NPD: Netbooks confuse consumers

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#1

I just posted the article NPD: Netbooks confuse consumers.

People who buy netbooks don’t always understand how the computers differ from full-powered notebooks, and tend to be more disappointed with them, the NPD Group found.

The report says 60…

Read the full article here:  [http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/16094-NPD-Netbooks-confuse-consumers.html](http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/16094-NPD-Netbooks-confuse-consumers.html)

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#2

It’s too bad that the general consumer is stupid. You would think a person would look at the specs of a computer before purchasing it, be it a notebook or a netbook, and make their decision on what to buy based on that, not just size.

#3

Most people dont know what the specs mean even if they saw them. They go on buzz words and price as the determining factors. That is why Intel, AMD and other companies spend millions on marketing crap. To confuse the consumers into buying their junk.

#4

I fear consumer ignorance may end up killing the netbook market.

Retailers will end up not selling them due to high return rates by people who don’t know what they’re doing. Manufacturers will start to address their “shortcomings” (screen size, lack of optical drive, speed) and before you know it, next year’s netbook will be little more than a faster version of a late '90s laptop.

Linux on new PCs is already dying. The model of eee I have is no longer available in many stores because most people can’t figure out how to put Windows (or a non-sucky Linux distro) on it.

#5

That doesnt make sence. A netbook is no different from a laptop or desktop. If someone cant read and understand the specs, they arnt going to know it on all 3. I also dont see someone buying it after checking out the floor model, bringing it home, and saying “damn, this screen is too small”

#6

I remember a few years ago when PC’s running Microsoft Vista were starting to come out, and manufacturers were building bottom-end machines with Vista and only 512MB of RAM. 512MB was Ok for XP, but a Vista PC would slow to a crawl, if not stop completely, with that small amount of RAM.
Consumers were returning those PC’s at a high rate. This soon caused manufacturers to increase the amount of minimum RAM installed.
In the case of netbooks, the consumer return rate might not cause the manufacturers to change specs, but at least it might cause vendors to make more of an effort to differentiate the netbooks from other “PCs”.