Netbook
A netbook is a small-sized laptop computer; they were primarily sold from 2007 until around 2013, designed mostly as a means of accessing the Internet and being significantly less expensive.
They ranged in size from about 5" screen diagonal to 12", with a typical weight of about 1 kg (2.2 pounds), and were often significantly less expensive than other laptops.
[3] Soon after their appearance, netbooks grew in size and features, and converged with smaller laptops and subnotebooks until the specifications were so similar that there was little distinction between the devices.
[11]When the first Asus Eee PC sold over 300,000 units in four months, companies such as Dell and Acer took note and began producing their own inexpensive netbooks.
The netbook demonstrated the potential of an inexpensive, portable second computing device, with a screen size of about 10 inches, intended primarily for media consumption and light productivity.
"[15] Although some manufacturers directly blamed competition from the iPad, some analysts pointed out that larger, fully fledged laptops had entered the price range of netbooks at about the same time.
[21] The sustained decline since 2010 had been most pronounced in the United States and in Western Europe, while Latin America was still showing some modest growth.
[26] Simultaneously Asus announced they would stop developing all Eee PC products, instead focusing on their mixed tablet-netbook Transformer line.
Chromebooks, a variation on the network computer concept, in the form of a netbook, require internet connections for full functionality.
The threat of Google ChromeOS based Chromebooks prompted Microsoft to revive and revamp netbooks with Windows 8.1 with Bing.
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago—Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bisseser—is also providing HP laptops to form 1 Students (11-year-olds) with the same police trackable software as above.
Greece provided all 13-year-old students (middle school, or gymnasium, freshmen) and their teachers with netbooks in 2009[28] through the "Digital Classroom Initiative".
Students were given one unique coupon each, with which they redeemed the netbook of their choice, up to a €450 price ceiling, in participating shops throughout the country.
These netbooks came bundled with localized versions of either Windows XP (or higher) or open source (e.g. Linux) operating systems, wired and wireless networking functionality, antivirus protection, preactivated parental controls, and an educational software package.
Netbooks were some of the first machines to substitute solid-state storage devices, instead of the traditional hard disk drive commonly found on laptop and desktop computers at the time.
[37][38] Microsoft announced on April 8, 2008, that, despite the impending end of retail availability for the operating system that June, it would continue to license low-cost copies of Windows XP Home Edition to OEMs through October 2010 (one year after the release of Windows 7) for what it defined as "ultra low-cost personal computers"—a definition carrying restrictions on screen size and processing power.
[49] Google's Android software platform, designed for mobile telephone handsets, has been demonstrated on an ASUS Eee PC and its version of the Linux operating system contains policies for mobile internet devices including the original Asus Eee PC 701.
Mac OS X has been demonstrated running on various netbooks as a result of the OSx86 project,[60] although this is in violation of the operating system's end-user license agreement.
[61] Apple has complained to sites hosting information on how to install OS X onto non-Apple hardware (including Wired and YouTube) who have reacted and removed content in response.
Despite the small size and price, netbooks are fully capable of accomplishing most school-related tasks, including word processing, presentations, access to the Internet, multimedia playback, and photo management.
Trademark 75,215,401 and EUTM 000428250) but the models failed to gain popularity[66] and were discontinued by the time modern netbooks came about (except for providing accessories, maintenance and support to existing users).
[72][65][73] This was heavily criticized,[74][75][76] prompting the formation of the "Save the Netbooks" grassroots campaign which worked to reverse the Google AdWords ban, cancel the trademark and encourage continued generic use of the term.
