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Poll: Is a Netbook Good Enough to Be Your Primary PC?
March 18th, 2009 by Mark Spoonauer 
What a difference a sagging economy makes. Just in January Intel’s Paul Otellini claimed that there was “very little cannibalization of notebooks” from netbooks, saying cannibalization was about 10 percent. That same month we reported on an ABI Research survey that said that 79 percent of repondents viewed netbooks as secondary device. Then yesterday in Joanna Stern’s inaugural Notebook Diva column, NPD’s Stephen Baker dropped a bomb, saying that the cannibalization figure is now more like 50 percent.
Now, a lot has happened in the netbook world in just the last few months. More devices with larger 10-inch displays have debuted, many with exceptional battery life (6 or more hours) and more comfortable keyboards, plus larger 160GB hard drives–a far cry from netbooks’ early days. So the question is, do you think netbooks are good enough now to be your only PC? Take our poll below, and sound off in the comments.
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7 Responses to “Poll: Is a Netbook Good Enough to Be Your Primary PC?”
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March 18th, 2009 at 10:18 am
I plan on getting a nettop for my dad in the next few months. His computer activity consists of buying stuff online and playing Pogo…so one would be perfect for him. That and his HP is about seven years old.
March 18th, 2009 at 11:10 am
2 minimum requirements are missing for netbooks to become mainstream
1. 12″ or 13″ screen
2. optical drive
Additional requirements:
1. a slightly faster processor
2. a little more graphics power
March 18th, 2009 at 11:41 am
I said “yes” because I use my Wind thus. I use it as my primary machine, but those items that require more screen real estate or more horsepower, I use a full-blown computer for, so my Wind is my primary, and my big Mac my secondary. I reversed it is all. Works very well for me.
-Jon
March 18th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
not for this geek.
perhaps for a lighter, non-techie/geek user it would be (ie my parents) but the small form factor may be too small for most users to use a main pc . however if they made docking stations..
plus, if you do any thing w/video or gaming; def a no.
i still have my triple booting msi wind w/the touchscreen kit but its my 3rd laptop choice; my newly acquired Rev A macbook air has become my main laptop but my 8gb of ram killing desktop still is my main pc
March 18th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Still, if it were to be my main computer (assuming I don’t have a desktop to work with), I would not use anything less than 15 inches — and even that is pushing it!
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Presuming you for some reason (!) own a monitor, you plut that in when at your desk. Liberty: all the screen you want at home, and a two-pound package to carry around.
March 26th, 2009 at 6:32 am
I voted no, although when I think about it I would say I use both my desktop and netbook equally. I wouldn’t want to live without either. I guess I read the question as “Could I live without a desktop”. No I couldn’t. But it is not necessarily my ‘primary’ PC anymore. There are some things I can only do on my desktop comfortably, but if I’m just browsing around the net (which is a large amount of my computing time) I use my, erm, netbook. I guess the netbook name is proving accurate!