using a netbook for two years and if you really need the mobile broadband and find the prices fair.

No if you don’t need mobile broadband after all and if you want the freedom to change netbooks whenever you want.

These types of headlines* are starting to annoy me. iPhone is a brand name and netbook is a category name. Why not compare netbooks to smartphones or the iPhone to the Aspire One (the best selling netbook in Q3 2008?)

Then we can really make real comparisons.

* Netbooks Now More Popular Than iPhone 

More “niche” netbooks sold in 3Q2008 than iPhones

Netbooks sell more than iPhones this summer

Is this a good or a bad deal btw? It depends really. If you plan on using and owning the netbook for more than two years then it makes sense. If you replace your netbook each six month, you may have a little situation in your hands.

Netbook Era will sure update you with some pics and reviews when they surface. In the meantime, I am just going to say that it’s another step that shows that netbooks are becoming more and more important for manufacturers to ignore.

Oh by the way just in case you did not know, Gateway got acquired by Acer last year so it’s no wonder that netbooks and notebooks released under these two brands are going to start looking the same and priced alike too.

For now, Acer has a powerful marketing weapon as the company can go out there yelling: “We’re the most popular netbook on the market”, a bragging right that consumers seem to seriously consider during the shopping process. 

See how everyone else such as Dell and HP fared: Acer beats arch-rival Asus in Q3 netbook match

All the tech bloggers and journalists can spend all of their days praising netbooks or proclaiming their uselessness as much as they want but the final rests with people who actually shelled out their hard earned money and are actively using their netbooks. That’s where the buck should stop and all the experts should just hush and lend a listening ear. 

Jeff Atwood is a software developer who decided to purchase a (pink) Acer Aspire One netbook for his wife. He played around with it and wrote about his experience hence the quote above. 

He is pretty impressed with the netbook and is hopeful about their future as they get more powerful and yet become cheaper.

Are any of the pundits, manufacturers or other industry experts paying attention to users who publicly declare their love for netbooks? Jeff Atwood has a large following. At this time of writing, there are hundreds of comments to the post.

When manufacturers released netbooks they had one thing in mind. But it turned out that the marketplace adopted them for different reasons.

I actually see a day when all web designers may be forced to create versions of their sites that are netbook friendly because these babies are selling like crazy!

To keep up with Asus, HP and all other mini-laptop brands, word is that Acer is planning a 10″ netbook that’s a bigger brother or sister to the best selling Acer Aspire One that’s 8.9″.

Why the larger screen? It’s not only because the competitors are offering them but surfing the net with a 10″ still allows the user to go browse a site without scrolling from left to right. That’s on bit that seems to annoy current owners of smaller netbooks.

No has any pics yet but the minute Netbook Era spots some, you will be among to check them out.

Source: Acer to deliver 10.2-inch model 

Previous coverage: 10″ Acer Aspire One to Be Available in Feb 2009, Acer Aspire One’s Bigger Bro Coming in 2009

Top Tech News reviews the Acer Aspire One A110 netbook and concludes: “Overall, the A110 will meet the needs of users who want a quick Internet access device. It is not really meant to be your primary workstation, but if you need to use the A110 extensively for more than one hour, it would be good to install Windows XP. “. Read the rest of the Aspire One A110 Netbook review

Product Reviews alerts us on the Acer Aspire One A150-1672 pink netbook. I will admit that them saying that it makes a perfect gift for this holiday season is a pretty good idea that I will cheer on.

“the main features on this cute netbook include Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz, 1GB, 160 GB (5400 RPM) SATA Hard Drive, 8.9″ WSVGA display, 802.11b/g, Webcam, Multi-in-one card reader, Microsoft XP Home, 1024 MB DDR2 (PC2-4200) RAM, 3 x USB 2.0,...” Acer Aspire One A150-1672 Netbook in Pink

“Acer, the world’s third largest PC vendor, is planning to launch a netbook next year with a 10.2-inch screen, the largest netbook screen from Acer so far, a company representative confirmed” - Acer Plans Netbook With 10.2-inch Screen

“For the past week I’ve been working on an Acer Aspire One running Linux and I have to say that it hits most of the right notes.” - Acer’s impressive One

“Netbooks already make great presents during an economic downturn because they’re generally cheaper than full sized laptop computers. But at least a few computer makers and retailers are planning on slashing prices a bit further for Black Friday” - Black Friday netbook deals

“Newegg has revealed a list of their Black Friday deals. Guess what, there is a discount on the 8.9″ Acer Aspire One Netbook from Newegg. The price has been dropped to $249.99 from the usual $299.00.” - Newegg: Black Friday netbook deals

“We have been reporting for most of this week the stores that are now showing their Black Friday deals, and Sams Club is the latest to show what they will have on offer. The one day deal which happens one day after Thanksgiving is for their members only.” - Unveiled: Sam’s Club Black Friday Sale

And then he goes on to do mini-reviews of the Acer Aspire One, Dell Mini 9, MSI Wind U100 and the Asus Eee 1000H (Mr Mossberg calls ASUS “the king of netbooks“) netbooks.

“Just a size comparison between a Dell Inspiron 700M 12.1 inch subnotebook and the (ASUS) Eee PC 1000H, Medion Akoya Mini E1210 [Jay's note: a rebadged MSI WInd really], HP 2133 Mini-Note, Acer Aspire One, [ASUS] Eee PC 900 and [ASUS] Eee PC 701 netbooks”

TheAgent06, a DJ, comments: “Just got mine in… it’s running my Dj sofware better than the Acer Aspire One and its not even upgraded to 2 Gig RAM yet. The video streaming load seems faster too even under poor WiFi connection.”

AnthonyGF, a viewer of the Acer Aspire One netbook review on YouTube writes in the comments section: “My squirrel friend just bought one for $600 and got a $100 rebate. It is cool because you can take it places easily. It has a camera, it’s pretty fast and has good power.

It came with a memory pen and can do all that she and I want to do, such as storing pictures, taking pics, holding songs, keeping some documents, etc. We mainly just get on line with it. I think it’s good and I’d like to have one of my own. So far so good, it has a warranty as well.“

To entice you, dear consumer, they’re running a few competitions with an Acer Aspire One netbook as one of  the ultimate prizes. You don’t even have to buy anything. You just have to be at the right mall at the right time and just text something to some number and wait to see if you go home with a brand new netbook. Good luck!