Netbooks survey shows laptops are still king

The results of a study conducted by Experian subsidiary Pricegrabber show that more than half of American consumers do not regard netbooks as a feasible replacement for standard-size laptops, and that almost two-thirds view the role of the netbook as a complementary device to other computers.

However, netbook ownership is on the rise, according to the study, rising to 15 percent of those surveyed from 10 percent in a similar study done the previous year. Pricegrabber reports that 11 percent of online consumers said they planned to purchase a netbook in the coming year.

Netbooks have also exerted an influence on the mobile computing world overall, acting as drivers of lower prices across the board, the study showed. “Survey data reveals a significant difference between the dollar amount consumers are willing to pay for their next computing device and the amount they paid for their last device,” the company reported.

Experts say that new form factors and increased capabilities could yet see wider adoption of the netbook model.

Apple iPad built for just £146

iSuppli has claimed that the manufacturing cost of Apple’s iPad is $229.35 (just over £146 at current exchange rates).

iSuppli notes that the iPad – set to retail in the US for $499 – costs the company over half of that amount to produce, based on what it calls a “virtual teardown” of the device, which is not yet available to consumers.

Apple’s iPad will go on sale in the US early next month, with the UK set to see the device a little later in the early spring.

The $499 iPad is Apple’s lowest-cost model, with 16 gigabytes of flash memory.

The device’s total materials are estimated to cost $219.35, with a $10 manufacturing cost added on by iSuppli’s analysts. The iPad’s 9.7-inch touchscreen display is estimated to cost of $80.

The top of the range iPad will cost around $335 to make and the mid-range iPad will cost in the region of $287, says iSuppli.

Apple is expected to sell anything between 2 million and 5 million iPads in the first year on the shelf as it battles with mainstream laptops and netbooks.

Samsung unveils Wi-Fi integrated eBook

Ebook readers had already become a flourishing market even before Apple launched the iPad, but it further fueled the popularity of books in electronic content through its ability to operate in e-reader mode. Seeking to use the strong flow in its favor, Samsung has announced that it is launching a Wi-Fi-equipped e-reader. As the second such model from the company, the e-reader is dubbed SNE-60/60K (or E6) and can both view books in electronic content and allow users to take notes.

Samsung has already formed a partnership with major Korean newspapers in order to enable subscribers to automatically download their news articles. The company is also working with Kyobo Mungo, a chain bookstore in partnership with which the e-reader was actually developed. The bookstore chain will provide the device with the required online content, so that buyers will have a large collection of books and other content to choose from.

Unlike the device that was showcased at CES, the new, 6-inch SNE-60/60K will have WiFi connectivity, which is considered essential in the promotion of e-books. The internal storage capacity is of 2GB, the equivalent of 24,000 notes or 1,400 books.

‘Pah iPad, don’t forget me’ says HP TouchSmart

After the success of the first touch-enabled notebook aimed at consumers, HP has honed the design with the arrival of the HP TouchSmart tm2. It’s a convertible notebook comfortable both in laptops or tablets form thanks to the swivel screen and it’s multitouch enabled for all zoom, scroll and rotating manoeuvres.

The idea behind the HP laptops machine is that it’s adaptable for all environments and includes a digital pen for writing on the screen when in tablet form for note taking purposes.

It runs a low voltage Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a discrete ATI GPU and the rest of the specs are the consumer’s choice when you get to the online store. The six-cell battery offers a reported 9 hours life, there’s a finger print reader and it’s all wrapped up in an aluminium chassis thermodynamically designed to keep the computer cool.

It’s out in the States now in all sorts of colours and starts at $949. Doubtless a UK and EU version will follow.

Apple iPad set to create third sector between laptops and smartphones

Industry experts say Apple’s long-awaited iPad tablet could reverse the fortunes of the tablet PC industry.

Microsoft introduced a failed tablet computer in 2001, but advances in touchscreens and wireless technology mean that the market could now be right for products such as the iPad, analysts said.

“Tablets have been around for a long time and tablets have failed for a long time. This is a winning product,” said analyst Van Baker of Gartner Research. “I was nervous when they first started talking about this and thought it would be nothing more than a giant iPhone but it’s hard to argue against. I can use it in the living room, the classroom, for light work and at the coffee shop,” Baked added.

Apple said its aim was to try to create a third category of product that sits between laptops and smartphones, which is the traditional interpretation of a tablet computer.

Apple tablet to change eBooks and small laptops forever

2009 turned out to be a huge year for eBooks and eReaders however many predict that the upcoming Apple iTablet will change the e-book and small laptops business forever.

Currently Amazon’s Kindle is the market leader in the e-book market, however many believe that Steve Jobs and Apple’s tablet device will dethrone the Kindle.

The device, which is due to be officially announced tonight at an event in San Francisco, is based on a version of Apple’s iPhone operating system, with the ability to have multiple applications running at the same time

Other specifications include Wi-Fi and 3G data connections, with both Verizon and AT&T listed as carriers in the US by Calacanis. Also mentioned are two “thumb pads” on either side for “mouse gestures”, plus two cameras, one front facing for video conferencing and one at the rear, presumably for capturing video or stills.

A fifth of Americans have ditched books for ebooks

The Book Industry Study Group released a report January 15 detailing statistics about US e-book readers. Among findings, the group reports that about 20 percent of readers in the US stopped purchasing physical books in the last 12 months, instead switching over to electronic editions.

The Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading survey found that the majority of print book buyers rank “affordability” as the top reason they buy a title in its digital form. Searchability and environmental friendliness were ranked lower.

Other findings:

- Survey respondents prefer the following devices to read their e-books: computers (47%), Kindle (32%), other e-reader devices (about 10% each)

- 28% said they would “definitely” purchase an e-book with Digital Rights Management (DRM), which prohibits readers from sharing e-books across devices.

- 81% of survey respondents say they currently purchase an e-book only “rarely” or “occasionally.”

Squinters’ joy as netbooks grow up

They may be all about portability, but as the old adage goes – size matters.

Apparently, 8.9-inch netbooks are just too tiny, according to industry sources who say that 10- and 12-inch netbooks will become mainstream sizes in 2010.

The same sources say today’s 10-inch models will be relegated to entry-level markets, where they’ll do battle with smartphones. Expect the next generation of 10-inch netbooks to sport touchscreen displays, which will fill in the mid-range markets, while 12-inch models will drive the high-end and get closer to old-school laptops.

Because Intel has pigeonholed its Atom platform to netbooks sized 10 inches and less, vendors are expected to turn to Nvidia’s Ion graphics platform comibned with an Intel Atom or VIA Nano chip for 12-inch models. The downside to this is cost, as the Ion chipset raises the price by about £40.

You don’t need to blow the student loan to grab a great laptop

Freshers’ Weeks all around the country have pretty much ground to a halt now, so it’s time (reluctantly) to look towards your studies. If you’ve not blown your whole student loan on a week-long alcohol binge, you could consider grabbing yourself a great deal from a whole host of cheap laptops on the market at the moment.

Of course, the portability of laptops is what makes them so popular. Instead of working until the early hours in the Uni library, having a laptop can enable you to work anywhere – such as under the covers in bed!

First year students often purchase laptops because they plan on taking their computers to class with them and being able to do their studies anywhere on campus – and laptops are no longer an expensive luxury, with fantastic models available from as little as £200.

HP set sights on business market with new ultra-thin laptop

HP have unveiled the ProBook 5310m lightweight business laptop, which features a fairly low-power chip from Intel traditionally used in low-budget desktop PCs for home use.

“The new laptop has the portability of a netbook and adequate performance to run most desktop and high-definition multimedia application”, HP said.

The ProBook costs £425 with a low-power single-core Intel Celeron SU2300 chip. The chip runs at 1.2GHz and includes 1MB of cache. The laptop can be modified to include a standard Core 2 Duo chip usually found in normal laptops.

This proves to be the most featherweight of HP laptops weighing in at just 1.72 kilos and is less than an inch (2.3cm) at its thinnest point. It comes with a 13.3-inch screen, and storage capacity of up to 320GB.

It’s the first HP laptop to be built without hazardous substances like polyvinyl chloride plastic and brominated flame retardants. This is an early step by HP to remove such substances from all of its hardware by 2011, the company said.