It seems to work, as a general rule, that the smaller technology gets, the higher its prices reach.
The MacBook Air, which comes standard without a disc drive but fits easily into a manila envelope, runs about $500 more than the thicker MacBook.
A 26-inch Dynex flat-panel television costs about $100 more than a 27-inch Dynex tube television.
But when Megan Culbreth, a junior in biochemistry, purchased one of the smallest personal computers on the market, she paid hundreds of dollars less than her roommate, who recently bought a new MacBook.
It defies small-technology logic. Her roommate’s computer is thinner than the versions before it, made of a sturdier material and has an LED screen. Culbreth’s 8.9-inch Acer is smaller and lighter than even the MacBook Air, but costs $250.
“My other computer was crappy and this was cheap,” Culbreth said. “It doesn’t have a hard drive, but to be honest I don’t save that much stuff, so it’s not a big deal. Other than that, it does everything that my other computer did. I bought a CD drive. I carry it to class. I’m only on campus two days a week, but I take it to class and get a lot of work done. It’s easier than having to find a computer in the library.”
And she isn’t alone in her choice to forego features like hard drives and disc drives. According to a DisplaySearch report, netbook sales took a massive leap upward in the third quarter of last year, spiking 160 percent compared to the second quarter.
Companies such as Dell, Toshiba and Intel, all of which are leaders in laptop sales, have made their way into the netbook market.
The DisplaySearch report projects that 14 million netbooks had been shipped by the end of the year. At the same time last year, only one million units had shipped, the report stated.
Acer shipped 2.15 million netbooks in last year’s third quarter, pitting the company closely against Apple’s MacBook shipments, which reached about 2.5 million units in the third quarter.
The netbook market might need to make a few more improvements if it wants to surpass conventional notebooks, though. Culbreth said she has been unable to adjust to some of her netbook’s quirks, and she still has to lug out her “crazy 19-inch behemoth laptop” if she’s been staring at her netbook screen for too long.
“It’s not great to look at,” Culbreth said. “The screen’s so small you can’t really fit a lot of things in it. It’s not a big deal not having a CD drive, but if you’re using a computer in the workplace and giving presentations, it would be inconvenient not to have a CD drive.”
Culbreth said she might not have made the move if she had a 15-inch laptop instead of a larger one.
“I don’t necessarily think that smaller is better or more convenient. It was just nicer for me to take it to campus,” she said. “It’s nice for me just because it was a drastic change from my old computer.”
Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, went on the record at the company’s quarterly earnings call last October saying Apple had no plans to enter the netbook market, according to Gizmodo.com. However, he apparently went on to say that the company will wait and see how the market evolves — and if netbooks start selling well, Apple has “some pretty interesting ideas.”
And until the student body at large develops a desire for netbooks, they will likely not be available at the library’s Learning Commons. David DeFoor, library technology support analyst, said he has not heard any talk of purchasing netbooks to lend out to students.
“I know of no plans to get any of those,” David DeFoor, library technology support analyst, said. “We’ve just replenished our inventory with a whole big batch of Lenovo laptops.”
