Poll: How Much Is Too Much For A Netbook?

Sascha at Netbooknews.de [English trans.] started some buzz when he claimed that Nokia’s new Booklet 3G will cost $799 without a contract from a cell carrier. I am not completely surprised by this. As soon as I saw that Nokia wasn’t calling the system a netbook but instead a ‘mini laptop,’ I thought: this is like the Sony Vaio P ($745.25) all over again. Netbook specs, netbook size… but here comes the not-very-netbook price.

The cost may come down drastically depending on how much carriers are willing to subsidize, but with data plans at their current rates, consumers will still end up paying over $1000 for the netbook over time.

Netbook prices have varied greatly over the short lifetime of the category. When the Eee PC S101 came out at $699 the style over substance approach didn’t impress us too much. And with great netbooks offering 7 – 9 hours of battery life coming in between $350 and $450, there isn’t a reason to buy anything more expensive unless the system has something really special about it.

That could be where Nvidia Ion comes in. The 12-inch Samsung N510 with Ion is now selling in Italy for 499 euros, about $710. A site in the UK (found by our friends at SammyNetbook) lists it as 399 pounds, about $646. Samsung’s first 12-inch system, the NC20, is less than $500. The US price may be $500 or less as Lenovo’s Ion netbook is supposed to be. But given the boost that Ion is meant to give these systems, would that make it worth a higher price?

How about if you add something that is more immediately noticeable and quantifiable, like a touchscreen? The Gigabyte TouchNote T1028X costs $699 yet offers more than just a stylish chassis. A touchscreen plus decent performance makes the TouchNote very attractive. More than most netbooks, yes, but far less than most tablets with touchscreens.

Features alone may tempt consumers to price points higher than the average, but I suspect that for many the ‘netbook’ label will make anything over $500 look prohibitively expensive. This may be why Nokia is staying away from the name officially, though they must know that everyone is going to call the Booklet 3G a netbook, anyway. How much is ‘too much’ for a netbook? And how much are you willing to pay for one that has a set of features you deeply covet?