Editorial: The rise of the notbook, the fall of the netbook

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Notbook (n.) -- An affordable ultraportable laptop, typically with a
11.6-inch or 12-inch display that is not a netbook. It packs more
power than a netbook (i.e. can handle 1080p video and Flash at
fullscreen) and provides a more comfortable computing experience than
the typical, 10-inch underpowered, shrunken Atom-based laptop. Most do
not have optical drives, but do last for over five hours on a charge.
Unlike pricey ultraportable laptops, notbooks are more affordable and
start at around $400.
About six months ago, the 11.6-inch Dell Inspiron M101z arrived on my
doorstep for review. The AMD Neo-powered system looked like a slightly
enlarged netbook, but in a briefing with Dell, the product manager
reinforced quite a few times that the system was absolutely "not a
netbook." I can't remember his exact wording, but he made it crystal
clear -- the $449 Inspiron M101z was so much more powerful than an
Intel Atom netbook that it could be one's primary machine. Obviously,
I started calling these sorts of laptops "notbooks," and over the next
few months, more and more of them started popping up. Some of them
paired Atom with an NVIDIA Ion GPU (e.g. Eee PC 1215N), while others
used AMD's Neo chip and more recently AMD's new Fusion Zacate APU.
(Intel's Core ULV-powered systems are frankly too expensive to be
considered in this category, though some Pentium / Core 2 Duo systems,
like like the Acer Timeline X1810T, could qualify.)

Uh, so what? There's a new crop of more powerful, affordable, and
highly mobile laptops -- what's the big deal? Well, while many think
tablets are what will ultimately cut the netbook market down to size,
it's the notbooks that will also seriously hit the Atom-based
lilliputian laptops of today where it really hurts. Don't get me
wrong, ARM-powered tablets like the iPad and Motorola Xoom are going
to impact netbook sales in a big way, too (heck, they already have!),
but mark my words, notbooks or affordable ultraportables will take a
noticeable chunk of both the netbook and the mainstream laptop market.
There's finally a class of laptops that provide a terrific balance
between primary and mobile computing without breaking the bank. Think
I'm crazy? Hit the break to understand what I'm talking about.