The power of small

A look at the current notebook market dynamics reveals a paradigm shift in
power, performance and form factor. A notebook weighing just about two kg,
screen size of less than 13.3 inch, and a battery life of four plus hours was
once categorized as an ultraportable notebook. But in the last four years the
notebook market has undergone a sea change, with 2005 seeing the disruptive
development of Intel launching its second generation Centrino chip on the Sonoma
platform that took the notebook battery back-up to new levels. All along, the
notebook industry banked upon two aspects-form factor and performance. But both
of these aspects had struggled to co-exist in perfection all these years. If the
notebook was a performance monger, it always looked bulky and weighed a lot. On
the other side, a slim notebook prioritized a sub two kg weight, an extended
battery life, and an unreasonably high-end user price, but was not fully
functional.

It is in this backdrop that Asus launched its first ever netbook that changed
the rules of the ultra portable notebook market. The cheap, no frills, decent
performance netbooks offered all day computing, with up to eight hours plus
battery back-up. And wireless made it a gadget for the frequent executives.
Surprisingly the netbook was initially conceived as a device for young adults
like school/college students. But netbooks shook the ultra portable notebook
market and defied vendor expectations and all vendors launched it following
Asus. With Intel Atom processor at its heart, netbooks offered limited
functionality, but the ASV of just about Rs 20,000 justified that.

Clearly, the emergence of netbooks altered the consumer expectations on the
form factor and increasingly they looked at sleek and slim form factor notebooks
and looked at machines that are one step above the netbooks with greater
functionality at lesser prices. Here is where Intel's Core Solo Processors are
emerging as the best fit. Core Solo is an ultra low voltage processor from Intel
that brings amazing battery life of eight hours, and the best part is Core Solo
machine that can costs about just Rs 33,000.

Take the case of Acer's newly launched Timeline series, that has redefined
the ultra portable segment from a price and performance perspective. On a very
thin form factor, Acer has launched the Timeline notebooks with starting prices
of Rs 33,000. Yet another leading trend in the recent times is the further
maturity of 13.3 and 14-inch screens, and the last quarter saw most of the
vendors coming with high definition screens. With lots of free hi-definition
videos on the web, a high-definition screen makes for clear display and amazing
video experience with 720p HD resolution.

Small form is the current marketing mantra for vendors. Even players like HP
have recently launched its ProBook notebook series, with features that were once
the domain of its high price ultra portables. Vikram Mulye, Country
Manager-Sales, Business Notebooks, Personal Systems Group, HP India, said, “HP
ProBook Standard Series notebook PCs deliver refined simplicity with a clean new
design that offers both function and style. For 2009, HP business notebooks are
introducing color for the first time. The 2009 HP ProBook notebook will feature
a merlot color in addition to a glossy noir to an already slim profile,
producing a notebook with serious good looks.”

Dell, with its Studio laptops, too, is competing in this space. A look at all
these developments clearly indicate the changing buyer expectations and vendors'
emphasis on delivering new range of products that are redefining notebooks as
portable gadgets in the strict sense-compact, functional and highly affordable.

Shrikanth G

(Source: DQ)