In many things in life, timing is everything. With the holiday shopping season soon to come to a close, I’m wondering if this is a good time to purchase a netbook, or if to wait.
Let us face it, if you need to have the box under the tree for the loved one, then this discussion is more than moot. And retailers are counting on this. Aside from some ultra bargains here and there, notably over Thanksgiving, prices have been generally higher than in the Fall it would seem. However, as we close in on the Holiday, I have spotted a few deals, and if you lucky enough to spot one with enough time, they can be good. However, realize that this is last year’s hardware for the most part.
Just around the corner is the CES- consumer electronics show. Las Vegas gets invaded each January, and all the new stuff is shown off. netbooks are expected to be a large part of the 2010 show. There will be a highly anticipated N450 Intel Atom chip. It promises a small bump in performance, and to use a little less power…20% is the consensus guesstimate these days, but the actual performance is not truly known. In addition, Nvidia is expected to bring not only an updated Ion 2 graphics chip, but also a second gen Tegra processor, that they are promising will be used in a wide variety of products, including netbooks and tablets. But it is not known how much of this will come to market, or when, or for how much.
So it comes down to the old dilemma that the computer you want is the one coming out 6 months from now. My advice is that if you can get a good deal, no make that a really good deal, then it is time to pull the trigger and buy. Short of that, I wouldn’t buy any netbook costing more than $300 right now until we see where all of this is going. Happy shopping, or waiting, as the case may be.
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