What about ION?
Noting that Intel is promising improved graphics performance from this new Atom platform, we pointed out that NVIDIA's ION platform already provides the option of significantly improved graphics for Atom.
Weber wasn't having any of it. "A lot of competitors are trying to adapt their offering to the netbook segment, but capabilities like Flash playback are defined by the CPU, while gamers will be looking for discrete graphics," he said.
"You need to look at the TDP of the platform. You have to make a trade-off between performance and things like battery life. ION will add 15-20W to the TDP. When you start adding graphics, bigger screens and so on, you start losing the reasons you bought a netbook."
A look at Intel's website reveals that, while Atom itself only has a TDP of 2.5W, the TDP for the whole platform is 11.8W. Even so, the addition of a further 20W to that is a significant increase in power requirement.
Weber is tapping into the central issue faced by the booming netbook market right now: differentiation. As screen sizes get bigger and specs improve, the price of supposed netbooks goes up.
Once the price gets above £300 you're into entry-level notebook territory and as screen sizes increase, the mobility benefits decrease. Given that the primary appeal of netbooks is supposed to be price and size, you have to wonder if they're starting to lose their way and confusing consumers in the process.
"80 percent of consumers know precisely what they're doing, but the 20 percent who buy netbooks as their first PC need to be aware of the compromises they're making," said Weber.
