From Netbooks to Chromebooks, Ultrabooks and the MacBook Air, there are more lightweight laptop options than ever before.
by Terry Nakagawa, Viewpoints Tech Expert
The portable computing market has gone through a lot of changes in the past six years. It’s time to take a look at all the features and see what’s what so that you know what to buy—or not to buy—when it comes to a lightweight laptop.
The category itself is often defined as “sub-notebook,” but how that concept is executed varies widely. There are four main categories:
Netbooks
Chromebooks
Ultrabooks
MacBook Air
2007: Starting at the Beginning
Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Netbook PC
Netbooks first made their appearance around 2007. Their value proposition was to bring portable computing to consumers in a lightweight and inexpensive form, providing computing ability to more people who couldn’t afford a more expensive (better) model. When netbooks made their appearance, Apple had not yet introduced the MacBook Air, and the iPad was still in concept.
In order to save weight and reduce costs, netbooks did without a CD or DVD drive, or the latest processor. They instead relied upon internal storage or external USB flash drives. If you wanted a low, low price point, then you would have to settle for less. Compromise was the keyword here.
The form factor of these computers varied widely, too. Some had screen sizes as small as 5 inches, while others had big 12-inch ones. And weight obviously varied by size. Screen resolution (sharpness and/or brightness) varied widely as well. In fact, most screens were low-res, grainy and not good for much more than Word docs or e-mail (which was the “purpose”).
The keyboards were compromised as well, since the small form factor dictated cramming all those keys into very little space. Ergonomics were not a high consideration of netbook design. It was, essentially, a “make it fit” solution.
Netbooks were used mostly for email on the go, editing docs and doing light Excel work. The small screen sizes and low-memory configuration made working in PowerPoint more difficult and unproductive. But, for $599, you could afford to have a netbook to carry around to compliment your desktop or large notebook computer.
While netbooks initially were hot (low-price, small form factor), they lost their value prop as the market shifted. Their functionality (customer service and user experience) declined just as rapidly as their price.
So you get the idea, netbooks were low-end, limited-function computers for primarily cost-conscious buyers.
While netbooks are still considered a category, and you can still find some on the shelves of Best Buy or Office Depot, they are not recommended, unless you can get one for free. Since there are better alternatives, why choose old technology that will cost you money? Even free isn’t FREE, since you’ll probably have to sign a two-year data contract.
2008: MacBook Air Enters
MacBook Air
At the MacWorld conference in late January 2008, Steve Jobs introduced the MacBook Air, and suddenly, netbooks had competition. Well, sort of, except that the MacBook Air was a “real” computer. It would set the bar for ultra-light portable computing that didn’t force you to accept less.
Unlike the low-end, cheap-at-all-costs netbooks, the Air was a full-fledged notebook computer that had an Intel Core 2 Duo along with great (for the time) graphics rendering.
It also had something else: Flash storage. Up until the MacBook Air’s arrival 99.99 percent of all computer hard drives were the standard mechanical ones. The Air had the option of the first chip-based, solid-state flash hard drive. But it was expensive. And for all intents and purposes, the MacBook Air was a very expensive computer (around $3,000) and not a computer for everyone.
But it defined ultra-portability. Apple, like the netbooks, eliminated the CD/DVD drive. It also limited the number of external ports to just USB. It was slim, slimmer than anything on the market, and it was light at just over two pounds. But again, the key difference was that the Air was a “real” computer that could do real work and was lighter than anything on the market.
One major difference in the design and great ergonomics of the Air was that it has a full-size keyboard, even in the 11.6-in model. This allows you to work without having to scrunch your fingers onto really small keys like on a netbook.
While the initial MacBook Air was expensive, Apple continued to work on everything to make it faster, lighter, smaller and, most importantly, a lot less expensive. The result is today’s MacBook Air—the least expensive portable Mac in the lineup. In fact, only the Mac Mini is less expensive.
It has the latest generation Intel mobile processors (code named Haswell), an exceptional graphics processor, up to 8GB of RAM and up to a 512GB flash hard drive and a battery that will (according to Apple) last 12 hours. The only thing lacking in the MacBook Air is a Retina display.
In other words, for a base price of $999 (11.6-in screen), you can have a great computer that can handle just about everything except big Final Cut Pro projects.
2010: The iPad Enters
When Steve introduced the first iPad at the World Wide Developers Conference in 2010, portable computing shifted completely. But you know that story already.
2011: Google Introduces the Chromebook
Samsung Chromebook
While Google was watching its Android OS gobble up more and more share in the mobile space, it also worked with manufacturers like Samsung and Acer to launch an attack on netbooks and sub-notebooks like the MacBook Air. Google’s Chrome OS was a big move, and it signaled just how serious Google was in getting into not just the device business, but to also challenge Microsoft on its own PC turf.
Chrome OS is built off of Linux which is a solid, open-source operating system. It provides a great foundation if you want to start a new computer operating system.
The difference, however, is that Google intended these Chromebooks to find a home primarily in schools and for those who couldn’t afford a regular computer (sound familiar?). But instead of pricing Chromebooks at a netbook price point of around $499 (in 2011), it set the bar at $249-$399, or about the same price as an iPad.
And because this price point is so low, you shouldn’t expect much of it as a computer. Instead of being cast in an all-aluminum chassis like the Air, Chromebooks are almost always encased in plastic, and not very good plastic at that. Pick one up, and you’ll be surprised by the cheapness of the design. They are very light, but lightness in this execution creates a feeling of cheap versus function.
Since Chromebooks don’t run Windows or Mac OS, you can’t use Microsoft Office. This was intentional, because Google offers Google Docs for free. Google Docs include a word processing app, a spreadsheet app, calendar, etc., all online.
The chipset in Chromebooks is primarily Intel, but you won’t find the latest Core i5 or i7 chips. Instead you’ll find the old Atom processors or a Celeron processor. Again, in order to hit a low, low price point, and because the type of expected work, Chromebooks don’t have a lot of processing power. And as far as storage goes, most Chromebooks have only a 16GB flash hard drive, the same as a base iPad.
The screen size varies, but is about 5-in or less in some cases. Their weight is closer to that of an iPad or tablet, about 1.0-1.5 pounds.
So what is a Chromebook? Basically, it’s a very small, very, very inexpensive, lightweight computer for basic needs.
2011: Intel Pushes the Industry Towards Ultrabooks
Samsung Series 5 14-inch Ultrabook
In September 2011, at the big Chinese tech show, Computex, Intel introduced the Ultrabook concept and prodded manufacturers to create a competitor to the MacBook Air. The specs that Intel laid out were basically the same as what Apple created for the Air and, after watching the MacBook Air become one of the most popular computers in Apple’s line-up, Intel knew it could push more chips if it “helped” manufacturers configure their offerings.
Looking for a way to recapture hardware computer share, many manufacturers jumped on the band wagon and started introducing Ultrabooks. Today, virtually every manufacturer has multiple ultrabook offerings.
But the quality and form factor of these ultrabooks vary widely. In fact, some of the ultrabooks that I’ve looked at are far from being a lightweight alternative, weighing upwards of four pounds, or almost double what an Air weighs.
Ultrabooks, then, are the Windows version of an Air. They are, for the most part, full-fledged computers using at least an Intel Core i5 processor, have flash memory and storage and weigh about two pounds. They can handle Word, Excel and PowerPoint projects with ease, and probably could manage some Photoshop files easily. They have discrete graphics chips for faster video and generally perform like a regular computer.
With the launch of Windows 8, many ultrabooks can convert into a tablet, taking advantage of the touch capability. This is a great way to combine two products into one for those who don’t want to buy or carry a computer and a tablet.
Summary
In today’s mobile market you have a lot of computing choices. You can select from three different operating systems (Windows 8, Mac OS, Google Chrome), three similar but differentiated form factors and a price range that goes from very inexpensive to moderate ($249-$999).
Your choice will probably depend not just on budget, but on the kind of work you do and whether or not you want a single computer, a companion computer, or a tablet alternative combination.
But the one form factor you should not consider, in my opinion, is a netbook. The market and offerings have moved so far from what netbooks were originally meant to do that those that exist today are poor executions and not worth the money. You can find a much better alternative in an iPad or Android tablet than in a netbook.
Terry Nakagawa is a Chicago-based technology marketing veteran with more than 20 years of industry background. He has been involved in launching products that have been at the forefront of innovation from broadband and wireless to unified communications.
Filed under: Back To School, Computers & Electronics, Expert Views Tagged: best laptop reviews, MacBook Air, new MacBook air, ultrabooks