Netbooks seem to be the in thing with those who do not require all the power of a laptop but who want to be able to access the internet on a portable device quickly, easily and, most importantly, cheaply. I have noticed a growing trend in people who ordinarily use a fairly high powered desktop purchasing a netbook to act a secondary computer, as opposed to buying a laptop or notebook.
However, Archos are challenging the position of the netbook as the smallest and most portable means of simply accessing the web on a PC-like platform. Archos, in fact, claims to have put all the power of a netbook into a tablet. Yes. They did away with the keyboard. My initial reaction to this was, “Well what’s the point?” For me, the netbook was supposed to be as alike a laptop or notebook computer as possible but with increased portability. Afterall, if you were not so bothered about the QWERTY keyboard, you could just as easily access the web from your mobile phone. And let’s face it, some phones are pretty powerful.
However, reading the features list does enlighten me somewhat. It’s only just over half an inch thick, only weight 800g and incorporates the new Intel® ATOM™ Z515 processor, an 80 GB hard drive, it’s Bluetooth ready and has 2 antennae that receive DVBT TV. In addition, it runs Windows 7. Pretty impressive for something that size. It gets around the keyboard by giving you a virtual one on the screen (which is a touch screen).
Only problem I have with some netbooks is the price. You can pick up a decent laptop but I guess you are also paying for the size and form factor when it comes to netbooks. Archos 9PCtablet is supposed to retail for around $599.