A popular netbook taken apart to analyze its cost.

Ever wondered how much it costs a manufacturer to build a netbook?  If so, here’s an intersting breakdown of a popular netbook from China, with each of the parts broken down for cost.  When all the part prices are added up, and compared to the units retail cost, there’s only a surprisingly slim profit margin left for the manufacturer.  We’ve known for some time that profit margins are razer slim for comptuter hardware, and that seems to be more true than ever in the case of netbooks.

Read on to see the full price breakdown.

The netbook taken apart here is a popular model based on a reference design, and is currently selling in China for about $205 USD.   As you can see, once all the part prices are added together they total about $200, leaving only $5 profit.  Other costs not factored are an operating system, and all the costs associated with bringing the product to market (transportation, marketing, etc).

Will 2010 be the year of the tablet-netbook?

According to Digitimes, ASUS, HP, Dell and MSI all have tablet netbook projects in the pipeline, ready to launch in 2010.  The timing probably has a lot to do with the upcoming launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system which has much improved ‘touch’ features over Windows Vista and XP.

According the online blog, MSI is scheduled to launch a 10-inch tablet netbook at the start of next year while HP also has plans to have one out by April or May of next year.  Both of these models are rumoured to use Intel’s as yet unreleased Pine Trail-M platform.  We don’t have any more information about what Dell’s tablet offering will be but we do  know ASUS will be launching their 10-inch T101H later this year.

The Asus 1005ha-m. M for Matte screen

Asus has introduced the Asus 1005ha-M (reported by Blogee here) which has sparked a bit of a debate in the netbook community – Matte vs. Glossy screens.

First, the whole glossy screen phenomenon is quite recent.  If you’ll remember, up until a few years ago everything has a plain matte screen.   Most heavy netbook users seem to prefer matte screens – for less glare and reflection.  But, I’ll go out on a limb here and say that I really don’t mind a nice glossy screen.  Especially indoors while watching a movie.  But, being portable devices, I can see how a matte screen would be much nicer outdoors, or on the dashboard of a car.

What say you?  Let us know in the comments.

As for the 1005ha-m, here are some trade-0ffs.  The ‘normal’ Asus Eee PC 1005HA-H comes with a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 CPU and a 6 cell battery that Asus rates as a 10 hour battery but the Eee PC 1005HA-M has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU and a 6 cell, 8 hour battery.  Other than that the models are the same.  The -M model has already been spotted in France and is reportedly shipping in Europe now.

Nohrtech Gecko Edubook

The new Nohrtech Edubook Gecko runs on AA batteries and is available now for just $199 if you buy one,  or as low as $160 if you buy them in bulk.  The hitch? – they’re only available to order from Thailand at the moment.  Also, the netbook runs on an Xcore86 chip.  It’s a bargain for sure, but just how well is that Xcore86 system on a chip going to cope with Windows XP has yet to be seen.

Read more about the Nohrtech Gecko here.

Asus launched new netbook products at CES, but they’re at it again.  Most recently, they’ve retought the form factor of its leanest and thinnest netbook in the form of the Asus EeePC 1008ha.  . Asus has a bunch of new netbooks on display at CeBIT in Germany, including the brand new ultrathin Eee PC 1008HA (pictured above) and also a Eee Keyboard and EeeNAS PC that can act as a home media server.

The open-source OS uses Linux as its base, and Ars says it’s actually derived from the Fedora distribution. However, Intel has made changes to make it snappier and more suitable for Atom-powered handhelds: the official release notes mention a “Fastboot” feature, a custom networking manager, and some special user-interface development tools. Speaking of user interfaces, Moblin uses the lightweight Xfce desktop environment instead of more resource-hungry alternatives like GNOME and KDE.

You can grab Moblin for your netbook or MID from the Test Drive Moblin page. Intel offers a 280MB live image that can be copied to a USB pen drive, and it says it’s tested the alpha release on Acer Aspire One, Asus Eee PC, and Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbooks.

If many people, fully aware of this choice, opt for a Netbook then we have the foundation of, at the very least, a rethinking of the pricey ultraportable.

At most, we have many more consumers buying into the Netbook concept–particularly if 3G broadband wireless comes as a standard option.

Here’s the dilemma in more detail: Do you want an ultralight subnotebook replete with a Core 2 Duo processor, 64GB solid-state drive, and 12-inch (or 13-inch) LED screen that will set you back at least $1,800?

Or do you want a Netbook with an Atom processor, 16GB solid-state drive (or 60GB or 120GB hard disk drive), and a 10-inch screen for $450 to $500? (Clarification: Netbooks are generally thought of as sub-$400 designs; but for comparison’s sake, upscale Netbooks with 10.2-inch screens are cited here.)

The dimensions and weight are the key to both the Netbook and the ultraportable, and differentiate them from standard laptops. Both are small and light. But here’s where Netbooks become disruptive. To date (that is, for at least the last 10 years), consumers have had to pay a big premium for smallness and thinness (and still do with the Air, Dell Latitude E4200, and Toshiba Portege, for example). With the Netbook, they don’t. (The one obvious downside to Netbooks, however, is that they’re too small–cramped screens and keyboards.)

Of course, the design and internals are different, but are they different enough? To rephrase the question posed above: Is a $2,500 13-inch MacBook Air with a 128GB solid-state drive (and no 3G) different enough from (or that much better than) a high-end $600 or $700 11-inch Netbook with a 32GB (or 64GB) solid-state drive and 3G? I would expect that most consumers (even ones that must have an ultraportable laptop) won’t be able to justify paying an extra $1000-$2,000 for a MacBook Air- or Toshiba Portege-style design in the face of a compelling array of Netbook offerings. Especially if Netbooks (or a facsimile of the Netbook) start sporting larger screens.

Consumers will ultimately decide the fate of the Netbook of course–though it remains problematic whether PC suppliers will really push Netbooks in front of consumers that aggressively if Netbooks are eating into their laptop sales.

They have built-in wireless networking, but lack an optical drive for CDs or DVDs. Some use flash memory for storage instead of a hard disk, which makes them more robust and extends battery life. Netbooks generally cost less than $500. IDC, a market-research firm, reckons worldwide sales of netbooks will reach 10.8m in 2008 and more than 20m in 2009, during which they will represent 11-12% of the entire laptop market.

Keep it simple

Most current models, including Samsung’s NC10, much of the Asus Eee range, the MSI Wind and the Acer Aspire One, use Intel’s Atom as their central processor. This is the chipmaker’s smallest processor, designed specifically for low-cost and portable devices, not for intensive number-crunching. But because a lot of things that people do with computers, such as e-mail, writing and web browsing, do not require fancy graphics or lots of processing power, netbooks can still be extremely useful.

The number of netbooks available is growing as more producers pile into the market (but not Apple—at least, not yet). But if you are buying one, avoid the temptation to get the slickest, most powerful machine available. Much advice on offer online suggests souping up the specification of a netbook so it can run Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system, rather than the free, open-source Linux system that is offered as standard on many netbooks.

Yet increasing the specification only makes sense for people who want to run (and to pay for) Windows and specific Windows-based applications. The extra hardware and software costs start to push the price of a netbook towards that of a standard laptop, which will invariably be better because it has a bigger processor and superior graphics. For many users, the basic, free software shipped with a netbook will be quite enough.

Current Netbooks

The most basic model of the Acer Aspire One can be found for £179 in Britain and around $300 in America. It simply switches on and runs with the minimum of fuss. It has 8 gigabytes (GB) of flash storage and 512 megabytes of RAM, which is a bit puny. But that is perfectly adequate to run the customised version of Linux that comes pre-installed on it, along with a suite of software, including Open Office. With no hard drive, and a switch to turn off the wireless connection (not the fastest in the world), power can be conserved. So a bigger, bulkier battery may not be necessary either, unless you want to use the computer untethered for long periods. Because it boots up in a few seconds, rather than thinking of the Acer as a mini laptop it might make more sense to view it as a beefed-up personal digital assistant, such as an old PalmPilot or Psion, but with a better screen and a proper keyboard.

But what about the lack of storage? Again, the way the machine can be used addresses this problem. First, netbooks are designed to be used with the net, which is where an increasing number of people now store a lot of their stuff, such as e-mail, videos and photos, and where people do other work with online applications. Second, with three USB ports it can always be plugged into devices, such as a portable hard drive, to store things locally. Storage space can also be boosted by plugging a small SD-card flash memory (16GB versions are now widely available) into one of two ports, one of which is designated to act as semi-permanent storage.

Software

As for the software, Open Office was surprisingly easy to use—a doddle for anyone who has used Microsoft Office. Moreover, the ability to save work in different formats presented no compatibility problems when sending files to a Windows-based machine. Photo software and other applications were simple to use too. The machine is not up to much for playing games, but then a dedicated games console beats most computers when it comes to games anyway.

The Acer has a built-in webcam, which makes it ideal for video-calling services such as Skype. Admittedly, installing third-party software can be a bit of a fiddle, and some of the advice available online threatens to lure users into the tangled depths of the Linux undergrowth, where few people will want to venture. But as netbooks become more prevalent, such difficulties are likely to ease.

Conclusion

The upshot is that netbooks are great as cheap, simple and small computers for performing basic tasks—especially if the pre-installed software does what you want it to. They will never satisfy power users who want to edit video and play elaborate games, but they are not meant to. Provided they do not expect too much, most users will be delighted with them.

Just a few of the Netbooks on sale today.

Another term that we’ve started to see cropping up to describe some notebooks is the “ultra-portable” tag. This term is usually used for thin notebooks to indicate they are more easily carried around by mobile professionals than most notebooks. I have seen notebooks with 14-inch displays and larger referred to as ultra-portable and that’s when it starts to get confusing. Like the netbook question, what makes a notebook ultra-portable? I have a hard time rectifying that a notebook with a large 14-inch screen is an ultra-portable device, simply because the large display means the device is a lot bigger than smaller ones. Sure the notebook may be very thin but let’s face it, a thin notebook with a large screen won’t fit in the smaller gear bags so can it really be “ultra-portable”? I think not. Again we’re not trying to put our terminology forth as the only proper terms but we do try to be consistent within our own coverage.

We’re also interested in what you think about the ultra-portable tag. If you see a notebook with a large screen tagged as “ultra-portable” do you find that term confusing or does it make sense? What are the qualities that come to your mind if you see the term ultra-portable used to describe a notebook you haven’t seen in person? Does thinness alone qualify a device as an ultra-portable, or perhaps light weight? You tell us what you think and we’ll keep it in mind in future coverage.

While high-end notebooks aren’t selling as well as they used to, lower-end laptops, sometimes called MIDs or Netbooks, are flying off the shelves. Asus inaugurated the trend with its first Eee PC, and now all the major manufacturers are lining up to get small and cheap notebooks into your hands.  But if they’re underpowered and run on essentially old hardware, why exactly would anyone want one of these underpowered ultra-cheap machines?

For starters, the manufacturers aren’t aiming for these laptops to be desktop replacements. Instead, the mini notebooks are meant to be complementary machines. Rather than create an entirely new machine with an entirely new OS with the ultimate goal of being "cheap," manufacturers instead decided to put parts together from older, less expensive technology. Throw in a free or last-generation OS, change the packaging to something small and compact, and you’ve got yourself a basic, highly portable no frills machine.

Netbooks fill a void few knew truly existed. While our obsession for building bigger and faster machines hasn’t ended, an obsession with quick start up times, ultra portability and a simple way to experiment with hardware or with the open source Linux OS has made low-cost netbooks an easy purchase for many. Hardware hackers and users looking for a light secondary machine have started picking up the netbooks in great supply, and so have travellers looking for a machine with which to quickly check email accounts or take notes on the go.

Most netbooks come preinstalled with either Windows XP, or some variant flavor of Linux. Almost without exception netbooks, like the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, come with WiFi standard, so users looking to access the web on the go can whip out their netbook and hop online. Netbooks are great for standard web surfing, standard emailing and other low-resource tasks — just don’t expect to spend $500 on a laptop and play the latest and greatest games. Typically, netbooks also tend to skimp on the storage, so don’t expect to house a large music or movie collection on the device. On the flip side, some netbooks (like the Asus Eee 1000) come with the option of a solid state drive in lieu of a hard drive. Because of their quick startup times and durability, SSDs can be an attractive alternative to HDs to a degree that offsets their typically smaller size (check out our guide to SSDs for a more in-depth look at the advantages of solid state drives).

If you’re looking for the fastest computer, want to play recent games, or are looking for a device to handle your multimedia functions, skip the netbook and go for a full laptop. If all you’re looking to do is surf the internet, type up documents, or do some instant messaging, the netbook might be a decent, low-cost compliment to your current computer setup.