Netbook Confusion with Consumers?

Posted by | 12/20/2008 | 17 Comments

I was out doing some Christmas shopping today and dropped by the local Staples. Thinking I’d check to see if our local Staples was carrying Netbooks I headed to the computer section and sure enough they had the HP L1010NR on sale for $359.98. There was also a crowd of several folks around looking at the Netbook.

One of the women in the small crowd (about 7 folks) was telling folks not to buy the device because it did not have a DVD drive. She had just returned one and was looking for a ““real computer". I politely offered that you Netbooks didn’t come with optical drives as these devices were meant to access the Internet primarily. Another gentleman chimed in and wondered why they would sell anything without a DVD drive these days. One other gentleman picked up a ticket and headed to the cash register.

When I got a chance to put my hands on it, it seemed like quite a snappy little performer, but I’m not a fan of the split button trackpad nor the very glossy case. When I asked a manager how they were selling he said they were selling very well, but that he’d also seen a number of returns. When I asked why, he said because they didn’t have a DVD drive was what he heard the most.

From this anecdotal experience, I’d say that while the price point is obviously attracting attention from consumers, some don’t understand what they are really seeing, or perhaps buying.

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Category: Hardware

About the Author (Author Profile)

Warner Crocker is a professional theatre director, producer and playwright and also a Tablet PC enthusiast. He is also a Microsoft MVP for Tablet PCs. Send email to Warner.
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  • http://www.flashgordonphotography.com.au Gordon Cahill

    Alison, I have ripped every program CD I have as well as ever music and video disc to a 250GB external hard drive. Everything needed to do this is available for free and then you can safely store those precious discs for when you need them. I actually take an entire copy of my perfect system install on an external HDD when I travel so I can restore in an emergency.

    Gordon

  • http://ashleyee.com Ashley

    Haha, I think that lady would have gawked at me if she knew that I would have paid as much as $2000 – $3000 for an ultra-portable computer that size without a DVD drive 3 or 4 years ago.

    I think a lot of it is about perceived value and usefulness. To most people, an optical drive should be a no-brainer for a computer. Even though the optical drives themselves are probably one of the cheaper components, the lack of one seems like a huge feature missing, which to some people might imply that it is a less featureful or a budget model.

    Though, I do have to admit that if you are one who likes to watch DVD movies, etc, then an integrated optical drive is much more friendly than trying to balance a USB drive on your lap… And I do have to admit for myself that one feature I did look for when scouting out laptops and tablets a few years back was an integrated optical drive (which drove my decision to pick a T4010D over an M200).

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