An example of this change can be seen in one of my most-read posts ever here on GigaOM. Out of more than 7,500 posts I’ve written, one of my most viewed is “A quick guide to netbooks” from September 2008. No matter what news was hitting the tech cycle, this post on netbooks kept finding its way in front of readers who searched for netbook information on the web. Even a year after publication, the post was appearing on a daily basis near the top of our stats. Then 2010 arrived, and with it, the first credible consumer tablet in Apple’s iPad.

Charles Arthur provides four reasons for the netbook’s demise, but by analyzing the stats of my netbook guide post, I suggest that the revamped tablet market was the beginning of the end for netbooks. True, these are completely different products in terms of form factor, design, operating systems and supported applications. But both share an important commonality: relatively inexpensive mobile computing devices.

Let’s face it: There are only a few reasons that netbooks even became a “thing.” You could get one for between $200 and $400, you could run the apps you wanted to, and you could take them everywhere. The idea of a small, cheap laptop that ran all the same software your larger notebook or desktop could run was appealing at a time when the global economy began a huge downturn. The timing of netbooks was simply right.

I know because I bought the very first one available  in 2007 and used it to cover the Consumer Electronics Show in 2008: All of my posts were written on a small Asus Eee PC. I later upgraded to an MSI Wind machine and then a $399 Toshiba model in 2009. For half the cost of a full-sized laptop, I had something more portable that lasted longer on a single battery charge.

The idea of a netbook then morphed into a smartbook: A small laptop that ran not on Intel chips, but ARM chips used in smartphones. The concept was great, but with Apple’s iPad introduction in 2010, I immediately suggested that smartbooks were DOA; a point that Qualcomm confirmed nine months later.

Some current netbook owners will continue to cling to their device, mainly because it meets their needs of Microsoft Windows applications in a small laptop, and that’s fine: One should always use the best tool for the task at hand.

Our tasks, in terms of computing needs, however, have changed. Legacy application suites are getting replaced by a seemingly never-ending stream of smartphone and tablet applications. Cloud services for productivity and storage are the new Microsoft Office and hard drive. Touch computing is becoming the norm, not the exception, and mobile operating systems are optimized for it. Simply put: Netbooks are just another example of old-school computing and world is moving on. Farewell netbooks; it was fun while it lasted.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Google’s Chromebook initiative as it can appear on the surface that the company is continuing to offer a netbook experience: Low-cost, small laptops that run for hours at a time. There’s one key difference, however: The entire interface is a modern desktop browser that works as a jack-of-all-trades for creating and consuming web content. Best of all, the simplicity of the software brings all the benefits of the web without the distractions, upkeep or power-consuming features brought by a legacy desktop environment.

That doesn’t mean I think Chromebooks will take over the world as netbooks were expected to do, but the different software approach and deep integration with Google services give Chromebooks a chance to survive beyond the age of netbooks.

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The biggest obstacle for Windows 8 on a netbook isn’t the processor or memory requirements, as one might expect. Instead, it’s the display resolution, as many older netbooks came with a 1024 x 600 resolution screens. But as demonstrated on this video demo, Brad Linder from the Liliputing blog shows how to adjust the screen so that a netbook works with Windows 8, the Windows Store and applications specific to the Metro user interface:

Although it’s not optimal, and it takes a little tweaking to get Windows 8 working on a netbook, I’m planning to follow Linder’s lead and dust off an old netbook. Why risk a computer needed for daily activities or futz with a dual-boot situation when a low-cost laptop will give a taste of Windows 8?

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The next time you struggle to buy a gift for the man who has everything, consider a $250 set of cufflinks he likely doesn’t have. These aren’t just any old ones; Engadget notes Brookstone sells polished silver cufflinks that hide handy mobile technology functions. Both links hide a standard USB port allowing these to double as a 2 GB flash drive. With the proper software installed on a PC, the links can share the computer’s Internet connection over Wi-Fi for multiple devices. These run off of the computer’s power, so there’s no battery to deal with.

Are there cheaper flash drives and apps to share a Wi-Fi connection? Sure, but not with this form and function: geeky but stylish!

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The Oculus Surveillance and Telepresence Netbook Robot project is looking to secure $15,000 in pledges by Jan. 31. You can commit as little as $30 for an Oculus T-Shirt, $225 for a full robot kit (netbook not included) or $420 for a deluxe robot made of wood, complete with a headlight, T-shirt — for you, not the robot — and RoboRealm software. Even with the largest pledge, you’ll have to provide a netbook.

Although I’m a robot enthusiast, this project makes perfect sense. Netbooks are cheap enough and have more than enough horsepower and sensors to power a robot. I suspect that while many netbook owners still use their device as a traditional laptop, others have moved on to tablets or other mobile devices. That means an old netbook collecting dust can gain a second life.

Using the netbook’s webcam, an Arduino board and open source software, the Oculus could work well as an inexpensive ”place shifting” solution. The robot’s owner can remotely move the robot and see what the it sees, while communicating with other people over the web through a netbook’s integrated microphone and speakers. The Oculus even has a charging dock that it can back into on its own.

Note that this isn’t the first netbook-powered robot potentially hitting the market. Willow Garage has long offered the TurtleBot that combines a netbook with a Roomba iCrate base and an Xbox Kinect. As a result, you’ll pay much more for that solution; $1399 for a full kit including the netbook.

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HTC is the latest hardware maker considering to dip a toe in the Chromebook pool, according to DigiTimes, which monitors the Asian supply chains for mobile devices. Samsung and Acer currently build and sell Chromebooks, which are essentially Google’s Chrome OS and browser in place of a full desktop operating system on a low-cost notebook.

At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be much of a Chromebook market. Google doesn’t report sales figures, but the devices appeared to get off to a slow start. Earlier this month, DigiTimes estimated Acer sold only 5,000 Chromebooks in the first two months of sales, while Samsung sold even fewer. And recently, Google announced a price cut to $299. I know of some people in my geeky social networks who have purchased a Chromebook, but I’ve never seen one in the wild, nor do any of my friends and family even know what a Chromebook is.

Based on the lack of general interest in Chromebooks, I’m not sure what HTC has to gain here. If any hardware maker could build a Chromebook with an appealing twist, however, I think HTC is that company. Although it started out as a behind-the-scenes handset maker, HTC has built its brand recognition — and sales — over the past few years through innovative software enhancements and cutting-edge hardware. HTC has also shown it’s not afraid to take risks on new products, even in niche markets.

Think back to the HTC Shift for an example. Back in 2008 when hardware makers were trying to push 7-inch Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) — tablets running Microsoft Windows — HTC created the Shift as a solution for those who wanted a keyboard.

The 7-inch slate had a touchscreen like all other UMPCs at the time, but the display could be shifted up to reveal a small, but usable keyboard, for typing. The Shift used an Intel processor and full desktop operating system, so HTC has the experience to build a Chromebook. And Google’s Chrome OS can also run on ARM-based chips, which HTC uses for the tens of millions of smartphones it sells.

Clearly, HTC could build a decent Chromebook and even make it unique compared to those currently from Samsung and Acer. Yet, I don’t see much point. I like the Chromebook concept, but much of the functionality of such devices can be met with a low-priced netbook or even a tablet.

If you’re a Chromebook enthusiast, I suspect you’ll be happy to see HTC enter this market. But I’m more curious to hear from others: Does it make sense for HTC to build a Chromebook, or would the company simply be wasting its time?

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What happened to netbook sales? They reversed momentum, being surpassed by tablet sales in the second quarter of this year. And I generally stopped writing about them.

Others haven’t though. The lgpOnTheMove site, authored by a frequent commenter here, recently put together a list of 101 things you can do with a netbook. I still have a few netbooks and I’ve looked the list over: I don’t see any inaccuracies and it’s filled with a bunch of undeniably useful capabilities. Here’s a small sampling of the list:

• Boot any x86 operating system when using a multiple-boot partition
• Run and install other MS software (Works, Visio, Project, MapPoint)
• Plug in your USB thumb drive to move/browse files
• Attach a wireless trackball for ultimate ergonomic comfort
• Easily swap your battery for a second and continue working without looking for an outlet
• Install and run proprietary x86 business software applications you use at work
• Rip your DVD movies to a hard drive and watch on the go

The reason for the list is to educate people as to what a $400 netbook investment can return. The author doesn’t think that adding a keyboard to an iPad or Android tablet is enough to rival the netbook experience:

“It amazes me the number of folks who continue to suggest that netbooks are underpowered, useless and cheap toys compared to more expensive slates. And this viewpoint reaches peak when folks see a slate docked with a fancy clamshell-style keyboard/case combination, entertaining the idea that it can even replace a notebook! Yet quite the contrary is the truth.”

I totally understand the point being made, but I also think there’s a bigger point that’s being missed. For starters, many of the listed items aren’t exclusive to netbooks. I picked out a few here:

• Edit, author and upload videos to YouTube
• Get 8 hours of real-world run time on a single charge
• Connect with external audio equipment for DJ applications
• View two web pages side by side
• Install and run Google Earth

Aside from the battery point — and many tablets exceed 8 hours of run-time on a single charge — all of the examples I chose can be done through mobile apps on a tablet. There are some listed functions completely exclusive to a netbook, but mainly because they’re exclusive to a desktop operating system, which is what I alluded to by saying “there’s a bigger point that’s being missed.”

Netbooks aren’t a new product genre, or the evolution of a new computing paradigm. They’re simply the same old computing products in a smaller package with a smaller price tag. Tablets, on the other hand, have created a new class of mobile product, although it could be argued that they’re an extension of the smartphone market. Regardless, the bigger point here is that computing is changing and netbooks haven’t changed with it.

The enterprise may be different, but average consumers today don’t want to plug in USB drives, swap SD cards or futz with a desktop operating system on a mobile device. Consumers want the “computing” to take place behind a simple interface that’s intuitive and carefree. Tasks are now broken down into a plethora of purpose-driven applications instead massive suites of software. And people want this new computing experience when they’re sitting, standing, walking, or riding; not when they have a desk or a lap to work on with a computer.

Anyway, it is an interesting list and for people that have traditional computing needs, I agree that netbooks are an attractive, low-cost option. I’m curious if our readers agree that computing is changed in the way I think do. Thoughts?

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The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of TeamViewer, a company that provides presentation software enables desktop sharing in the cloud, helped crystallize a question: Do we only want dumb screens? By dumb screens I mean the ability to get whatever content and services you want over the web as opposed to stored on a hard drive or locked to a device. So far today, the answer is we want it both ways, but in the future I lean toward dumb terminals with one exception: the smartphone.

Right now, the high cost of mobile broadband access and slow speeds (plus intermittent Wi-Fi) make the idea of dumb terminals impractical for most people. But As Wi-Fi becomes more pervasive and LTE networks roll out, I think we’ll see those barriers drop. So it makes sense to think about what should be dumb and exactly how dumb it should be. I think a television makes a great dumb screen. On my laptop, I’d give a hearty plug for a dumb screen (look at the Chromebook for example), and tablets are an area where I lean toward dumb screens as well. Smartphones are the big outlier.

Most of my interaction with my Android handset centers around the web, email and a few apps. On occasion, I take photos and share them from my phone and yes, I still use it for voice calls. So today my smartphone isn’t a dumb screen, but here’s why it never will be:

App Stores. I wish this particular reason would disappear, but I doubt that will happen. Thanks to Apple’s ability to get people to buy into apps, we now have a $14 billion app economy. As someone with iOS and Android devices, as well as a general worldview that wants a unified platform, I wish HTML5 apps would get going in a major way so I can just get what I need on the web as opposed to downloading them from OS-specific or device-specific app stores. It drives me crazy that I can’t get some apps on my Android handset that I use on the iPad, and that if they are offered, I have to buy them twice. So I’d love for apps to stick around, but want the barriers between installing them on any device to fall thanks to HTML5 and permissions to access the hardware on devices.

Smartphones as your link to the digital world. As the most portable and soon-to-be most ubiquitous of the computers folks own, smartphones are increasingly becoming the sensor that connects the real world to my digital one. Thus, I want it packed with sensors, cameras and enough intelligence to ensure these things all work together to upload not just files, but context on my day-to-day wanderings back up to the web.

There’s still a strong argument for different dumb screens to have different interfaces depending on their size and perhaps position in the home. Smaller screens require touch while larger ones should use gesture. As a writer, my laptop needs a keyboard, while my tablet and phone don’t. The debate between smart and dumb screens used to have a component linked to how one would interact with them, but increasingly, I think it’s less a keyboard that makes something “smart” than what kind of information that it needs to store and process. Thanks to web services, I think there’s little we’ll want to store and process on televisions, laptops and even tablets, but smartphones will still require more brains than screen real estate and a good set of radios to ensure image processing, the interaction of the sensor and yes, those darn apps.

As we overload our homes with computers and connected gadgets — 15 percent of Americans use four or more a week according to the Harris poll — the idea of dumbing down the device and relying on web services has strong appeal. Sure, offline access to documents and other services is a stumbling block, but that’s becoming less and less or a problem for those willing to pay for mobile broadband access. How dumb should our devices get?

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Here’s how Intel defines the Ultrabook category:

These computers will marry the performance and capabilities of today’s laptops with tablet-like features and deliver a highly responsive and secure experience, in a thin, light and elegant design. The Ultrabook™ will be shaped by Moore’s Law and silicon technology in the same way they have shaped the traditional PC for the past 40 years.

Intel suggests device manufacturers keep such Ultrabooks to a thin 20 millimeter or less profile and a price point starting at under $1,000. Intel is touting “instant on” functionality and background connectivity through features called “Smart Connect” and “Rapid Start.” These features check for application updates immediately prior to sleep mode, just after resuming and take advantage of flash memory for faster wake times. The first of these Ultrabooks should arrive in time for the holiday season this year; ASUS has already announced the UX21 in this category and it is indeed thin and light as shown by a hands-on video from Netbook News:

Ultrabooks may be a new notebook title, but the tune sounds familiar. In fact, the ASUS UX21 visually reminds me of numerous laptops I saw two years back when Intel touted CULV, or Consumer Ultra Low Voltage, processors.

These energy-efficient chips were set to power thin notebooks such as the $899 MSI Slim X340 back in May of 2009, which looks much like the new ASUS UX21 on the outside. Granted, the new Ultrabooks will feature faster flash memory storage and peppier processors, but that seems like an expected development to me. Based on the specs of the chips that will power Ultrabooks, the devices won’t be as underpowered as the CULV notebooks were, which could help stimulate sales.

But sales growth potential isn’t likely in the cards for notebook computers, whether you call them netbooks or Ultrabooks. Smartphone sales surpassed that of personal computers near the beginning of this year and Intel isn’t in that market yet. As the company watches chips based on the ARM architecture power virtually all handheld devices, it still has no answer to meet the challenge. Instead, Intel continues to buy time with new notebook features and chip designs while it tweaks its handheld platform, currently known as Medfield, to combat ARM processors in smartphones and tablets.

While there will be Intel-powered tablets for sale in 2011, I wouldn’t expect these to take the lion’s share of the tablet market: I’d be surprised if Intel can capture any share in the double digits this year because the big name tablets from Apple, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, LG and others all use ARM processors. And it doesn’t look like ARM’s progress will slow anytime soon, either.

Just as Intel is expecting to advance its chips with 3-D Tri-Gate technology next year, mobile chipmakers will be readying the next-generation of ARM chips using the Cortex-A15 architecture. According to ARM Holdings, a quad-core version of such a chip running up to 2.5 GHz will move beyond smartphones and into “mobile computing.” One could read that as more powerful tablet devices, but Microsoft has already demonstrated a version of Windows that runs on ARM chips. Between that and Google’s Chrome OS, which can also run on ARM processors, I suspect the first usable notebooks running on ARM processors are in store for 2012. And at that point, it may not matter what Intel calls notebooks with its chips.

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Samsung’s model will be priced at $429 for a Wi-Fi version, while $499 includes a 3G / World Mode radio for use on Verizon’s mobile broadband network; the carrier will provide 100 MB of monthly data use for two years at no change, with additional data available for purchase. Additional specifications include:

• 12.1-inch display with 1280×800 resolution and 300 nit screen
• Dual-core 1.66 GHz Intel Atom processor
• 8.5 hours of continuous battery life
• HD webcam, noise-canceling microphone
• 2 USB ports, 4-in1 memory card slot, mini-VGA port
• Full-sized keyboard and clickable trackpad
• 3.26 pounds

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