The netbook fad is largely over. The tiny laptops that the public was so enamored with less than a year ago no longer dancing in the spotlight of mainstream news articles. Any text devoted to them is usually centered on arguments over the iPad’s impact on netbook sales, which have slowed as of late.
That doesn’t mean netbooks are no longer selling in the millions, however, or that new products in this category are no longer needed. The excitement of innovation has merely been replaced with the long slog of evolution that will define the segment’s future. The Atom processor is not adequate for many users and there is plenty of room in the market for netbook sized products that provide stronger performance.
And so we have the Dell M101z, an 11.6” laptop that looks like a netbook but carries more powerful hardware inside. The question of whether the M101z is really a netbook or laptop is certainly open. Its size, price and performance makes it difficult to categorize. Given the uncertainty, I will bow to Dell’s marketing department – they’ve made the M101z a part of the Dell Inspiron laptop line rather than a part of the Dell Mini netbook line.
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