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Netbooks to turn lighter as chips get shrunk

The netbook, the ultra-small and ultralight version of computer laptop, is set to get even smaller with Intel announcing its new Atom microprocessor on Monday, which will shrink the size of chipset by more than half. The new Intel Atom chips are expected to consume 20% lower power and will be almost 60% smaller in package size, which might mean an additional hour of battery life for newer netbooks, company officials and experts said.

Taiwanese computer-maker ASUS created the netbook category over two years ago by launching its ASUS Eee PC 700. Netbooks were traditionally used as a term to describe smaller and much more affordable laptops, primarily suited for browsing the Internet. However, over past one year, these computers have evolved to become more powerful laptops, and even run popular operating systems such as Windows XP.

“The Intel Atom processor has fuelled an entirely new category of computing over the last year and a half and we think the growth will continue for devices such as netbooks and entry-level PCs built around basic computing and Internet usage models,” said Mooly Eden, Intel corporate vice-president and general manager of Intel’s PC Client Group.
However, the market for netbooks in India has not witnessed any exponential growth so far despite its attractive capabilities and lower price points. In 2009, only 135,000 netbooks were sold despite their cheap price. Currently, netbooks are available at about Rs 20,000 in the Indian market. Dell, HP, Acer, HCL and Lenovo have launched their netbook models in India. Experts such as Diptarup Chakraborti, principal research analyst at Gartner, say that netbooks may not become a mainstream computing device for the first-time PC users in the country. “Netbooks are essentially used as a second PC in small numbers in many developed markets. Even in emerging markets like China, about 20% of all notebook sales are netbooks. Netbooks may never become the choice for most Indian consumers, who are yet to buy their first PC,” he said. India has a PC penetration of about 5%. Last quarter 21.8 lakh PCs were sold, of which notebook sales were about 7.3 lakh. Netbook sales were about 70,000 only. Gartner estimates about 325,000 unit sales of netbooks (also called as mini notebooks) in India for next year. However, globally about 60 million netbooks are expected to GEETANJALI be sold, according to ABI Research.

“The current delay in auctioning of 3G spectrum and a lack of broadband penetration are also major challenges to netbook sales. However, I don’t see it as a substitute PC, even though sales are below par,” said Vinnie Mehta, executive director at MAIT.

Currently, netbooks come with a battery life of 7-8 hours. While many come with a 10-inch screen, others have a 12-inch screen. Most have no internal DVD optical drive. Almost all netbooks that sell in India are armed with Intel’s Atom processor, even as AMD’s ARM technology is yet to gain large scale availability with OEMs in India. Weight is one of the prime reason why users buy a second notebook. The netbooks weigh about 1.3 kg, compared to 1.5 kg – 2 kg weight of laptops.

“About 10-11% of all notebook sales are netbooks in the industry. We will see some time before netbooks become a major category. Most users who buy a netbook use it as a second PC,” said Lenovo India MD Amar Babu. Nettops, on the other hand, are slowly becoming the first PC for many Indian consumers, especially in smaller towns. Branded Nettops are generally available in the Rs 15,000 range. Says Anup Agarwal, product manager for Acer India: “Almost 20% of our all desktop sales are comprised by nettops. There is an advantage of almost 10% between prices of conventional laptops and nettops, with almost the same features.”


Source : EconomicTimes.com

 
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