I’m a big fan of small laptops.  When the Asus EEE PC was introduced I really took a hard look at it and my first impressions were “Ah, finally a laptop that doesn’t break my back… nor my wallet!”.  I waited for the expert and consumer reviews, I always thought that purchases should be made a month after the experts and early adopters have their fair jabs at performance and bang-per-buck valuations.

Just read this article from the New York Times today.  Brought the curiosity out of me. 

The personal computer industry is poised to sell tens of millions of small, energy-efficient Internet-centric devices. Curiously, some of the biggest companies in the business consider this bad news.

In a tale of sales success breeding resentment, computer companies are wary of the new breed of computers because their low price could threaten PC makers’ already thin profit margins.

The new computers, often called netbooks, have scant onboard memory. They use energy-sipping computer chips. They are intended largely for surfing Web sites and checking e-mail. The price is small too, with some selling for as little as $300.

The big PC/Notebook manufacturers have indeed something to be worried about.  They have to… need to…. take a look at their business strategy with the onset of smaller and cost-effective hardware flooding the market.

The small PC/Notebook manufacturers have something to worry about too.  When the honeymoon stage is over, people will eventually see that small doesn’t really equate to greater productivity that the bigger machines offer.  Take the MacBook Air for example, I really feel that NOT having a DVD drive is nuts!  Battery life is terribly poor.

So who’s worrying who?  At the end of the day, these giants and small players will end up choosing a smaller pie, a smaller demographic of users… and focus to satisfy them to keep their business thru and thru.
 

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