News - Tablets trump netbook shipments by almost two to one

[HEXUS]

Second-quarter figures for 2011 reveal sudden shift in ultra-mobile device trends.

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[shaithis]

Not surprised at all. Never really thought netbooks would take off......the big day for me will be the day they eclipse laptop sales.

[wzmudzki]

it also is happening due to price drop in tablet market, they are more affordable than netbooks, and on android you can do everything you do on netbook, even games look better due to the platform requirements. netbook is no as powerfull as lets just say laptop, without even mentioning desktop, when it comes to tablets, they all have so far same specs, so just look for the cheapest one (like new archos 8" honeycomb tablet < £200)

[crossy]

it also is happening due to price drop in tablet market, they are more affordable than netbooks, and on android you can do everything you do on netbook, even games look better due to the platform requirements. netbook is no as powerfull as lets just say laptop, without even mentioning desktop, when it comes to tablets, they all have so far same specs, so just look for the cheapest one (like new archos 8" honeycomb tablet < £200)

Most - if not all - big name tablets can have keyboards paired with them, so in effect your tablet becomes a two-part netbook. And that's not counting true crossovers like the - ahem - Asus Transformer. Plus with keyboards (apparently) becoming more popular software vendors are starting to support them - e.g. the latest Doc2Go software for Android has keyboard shortcuts listed in it's "new features".

No, what killed it for me, (speaking as someone who traded in netbook for Transformer), was that the netbooks got a lot more expensive, but still remained firmly rooted in Atom single-core technology (yes, I know there are some dual-core netbooks - but they're few and far between). On the other hand tablets are dual (and now quad) core and - as you say - are getting cheaper.

Strangely enough I've bought manufacturer-reconditioned netbooks at silly prices (just over £100) for folks downsizing from laptops and they've been pretty pleased with them. Can't help thinking that Asus (who started the netbook fad) got it right - price is the overriding factor - a 10" netbook for £150 is worth getting, but at £300(+) you'd be daft not to spend that little bit extra and get a budget laptop.

Nice to know that my household is following the trend - at the moment we have the same number of tablets as netbooks, but by Christmas that'll be the 2:1 ratio quoted in the article. Be interesting to see if the netbook owners getting tablets as presents will still continue to use their netbooks. Especially as the tablets they're getting are being supplied with the keyboard accessory.

[wasabi]

When my current netbook dies it will be replaced by another netbook. I need a proper keyboard and a device where I don't have to root it just to install the software I want. Having said that, Joe Public is generally simply too clueless to own a computer, so I'm not surprised these walled garden products are taking off.

[crossy]

When my current netbook dies it will be replaced by another netbook. I need a proper keyboard and a device where I don't have to root it just to install the software I want. Having said that, Joe Public is generally simply too clueless to own a computer, so I'm not surprised these walled garden products are taking off.

If you need Windows (which by the way - is pretty damn poor on a netbook imho) then I'll agree with you.

On the other hand if you can live with Android - e.g. if the compatibility you need is available - then I'd say you're maybe being a little unfair. The Asus tablets (TF and TF-P) use the same keyboard that the EEE netbooks do, (at least according to Asus themselves), plus of course you've got a USB slot, so you can (reputedly) attach a keyboard mouse combo.

As for being trapped in the "walled garden" with root the only option - not true, switch on the 'allow 3rd party software' switch and you can install any software you can get an apk for. No root needed.

Remember "tablet" != "iPad" ... there are other models available, (despite what Apple would want you to believe)

I'd also take issue that it's down to user stupidity - perhaps another way of looking at it is that for these kinds of devices folks just "want it to work". No need to install a dozen or more patches, add anti-virus, etc, etc. Looking around at the folks that have tablets and invariably their needs are quite simple - web, email, IM, twitbook and a bit of media consumption. Other - advanced - users slot in a good bit of office style stuff - I've got Docs2Go on mine and I've had no problems creating/updating .doc and .xls files stored on Google Docs.

[Scribe]

Then comes Windows 8 and something like an Asus Transformer with an ARM Cortex-A15 practically becomes a netbook with the advantages of a tablet.

[crossy]

Then comes Windows 8 and something like an Asus Transformer with an ARM Cortex-A15 practically becomes a netbook with the advantages of a tablet.

That was my point to "robertirwin" in a nutshell - with the current configuration, if you can live with what software's available on Android, then you can replace tablet with netbook and lose no functionality. Certainly I've not come across a point so far where I've felt the need to borrow back "my" netbook, but then again, I don't really need a lot of specialist software. Something to read/write doc's and xls's, something to view PDFs, a file transfer client and a terminal client and I'm sorted. Of course that's in addition to the software that you'd assume would be present - like web browser, media player, etc.