The Death of the Netbook

So, while aimlessly surfing around yesterday, I stumbled across a rather interesting video over on YouTube, one that dealt with the apparent death of the netbook, a category of computer that I have had quite a bit of experience with. Seeing an Acer Aspire One on the screen, even if it was a later model, was certainly a blast from the past for me.

The video itself had a bit of a negative and dismissive slant towards the idea of the netbook as such, though I’m certainly not the most objective person to judge this, given the fact that the very first computer I bought with my own money was a netbook, namely my trusty Acer Aspire One 110L. In fact, it was this device that set me on my journey as a blogger. Granted, the Linux distribution that came with the device, Linpus Lite, wasn’t anything to write home about, but it was a nice little device, good enough to stay in use from January 2nd, 2009 until April 2012, just a few months before I made my big move to Ireland.

This blue wonder, my Acer Aspire A110L, was a prime example of a netbook as it should be.

The small size and wide bezels were par for the course, particularly for the early netbook generations.

For those of you out there who weren’t in the computer buying demographic in 2009, netbooks were basically small, low cost laptop computers that were primarily meant for use on the web, as well as for writing and emailing. Many of them, especially the early models, such as the Asus Eee PC or my own Aspire One, shipped with a lightweight Linux version as opposed to a full install of Windows XP, though that was also an option. They were basically a counterpoint to the laptops of the day, which were often not only expensive and clunky, but also almost universally shared the same soul destroying grey/black look. Netbooks on the other hand were not only affordable, retailing at around or below 300€ for entry level models, they also often featured bright colours or unique designs, including a high gloss finish such as the one on my very own machine.

Anyway, the video got me thinking: What exactly killed the netbook? According to the video, this was primarily due to the dual gut punch of Microsoft’s greed and the birth of the iPad. I’m not so sure about that. True, the proliferation of netbooks running Windows on their anaemic hardware certainly did not help netbooks in the long run, and Windows 7 Starter Edition symbolised everything wrong with Microsoft during the Steve Ballmer era. However, the need for a low cost laptop was still there, in fact arguably more so than before, as many countries were still feeling the effects of the 2008 global recession. This also removes the iPad from the competition, which retailed for over 500€ when it debuted in Germany in 2010, and that’s without a keyboard!

What really broke the netbook’s back in my eyes was the open source community, particularly the Linux community. For a long time, Linux has been proclaimed to be THE alternative to the quasi monopoly that Windows holds on the PC market. Yet, despite dozens of different contributing distributions out there, not a single one of these has managed to make any significant inroads into the PC consumer segment. You’d have thought that this community would welcome the arrival of a hardware platform that is effectively untouchable for the likes of Windows due to its hardware restrictions. You’d think that Linux, an OS platform designed to rebel against the Windows monoculture, and netbooks, grown as a rebellion against stale clunky and expensive laptops would go together hand-in-glove, but the Linux community let this opportunity slip by without even bothering to grasp it. Despite Linux distributions splitting apart for the most basic and petty of personal reasons, no such split occurred to account for these new devices. There was no push by the larger distributions with commercial backing to even contemplate a marketing campaign to put the likes of Ubuntu et al into the public awareness. There was not even an attempt by the community to welcome any newcomers to the platform. I remember clearly slaving well into the night just to get WiFi working on my netbook after installing Ubuntu back at the end of 2010, and I’m far from a complete amateur when it comes to computers. For any regular user, this experience alone would likely have been enough to drive them back into the waiting arms of Windows.

Which brings us to the situation we face in 2020. Netbooks as such may have been consigned to the pages of IT history, but the need for an affordable small lightweight laptop is still there. What’s more, the classic laptop form factor still has noticeable advantages over the iPads and even the Microsoft Surfaces of the world, by the sheer virtue of the fact that you can actually use it on your lap, without having to find a table or other firm surface. But has there been a device or class of device that has really taken up the netbook’s banner of cheap, small, portable devices? As a matter of fact yes. Not only have iPads finally reached a price point where they can be seen as a budget device, I have one of those on my desk as I write this, but the appearance of Chromebooks has filled the void left by the demise of the netbooks almost perfectly. Like Netbooks before them, Chromebooks are designed basically for accessing the web, writing and emailing. However, unlike most netbooks, Chromebooks actually run a lightweight operating system, ChromeOS, which means that they are not only compact and affordable, but fast as well. Hell, you could even argue that Microsoft’s Surface Go 2 is following in the footsteps of the netbook, something that I will hopefully be able to test relatively soon, as a Surface Go 2 is very high on my shopping list.

Thanks to keyboard cases such as this, low cost iPads could be considered a true successor to the netbooks of the mid 2000s.

So while netbooks have fallen by the wayside, there are still alternatives out there that fulfil the promise that these little devices made back in the mid 2000s, the promise of a small affordable device for everyday use. I for one am glad this is the case, as it was such a device that got me on my way, and the availability of such a small affordable device may be just what is needed for someone to realise their potential and start making their way in this world. Not bad for a class of devices decried as a scam.