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Comment by trelane

1 day ago

> Netbooks didn’t need Microsoft’s help in dying.

Amazing how many of Microsoft's competitors don't need the help, yet receive it.

> Nobody bought more than one of them, the experience was that bad.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/netbook-sales-exploded-i...

"The market for small and cheap laptops -- netbooks -- boomed in 2008, with almost 15 million of the things sold globally."

On the contrary, they were incredibly popular.

Yes, they seemed like a good idea - they were really cheap, and had decent battery life for the time - but the compromises were such that you really wouldn’t want to buy another netbook if you could. After the first few releases, the MacBook Air became what the non-cheapskate buyers of netbooks wanted.

  • > compromises were such that you really wouldn’t want to buy another netbook if you could.

    This is directly contradicted by the existence of Netbook fans.

    • How many of those are there? How many compared to the 15 million (mostly) first-and-only-time buyers?

      Netbooks are almost unique in tech history in how flash-in-the-pan they were. Crypto somehow had more staying power.

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