Reanalyzing the Subnotebook Segment

Since I last looked at the subnotebook market segment in a piece for JK On the Run about a month ago, much has changed, with the major player adding a new product, its main rival delaying theirs, and two giants in mainstream computers announcing their competing devices in hopes of benefiting from the media thunder that the segment generates. (There are many names for this class of device, with subnotebook and netbook being the most prominent among them, hence I will refer to them as either subnotebooks or netbooks in the future.)

Asus took the time at Computex in Taiwan to unveil the EEE 901, essentially just the 900 with Intel's new 45nm Atom processors and a slight visual upgrade, and also the new EEE 1000 and 1000H. The 1000 and 1000H both feature a 10" WSVGA screen, a larger keyboard to go along with the larger footprint, more polished casing featuring a glossy finish, the requisite Atom processors, and, in the case of the 1000H, a mechanical 2.5" SATA hard drive. This is a pretty big step from the EEE norm, which has up to this point has had only flash based SSDs, which severely limited capacity but allowed for better battery life, lighter weight, and the benefit of having no moving parts within the computer. So then why did Asus add a hard drive option? Because some users cannot live on 4 or 8 gigabytes of hard drive space, and most of the competiton was offering hard drives as either standard or optional. Chiefly, the EEE's crosstown rival, MSI's $399 Wind. Another big jump for the EEE PC line? The $649 sum that the 1000H commands.

Having pretty much championed the Wind in my previous column, I must take this time to say that Asus has now technically matched it pretty much point for point. However, while the 1000H is priced at $649, an identically specced Wind with the same 1.6GHz Atom, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD and XP costs a mere $479, and the lower end model with Linux and 512MB memory is only $399. Interestingly, earlier this week, the Wind was delayed again, this time to June 27th, which is the coming Friday. According to msiwind.net, this is due to a shortage in the 6 cell batteries, so the first release series will come with 3 cell batteries, but afterwards, the XP model will be sold with a 6 cell battery for $499.

A third Taiwanese company is jumping into contention, this time Acer with its sharp-looking Aspire One. The Aspire One features an 8.9" WSVGA screen (with an LED backlight, which is pretty amazing in this market), Atom processors, an 8GB SSD or 80GB HDD, and your choice of Linux or XP, all for a $379 base price. Its pretty safe to assume that with XP and the 80GB hard drive, the price would likely rise to a still=competitive $500 or so. In terms of looks, it almost appears as though Acer has been studying the design of the HP 2133 Mini-Note, as the One features a similar style touchpad (buttons on either side of the mouse) and a glossy bezel. It will be offered in white and blue initially, with gold and pink to become options later on.

Dell's new Insprion E netbook has also been leaked, and most of its details are now known. While both the 1000H and the One were pitched as direct competition to the Wind, Dell has gone for a different route. The E aims squarely for the EEE 901, and directly hits it, with a 8.9" WSVGA screen, 1.6GHz Atom processor, 4/8/12GB SSD (no hard drive option), and your choice of Linux or Windows - identical in pretty much every way to the 901. However, where the Dell soundly beats the Asus is again, price. The 901 rings in at $599 with either OS (presumably, the XP model has less flash memory, similar to how the setup is on the current EEE 900), while the E starts at $299 and likely ends up at around $400-450 comparably equipped to the 901 models. Another benefit for the E? Its customizable like every other Dell model, and features a number of colour options as well. At this point, I must bemoan the lack of creativity of Dell's marketing division, or whoever the idiot was who named this thing the 'E'. Even the rumoured Inspiron Mini name was better than 'E' - this is just a cheap ploy to gain some from the EEE's name recognition. I expected better from Dell, really.

Coming back to the 'E' itself, there is a second E model called the E Slim. It features a 12.1" WXGA screen, is .8" thick, has 1.3 and 1.6GHz Silverthorne processors, a 1.8" hard drive, and the standard choice of Linux or XP. It is aiming at where the MacBook Air should have been - a usable ultraportable at a sub $1000 price point. The E Slim is even nearly as thin as the Air. Who wants to bet that within 3 days of release, someone will have Leopard loaded onto this thing and have pasted an Apple sticker over the Dell logo on the back? Seriously, I'm almost willing to put money on it.

Anyways, it looks as though the subnotebook space is really starting to heat up with the latest flurry of announcements. Later in summer, when all of these notebooks start shipping, I am planning to pick up one of each and run a subnotebook showdown in Seattle to see which subnotebook reigns supreme. Added incentive: I will keep the best one of the lot, since I really want a uber-portable notebook. I'm even planning on selling off my beloved W7S for one of these; thats how badly I want one. Apparently, considering all the media attention these diminutive darlings are recieving, I'm not the only one.