Opinions please on what the make up of a netbook might be in 6 months time.

http://www.thevarguy.com/2009/07/22/move-over-netbooks-here-come-smartbooks/

Damn! THat's impressive. Wonder how much one of these will set a person back.

Forget Netbooks - rumours are growing that Apple are finally releasing some kind of mini tablet / big iphone hybrid

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/27/apple-tablet-rumours-music-ebook

Forget apple, the whole point of a netbook is to be a small, cheap, computer. Apple will fail on the middle point.

6 months I'd guess that things won't have changed much from now, incremental develoment will be the name of the game.
Dual core slightly faster atom processors, 330's maybe as an option instead of the current 280's, maybe a new netbook focussed model with 2 cores.
More RAM (it's a microsoft restriction which is limiting it to 1gb).
ION chipsets or alternatives that include real (but integrated) graphics, meaning that HD can be decoded and that older games will work.

If I was dreaming I'd mention pico projectors being built in, but you're more likely to see that in a £2000 Sony than a netbook.

Battery life will continue to slowly improve.

I can't see any other big changes in such a short time frame, most of the products that are going to be launched have already previewed at recent trade shows.

Forget apple, the whole point of a netbook is to be a small, cheap, computer. Apple will fail on the middle point.



Of course it is VERY unlikely that the Apple tablet (if it really exists) will be able to compete on price, but like the iphone it has the potential to change the market - expect 'netbooks' to move away from just being small laptops - we'll probably see better looking devices with features like touch screen displays + dedicated app stores coming to netbooks.

theres a powerful new nvidia vhip coming out which will make gaming possible on a netbook and allow for hd video, cad etc. thats the next step!

There's already one, the Ion platform. Made for the Intel Atom (which pretty much all netbooks use) with an Nvidia 9300 chipset.

I've already got a Revo in the living room with the Ion chipset. It's only powerful compared to the lame intel silicon. It's not going to turn your netbook into anything it isn't. The cpu remains low powered. It will play older games, it will (sometimes) decode HD, if the codec can be offloaded and you're using a player that supports offloading and the wind blows in the right direction.
I'll be getting a dual core version once they're out, that should ease up the pressure on the CPU somewhat, or maybe I'll just put a quiet but properly powerful PC in the cupboard.

Forget Netbooks - rumours are growing that Apple are finally releasing some kind of mini tablet / big iphone hybrid

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/27/apple-tablet-rumours-music-ebook
Great so an expensive, deliberately crippled (only one app at a time :roll:) piece of hardware without a keyboard. How exactly is that supposed to be a better than a netbook?

Most people I know who've got netbooks use them at minimum for email & facebook which they frequently do whilst listening to mp3s, this requires a keyboard and the ability to run more than one app at a time.

Great so an expensive, deliberately crippled (only one app at a time :roll:) piece of hardware without a keyboard. How exactly is that supposed to be a better than a netbook?

Most people I know who've got netbooks use them at minimum for email & facebook which they frequently do whilst listening to mp3s, this requires a keyboard and the ability to run more than one app at a time.

Can't see keyboards lasting much longer or mice, Everything is going touchscreen, It's the future!

You can't touchtype on a touchscreen, so a keyboard will always be quicker for text entry, and a mouse is more accurate than a touchscreen.

Touchscreens may become common, and even the standard interaction device for home PCs, but keyboards and mice will be around for a while yet.

Can't see keyboards lasting much longer or mice, Everything is going touchscreen, It's the future!
Only if the future involves people no longer desiring tactile feedback when typing and preferring to move their hands a relatively long way up to the screen rather than to a mouse.

For casual uses touch screens are just fine, for many work tasks a keyboard and mouse (or keyboard and other pointing device) are far superior.

Can't see keyboards lasting much longer or mice, Everything is going touchscreen, It's the future!

Unless you want to type something.
Like an email, or a post on the forum, or a document, or to control a game.

Yep, touchscreens, the way of the mobile phone.

Not that laptops and pc's in general won't get touchscreen, they will, but it will be in addition to a keyboard, not instead.