Toshiba America says no to new netbooks
Want a small laptop? Get an Ultrabook
Another sure sign the netbook's day is done: Toshiba's US wing has confirmed it will no longer offer new versions of the laptop-lite machines.
Wondering where the heck the Intel Atom N2600-based Toshiba NB510 had got to, US netbook site Liliputing asked the company when the Cedar Trail machine might be expected to arrive Stateside.
Short answer: never.
Toshiba US will be promoting Ultrabooks instead, a spokesman from the firm told the site.
In the UK, the 10in NB510 is still available from Toshiba. It'll set you back £306. It has older models at £249, if you prefer something a bit cheaper.
At the company's 2012 product showcase, held early in April, staff insisted there was still a market here for netbooks, despite the momentum behind tablets and the arrival of the Ultrabook.
Still, netbooks' plunging share of UK retail tech sales doesn't paint a rosy picture of the platform's future, whether Toshiba continues to offer them or not. ®
COMMENTS
When ultrabooks are the same price as netbooks I'll consider buying one.
Doesn't make much sense
Toshiba is proposing dropping netbooks, which cost £200 or thereabouts and selling ultrabooks which cost £800 or thereabouts. And they think people who were previously going to buy a netbook will splash 4x as much out on an ultrabook? More likely they'll just buy a netbook from another manufacturer.
10" old model netbook £249
10" current model netbook £306
10" new model ultrabook £800+ ?
All with the same crappy low res screens and underperforming chipset.
Old netbooks never die...
...at least, the SSD-based ones don't seem to, and fulfil their original, intended purposes admirably, so there's hardly any replacement market for them.
Sent from my Asus EEE 701 4G (4.5 years old)
