Discussions

What are we expecting from our laptops in today’s notebook space and what should be standard in the future?

Maybe we are taking laptops for granted, meaning that we know what to expect from a portable computer. Changing what we know about them isn’t an easy task, thus making more difficult for manufacturers to introduce new ideas. Just to give you a personal example, my most recent laptop is from ASUS and it features a multimedia touchpad, i.e. the touchpad has keys like play, pause, volume, etc to control media players. I thought this simply ingenious, but after a while I started thinking “hey, maybe this has been out for a while, maybe I am the one assuming that I’ve seen everything there is to see regarding laptops”. Unfortunately this is the case, and this is exactly the point I am trying to make.

So we need to be more open to new functional features. As we discussed before, there are several features that aren’t functional at all. On the paper they look beautiful but when we try to use them they aren’t practical. Adding too much features is also a problem. Who doesn’t remember the VCRs full of features that nobody knew how to use? Even setting the clock was a problem for most people.

Timing is also important. During CES 2009 we saw all manufacturers launching netbooks (mini notebooks), a trend started by ASUS with their Eee PC. But when we think about it, small laptops have been around for a while, so why only know they seem to be catching up? That is a good question. Maybe the market wasn’t ready yet. Maybe it’s because they cost less that USD 500 now. Maybe it is because Intel is pushing their Atom CPU and manufacturers are buying Intel’s sales pitch. Maybe it is in fact because Atom CPU provides lower price, satisfactory performance and longer battery life. Nobody will know for sure the right answer.

New features can only become standard when they come at an affordable price and the end-user knows the benefit of all features available on the market (e.g. ask your mom if she would pay more to have an SSD drive on her laptop; her answer will probably be “S-S-what?”). Of course early adopters will always try to have the latest technologies before everybody else on their block; we are talking here about Average Joe. Then comes the chicken-and-egg situation. Price can only drop when there is volume, and volume can only exist if everybody starts buying – after price drops.

We, technical people, should understand that no everybody needs the same functions as we do. Even though I strong believe that SSD drives will be standard as price drops (which is a feature that even Average Joe needs, even though he doesn’t not realize it) there are some features like high-end speakers that will continue to be optional (the grandma that only wants a small computer to talk to their grandsons using Skype probably doesn’t need Altec Lansing or Bose speakers).

I believe that even in the future users will have to balance between size, design, performance, battery life, screen size, features and cost to have a portable computer that fits their needs. Probably the metric will be different – for example, if today we are choosing between a portable PC with 3 hours or 5 hours of battery life, we may be choosing between 6 or 10 hours; and so on – but there will still an option to be made.