It was recently discovered that upon a search of the Dell web site, the Inspiron mini line shows an inventory of zero. Uh-oh..

When Dell decides they’re going to stop making a specific computer, the industry as a whole usually follows suit because Dell does have that kind of influence. Now I’m not saying that it’s fact that Dell will cease production of what we know as the netbook, but when you see zero inventory for all of a very specific type of computer – right before Christmas, mind you – well.. you can pretty much guess what’s going to happen with pretty good accuracy.

I’m going to just call it like it is: The netbook is dead.

Why doesn’t anyone want a netbook anymore?

1. Tablets are better as companion computers

The netbook was originally billed as a "companion computer", because for most people it’s just too darned slow to be used for anything that a standard desktop or full-sized laptop could do better.

For the astute, you’ll notice tablets are also billed as companion computers, and said honestly the tablet when defined as such fits that description a whole lot better.

2. People never really accepted the idea of a new laptop with old specs

Netbooks are slow and everyone knows this. The industry thought that people would accept 1.6GHz single-core CPUs with 1 to 2GB RAM and be happy with it. The people reacted and said, rather loudly, "Not acceptable."

On top of that, the screen resolutions offered of 800×480, 1024×576 or 1024×600 weren’t liked either, especially given that a whole bunch of desktop apps require at least 1024×768 to run properly.

1280×800 or 1366×768 is the norm now. Anything less on something billed as a ‘little laptop’ isn’t worth having.

3. That stupid trackpad

Every trackpad on every netbook sucks. Small, squat designs, weird placement of mouse buttons, wonky touch response, etc. All bad.

4. Craptastic speakers

Netbook audio speakers are worthless. The speakerphone on your cell phone has more volume to it. I’m not kidding.

5. Windows XP

The netbook had bad timing in the OS world as it was designed to run Windows XP. While true they can run Windows 7, most netbooks delivered with XP and nobody wanted to spend over 100 bucks to upgrade a 300-dollar laptop. Those that did come with Win7 used "Starter Edition" – the worst edition of Win7; it’s so bad it won’t even let you change wallpaper. That’s not sarcasm, by the way. Win7 Starter literally will not let you select a desktop background image.

Would netbooks have been better off delivered with a mobile OS?

Yes and no.

Yes, in the respect that a mobile OS would have overcome all the low-spec issues.

No, in the respect that a mobile OS is designed to be used with a touch interface, and a netbook uses a traditional mouse/keyboard input setup.

Incidentally, this is why a netbook runs best using a lightweight Linux desktop distro like Xubuntu or Lubuntu. The key to getting the most out of low-spec desktop hardware that can run modern apps is to use an OS that’s not CPU-intensive or memory-demanding, and that’s Linux. And yes, netbooks were originally delivered with Linux for that reason, but nobody wanted them, the masses spoke and wanted Windows instead. Too bad it was XP.

Hello, ultrabook

People sincerely do like the idea of a subnotebook, but absolutely don’t want low-spec hardware; they want the little guy to be able to run everything the big guy can. Ultrabook is the answer there, and you’re going to see more or less all the OEMs deliver on that in 2012.

Many feel that ultrabooks should have been there from the start and the netbook never to have existed in the first place. Well, that wasn’t possible because the technology didn’t exist (mainly due to heat dissipation considerations). But now the tech is here and ultrabooks are being made which are plenty fast to do the same stuff the full-size laptops do. My prediction is that the ultrabook will sell well.

Goodbye, netbook. We hardly knew ye.

(This blog article written in its entirety on a Dell mini 10v.)

Like what you read?

If so, please join over 28,000 people who receive our exclusive weekly newsletter and computer tips, and get FREE COPIES of 5 eBooks we created, as our gift to you for subscribing. Just enter your name and email below: