Dell Giving Up on Netbooks, to Focus on 'Thin and Powerful' Laptops

[Cristian_25H]

In Dell's eyes, the age of netbooks is drawing to a close, and because of that, the company has already stopped selling consumer netbooks (the Inspiron Mini is now history), and decided against developing new (Cedar Trail-based) 10-inch machines powered by Intel Atom processors.

Despite the thumbs down given to netbooks, Dell is still selling Atom-based products like the business-oriented Latitude 2120 and the display-flipping Inspiron Duo, but their days are numbered. According to Dell, low-cost solutions like netbooks are no longer of interest, the focus now being on 'thin and powerful' machines like ultrabooks. Of course, ultrabooks are somewhat premium products but they should go mainstream in 2012 when cheaper, Ivy Bridge-based models will come about.



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[FreedomEclipse]

Or maybe they were forced by intel to drop netbooks completely instead of exploring AMD's line of APUs. I reckon they would have sold really well...

 

[Completely Bonkers]

Dell is mis-defining the term "netbook" and getting it's knickers in a twist. Dell is making a business decision about what markets it wants to serve rather than there being an end to the netbook market.

There is an active and huge market for small lightweight transportable laptops. The difference between "netbook" and "ultrabook" is purely a marketing issue and a decision of spend on the components. The format is what is popular. The problem with Dells "netbook" segment, and indeed of some other manufacturers, is simple to see:

1./ Intel has not got the Atom to follow Moore's law and is disappointingly slow in its 3rd generation. New netbooks based on Cedar trail Atom are lackluster in performance. This makes it a difficult sell for the manufacturers

2./ For most people in "Dell's target customer segment" laptops have become a desktop replacement rather than an additional portable machine for travel. An Atom just isnt suitable for a desktop replacement

3./ Dells netbooks have been pretty "fat" and "ugly" and "low spec" compared with the competition and not been successful sellers. I'm actually quite shocked how ugly they make them. It must be some sort of internal joke. http://i.dell.com/das/xa.ashx/globa...ab_imagery/latitude-2120-business-design3.jpg

4./ Developing and marketing a netbook is disproportionately expensive as a % of the sticker price of a netbook

5./ Together with 4, Dell's focus on race-to-the-bottom means that they have under-invested in the design and component cost so their product isnt interesting

6./ Dell is not active in the "developing" markets of Asia and Latin America where other manufacturers are being very successful with their low cost laptops aka netbooks

Basically, Dell has given up in a segment it has failed to take seriously, and was probably losing money on. Samsung, Sony, Apple, Asus, Acer seem to have made a better effort in this segment.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

youre forgetting HP too

 

[xaira]

im in a second world country and netbooks are the bees kness his legs and his arms because they are so inexpensive, they are the first pcs of many "lower class families" although acer hp and lenovo pretty much lock the market, dell has alot more brand recognition,

i i honestly thought that everyone would just jump the atom train and go with fusion, the c-50/60 is a mean mean man

 

[de.das.dude]

cheaper ivy??

dream on!

 

[brandonwh64]

I hope that most boards will have ivy bridge support.

 

[HossHuge]

Now that I just figured out that I can use my phone as a wifi hotspot...me>

I take my netbook everywhere.

 

[EpicShweetness]

As an impulse buy I got an Inspiron Mini as a cyber monday deal a year ago for $119.99. Pretty good price how could I complain! As addressed the Atom CPU is painfully slow ! I can not watch netflix and hulu on it, its to slow. That sort of performance really limits what the machine can do, and for something that I wish could do just a bit more it's frustrating that all the webs content is a maybe with it. Though it does pipe all my songs into my car with my phone as a hotspot its all cool .

 

[Munki]

I bought my mom and finacee a Dell Mini (my fiery hate)...i wouldn't complain if everyone stopped making netbooks.

 

[WarraWarra]

LOL Munki they are planning on only making netbooks or thin versions of it. I feel your pain, had a asus netbook 3 years ago and cursed the week I had it until I returned it.

Dell getting out of laptop business is great news, they made junk specs laptops that no one wanted so no wonder their financial statements is showing their incompetence.
Hopefully they would get rid of Alienware with their insane Dell prices so that Alienware can start making gaming laptops again.

Used to love my old dell laptop before they merged with Alienware. Had a hardcore laptop cpu and GTX7950m in it instead of default GTX7800m.

PS> Dell no one wants a laptop that does not have at least a IGP like nv460m/5950m/560m/660m/7950m that is why everyone hates Apple and you Dell morons want to go make more unwanted useless junk WTF while Apple is trying to get back to i7-2760qm and praying they could get at least 7950m in their JunkBookPro's, I know I had to buy a CrAppleBookPro in Sept2011 for a illiterate family member and even they hate it. Fools learn from Apple and what they are doing.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Dell getting out of laptop business is great news

they are not getting out of the laptop business - they are just not making 10.6" netbooks anymore

 

[Frick]

they are not getting out of the laptop business - they are just not making 10.6" netbooks anymore

Which is a shame, I really like that form factor. And now when we have enough power for them to be nice they're giving it up.

Sure a tablet + keyboard (like the Transformer) might be nicer but they cost you a lot more.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Which is a shame, I really like that form factor. And now when we have enough power for them to be nice they're giving it up.

Sure a tablet + keyboard (like the Transformer) might be nicer but they cost you a lot more.

IMO its not much of a loss - HP, ACER & Samsung make some pretty good netbooks and those brands already dominate the market. DELL had almost little to no market share at all in that area.

 

[cdawall]

Weird Dell still sucks ass at life.

 

[pr0n Inspector]

Good move. There's no room between tablets and ultrabooks.