Eee PC, Acer Aspire top netbooks in Japan
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Here is the second installment of a very interesting series of surveys from goo Research into mobile devices, as reported on by japan.internet.com. I translated the first installment last month.
Demographics
Between the 14th and 18th of September 2009 1,095 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.7% of the sample were male, 16/8% in their teens, 18.3% in their twenties, 21.5% in their thirties, 16.3% in their forties, and 27.2% aged fifty or older.
I used to be extremely excited about the new Sharp NetWalker – what’s not to love about the form factor of an electronic dictionary (A5-sized), running Linux, 10 hour battery life, high resolution touch screen, etc, etc. Well, after a play with it in the shops, the keyboard are closer to buttons than keys so have a dreadful feel, there’s a huge dead area around the screen, the touch pad is microscopic and the mouse buttons are under the left hand, 10 hours battery life is measured with minimum brightness and no sound, and the biggest killer, 45,000 yen price tag (40,000 yen if you shop around), or about 450 US dollars or 280 UK pounds. For less than that I can pick up any number of netbooks, and I’m off to the US at the end of the month so $320 for an Acer Aspire One delivered straight to my hotel room from Amazon sounds like a plan.
Research results
Q1: What mobile devices other than a standard mobile phone do you have? (Sample size=1,095, multiple answer)
Votes Percentage Nintendo DS series 507 46.3% Standard laptop computer 186 17.0% Sony PlayStation Portable 185 16.9% Smartphone 61 5.6% Netbook (to SQs) 54 4.9% PDA 26 2.4% PND (Portable Network Device) 14 1.3% Tablet PC 7 0.6% MID/UMPC (Mobile Internet Device/Ultra-Mobile PC) 5 0.5% Other 2 0.2% Nothing other than mobile phone 420 38.4% Q1SQ1: What maker’s netbooks do you have? (Sample size=54, multiple answer)
Votes Percentage ASUSTek Eee PC series 16 29.6% Acer Aspire One 8 14.8% Lenovo IdeaPad 7 13.0% Dell Inspiron Mini series 7 13.0% NEC LaVie Light 6 11.1% HP mini series 4 7.4% Fujitsu FMV BIBLO LOOX M series 3 5.6% Onkyo SOTEC C1 series 2 3.7% MSI Wind Netbook series 2 3.7% Sony VAIO W series 2 3.7% Epson Direct Endeavor Na01 mini 1 1.9% Toshiba dynabook UX series 1 1.9% Mouse Computers LuvBook U, G series 1 1.9% Other 6 11.1% Don’t know 2 3.7% That’s 68 different answers, so netbook owners have on average one and a quarter netbooks!
Q1SQ2: About how often do you use your netbook? (Sample size=54)
Never leaves my hands 16.7% Often use it 42.6% Occasionally use it 27.8% Rarely use it 11.1% Don’t use it at all 1.9%
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I use a Panasonic Let’s Note R-series laptop, and have for the past five years (I’m on my second). It’s frankly not appreciably bigger than most netbooks, and is good enough to work as my only personal computer. It’s probably time to upgrade again next winter or the following spring.
We’ll see what the netbooks can do by then, but whatever I get I must be able to use it as my main machine. My hope is not so much that netbooks have gotten good enough for that, but that competition from them will push down the price on whatever R model Panasonic will be offering then.
Janne, yet, the Let’s Notes are excellent beasts, but they are four or five times the price of an Acer Asprire One or Eee PC! I’m not a fan of the R myself; I use a T, A4 sized, at work. In June I was going through US customs and they looked at the Let’s Note and asked why I didn’t have the battery in it, as it was lighter than they expected!
If I was getting a notebook for a main PC, the Panasonic would be top of my list, but I’m just after a cheap keyboard to hammer translations etc out on the train.
I used to be extremely excited about the new Sharp NetWalker.
…and then?
It’s frankly not appreciably bigger than most netbooks, and is good enough to work as my only personal computer.