This is a netbook.
It’s not an “ultra-portable” or a “mini-laptop”.
It is a netbook. That’s it’s name.
That is, of course, unless you ask Psion, a relatively obscure computer hardware company based in London and operating out of Canada. These guys are claiming that they have a copyright claim on the term “netbook” and late last year sent cease-and-desist letters to a horde of blogs and enthusiast sites demanding that we stop using the word netbook to describe the rash of tiny computers hitting the market.
Ironically enough, Dell Computers a company which many hardcore techies consider to be the manufacturing equivalent of “the man”, is fighting to reclaim the term for all the public to use as they please. It’s no secret that Dell is hurting in netbook sales, coming in behind Acer, Asus, HP and MSI last year.
So, is this attempt to do a solid for the netbook community as a whole an effort to get some good press and consequentially sell some computers or are they just tired of not being able to legally use the word “netbook” in their product descriptions?
Either way, here’s hoping we don’t have to change the blog’s name to “Mini-Portable Computing Platform Digest”
Source: Tom’s Hardware
It appears that the generic netbook is a category of portable computrs. Of course I still haven’t figured out the difference between a “laptop” computer and a “notebook” computer. I can say that most of what I consider laptops are too large and heavy to be a notebook (in the paper and binder size aspect). I see that some “laptops” now support a 18.4-inch screen and weigh almost 9 pounds. My 6-lb 14-in laptop seems big and heavy compared to my 2-lb 8.9-in netbook. I do find advantages for both.
Intel joins netbook trademark dispute with Psion // Feb 25, 2009 at 6:52 pm
[...] An obscure London company called Psion is claiming a copyright on the term “netbook”. Several manufacturers have avoided using the term in advertisements. Earlier we wrote about Dell challenging Psion’s copyright. [...]