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I love netbooks but Asus is blowing it

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Re: I love netbooks but Asus is blowing it

#11

Post by _cbsz »

zephyrfalcon wrote: post #10
nanairo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that just an ultra-portable PC, rather than a netbook? I thought the whole point of a netbook is that it was very cheap but underpowered (though more than enough for the internet, hence its name).

That does seem to be the point of netbooks, although I never really understood the reasoning behind it. It's underpowered but you are supposed to surf the net with it? If there's one program that is a performance and memory hog, it's a web browser.

> If there's one program that is a performance and memory hog, it's Flash video.

FTFY, based on my experience with my Eee 1005HA. Web's fine, but the world hurts when I try to view Flash video. Doubling the RAM to 2 GB helped with everything else. To be fair, I haven't tried to view any other video on this thing...

Re: I love netbooks but Asus is blowing it

#12

Post by [deleted] »

zephyrfalcon wrote: post #10
nanairo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that just an ultra-portable PC, rather than a netbook? I thought the whole point of a netbook is that it was very cheap but underpowered (though more than enough for the internet, hence its name).

That does seem to be the point of netbooks, although I never really understood the reasoning behind it. It's underpowered but you are supposed to surf the net with it? If there's one program that is a performance and memory hog, it's a web browser.

[deleted]

Re: I love netbooks but Asus is blowing it

#13

Post by sliverstorm »

archangel_one wrote: post #7

I think Asus had blown it already with no assistance from the iPad. They've been moving away from their core market for some time - the original 7" Eee was a hit, but now it seems to have been entirely replaced by larger, more expensive models. They've diluted their brand significantly too; originally they were quite distinct from laptops but now there's a lot of crossover. And far too many models - a local compariso…

The bigger screen size is useful. The 7" was, admittedly, a little too small.

However, you're totally right on everything else. If they could offer $200-250 models again, I might even buy one on impulse.

They really need to compete hard and drive the price down; the Kindle, iPad, cell phones and new Android tablets are making the market more competitive.

Re: I love netbooks but Asus is blowing it

#14

Post by NonIdentifiable »

archangel_one wrote: post #7

I think Asus had blown it already with no assistance from the iPad. They've been moving away from their core market for some time - the original 7" Eee was a hit, but now it seems to have been entirely replaced by larger, more expensive models. They've diluted their brand significantly too; originally they were quite distinct from laptops but now there's a lot of crossover. And far too many models - a local compariso…

The different model numbers has put me off from purchasing a product as there is no clear way for me to figure out which one has higher specs, not only that but based on just the model number I can't tell the difference apart.

Re: I love netbooks but Asus is blowing it

#15

Post by rodh257 »

If you want to improve a netbook try this: http://www.makershed.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MKPQ...

You can now buy the Pixel Qi (read: replacement for e-ink that does colour and video) screen and put it in a number of netbooks yourself.

Perhaps Asus are looking at making their own official models with it in there?

Re: I love netbooks but Asus is blowing it

#16

Post by SandB0x »

archangel_one wrote: post #7

I think Asus had blown it already with no assistance from the iPad. They've been moving away from their core market for some time - the original 7" Eee was a hit, but now it seems to have been entirely replaced by larger, more expensive models. They've diluted their brand significantly too; originally they were quite distinct from laptops but now there's a lot of crossover. And far too many models - a local compariso…

You're totally right. All they had to do was keep things simple. Good luck to anyone wading through the (international) product line:

http://www.asus.com/AllProducts.aspx?PG_ID=7dDelmkESu9DXgVB

Re: I love netbooks but Asus is blowing it

#18

Post by archangel_one »

sliverstorm wrote: post #13
archangel_one wrote: post #7

I think Asus had blown it already with no assistance from the iPad. They've been moving away from their core market for some time - the original 7" Eee was a hit, but now it seems to have been entirely replaced by larger, more expensive models. They've diluted their brand significantly too; originally they were quite distinct from laptops but now there's a lot of crossover. And far too many models - a local compariso…

The bigger screen size is useful. The 7" was, admittedly, a little too small. However, you're totally right on everything else. If they could offer $200-250 models again, I might even buy one on impulse. They really need to compete hard and drive the price down; the Kindle, iPad, cell phones and new Android tablets are making the market more competitive.

Yeah, I agree that it was a bit small for a lot of stuff - but it was a big hit, and I find it really strange that they responded to that success by changing the product. I'm pretty sure that a lot of the success was due to it being cheap enough to be almost disposable - I've known several people take them places that they wouldn't take a laptop. Increasing the screen size and doubling the price loses that.

Re: I love netbooks but Asus is blowing it

#20

Post by cryptoz »

SandB0x wrote: post #16
archangel_one wrote: post #7

I think Asus had blown it already with no assistance from the iPad. They've been moving away from their core market for some time - the original 7" Eee was a hit, but now it seems to have been entirely replaced by larger, more expensive models. They've diluted their brand significantly too; originally they were quite distinct from laptops but now there's a lot of crossover. And far too many models - a local compariso…

You're totally right. All they had to do was keep things simple. Good luck to anyone wading through the (international) product line: http://www.asus.com/AllProducts.aspx?PG_ID=7dDelmkESu9DXgVB

I actually quite like that table, but it's too bad that none of those are for sale in Canada (well, the ones that run Linux, anyway. There are plenty of Windows 7 ones).
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