Re-enter the sub-notebook

Time was when a sub-notebook meant an ultra-expensive notebook that weighed less than a kilo but was otherwise togged out with the latest technology. Even today there are machines that are perhaps better dubbed ultra-portables such as the MacBook Air or Lenovo ThinkPad X300 that confirm to the above spec. However, last year, ASUS reinvented the category with its Eee PC, a sub-notebook that comes with a suitable minuscule price that’s comparable to that of a mid-level smartphone and offers a richer application set though, of course, it doesn’t make calls. Today there’s a slew of products out there priced between Rs 14,000 to 18,000 that follow pretty much the Eee’s specifications except that some have a hard disk on board in place of the Eee’s SSD.

What’s missing from this picture, at least in India, is the ecosystem needed to nurture such products. For instance, despite oodles of hype about unwiring Bangalore (or Pune for that matter), Wi-Fi connectivity is far from ubiquitous. In fact, it’s next to impossible to find a free access point. If products like this are to succeed in offering a truly mobile experience, getting a Wi-Fi connection should be no more difficult than getting a cell signal on your phone.

Then there’s the lack of an optical drive. Most folks use DVDs or CDs to load software onto their machines and the lack of this is a minus. Perhaps offering a competitively priced external DVD drive would help here.

One thing that the makers of these sub-notebooks seemed to have missed out on is the prospect of selling stylized variants of these products—in various colors and textures and so forth. Adding a little panache to these little gadgets would help sell them to the youth.

Another potential market is the education sector. A sub-notebook loaded with the relevant software would be arguably better than a conventional notebook that costs more and is not as easily toted around. Plus the device’s closed architecture would be a plus here blocking students from loading games and other non-educational software.

While I don’t see too many people going in for these devices as their sole computer, a sub-notebook would be a handy portable option for those who have already invested in desktops but would like to do light-weight computing on the move. This PC-Plus model would help those who want a top notch PC capable of playing the latest games or running heavy duty apps like PhotoShop or AutoCAD have a secondary machine for e-mail and Web browsing when they are not at their desks.

One way or another, this category’s here to stay and the suffers will be high-end smartphones that attempt to position themselves as computers. Sub-notebooks will eat this category for lunch.

prashant.rao@expressindia.com