MSI Wind U123 and ASUS 1000HE Show Netbook Evolution

Evolution of the Netbook

While it has only been about a year and a half since the ASUS Eee first defined the netbook market, the netbook has quickly evolved and has become one of the hottest items for sale in the computer market. No doubt part of that appeal has been the worldwide economic downturn, which has made a complete cheap computer a much more attractive purchase than it might be in good economic times. The appeal, however, is arguably more than just a low price, and every US computer company, with the exception of Apple, has quickly jumped into the netbook market.

The new competitors have tried to offer more features, bigger screens, more powerful processors, and longer battery life than the original ASUS Eee. As a result the latest netbook models now sport 10" screens, Intel Atom processors (Instead of the earlier Celeron), and generally the promise of a computer system that sips power to provide longer battery life.

Comparing the developing ASUS Eee line and its competitors you can see the processor has evolved from the original Celeron M900 to the Intel Atom N270 as the netbooks moved to larger screens. The two netbooks we are comparing today both feature the slightly faster Intel Atom N280, which is replacing the N270 in most netbook designs.  The N280 is essentially the same CPU as the N270 running at a slightly faster 1.66GHz compared to the 1.6GHz of the N270.  The N280 bus speed is also slightly faster at 667MHz instead of the 533MHz of the N270.  For more information on the Atom processors see Intel's Atom Architecture: The Journey Begins and the recent look at the Atom of the near future in Intel Unveils Next-Generation Atom Details.

The original Eee PC 4G (far right) featured a 7" LCD screen with a resolution of 800x480. Most users longed for something larger and LCD technology was rapidly driving down the costs of LCD screens at the same time. The next generation of netbook, the Eee PC 900/901 featured a 9" screen at 1024x600. Current generation screens are generally around 10" with the same 1024x600 resolution. Several manufacturers have recently introduced or announced netbooks with a 12" screen.  The Acer Aspire One ZA3, with an 11.6" screen and 1333x768 resolution, has just arrived in our labs for review.

As screen size has grown, so has the physical size and weight of the typical netbook. The 2 pound PC 4G of 2007 is now more typically around 3.2 pounds. However, the extra weight is not really screen or CPU as much as it is increased battery capacity. Manufacturers are keenly aware of the extra weight in the newest netbooks, and ASUS offers 6-cell and 3-cell versions of the 1000HE. MSI similarly offers both 9-cell and 6-cell versions of the Wind U123. This allows the buyer to determine which is more important to them - longer battery life or lighter weight.

There is also no doubt that the original 9" x 7" of the PC 4G has now grown to 10.5" x 9" in the larger screen 1000H series. This will likely continue as manufacturers try to provide larger screens, more computing power, and even longer battery life in future netbook models.

Almost all current netbook models now feature a 1024x600 screen, an Atom processor, around 1GB of memory, built-in LAN, WiFi, and in some cases Bluetooth connectivity, a webcam ideal for Skype communications, Windows XP, and a hard drive typically providing around 160GB of storage. Some netbooks ship with Linux and Unix-family operating systems as the standard OS or as an option, and the recent announcement by Google that they will develop a Chrome OS for netbooks promises even more OS variety in the future. None of the netbooks tested so far offer an optical drive option although all feature the necessary USB ports to install an external DVD (or BD/DVD) drive.

None of the currently tested netbooks included an SSD drive. The SSD seems an ideal match to a netbook computer, but cost is still relatively high for Solid State Drives compared to the low-power 1.8"/2.5" drives currently used in most netbooks. A few manufacturers like ASUS and OCZ do offer SSD options and more SSD drives may appear in future models.

Prices for the tested netbook models ranged from $300 for the original ASUS PC 4G to $400 for the two recent models from ASUS and MSI. That is an extremely tight price range for a computer and demonstrates the price sensitivity of the netbook market. A few netbooks reach into the $500+ range with added features, but for now netbooks are clearly an "under $400" market in the United States.