The 2010 Netbooks – What to Expect

Posted by JD on September 4, 2009

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In 2009, netbooks began to sell briskly worldwide and the trends are pointing upward. Experts predict that Windows 7 may bring another step up in demand in 2010.

The pint-sized portable computers of 2010 will be pre-loaded with Windows 7, but users should remember that some netbooks running Windows 7 will be slower than older models running Windows XP.

More powerful netbook models are only now slowly trickling onto the computer market. The newer devices have bigger hard disks, with 250 GB (gigabytes) as the latest unofficial standard. Because netbooks are intended as mobile and highly affordable web-surfing machines with longer battery life, perhaps you should not expect any steep upgrades in 2010 netbooks since most manufacturers will want to keep price points under $400.

You probably won’t see netbooks being transformed into multimedia machines or gaming rigs. Manufacturers are keen to protect the market for their more powerful and more expensive laptops. There’s no sense in sacrificing their cash cow just to sell netbooks.

As far as processors go, Intel’s Atom N-2XX may still dominate the netbook market in early 2010, however it is predicted that the Atom N-4XX (Pineview) may finally take over by the end of 2010.

New netbooks in 2010 may have more RAM (2 GB and more), however more RAM doesn’t necessarily improve the performance vastly as most netbooks never use utilize than 1 GB of RAM.

Integrated graphics will probably remain the main graphic solution for most netbook models in 2010, since most netbook users only need basic graphic capabilities anyway. However, we have seen a few netbooks with dedicated graphic cards, and this sub-niche may continue.

Obviously, netbooks remain a great choice as a low-cost web-surfing machine for use on the go. They offer reasonable features with long-life batteries and affordable pricing. Just be sure that you will be happy with a low performance machine.