Intel Corp. said that while there are netbooks with relatively large 12” screen and some companies have plans to produce Intel Atom-based mobile systems with even bigger displays, such computers should not have large screens since this leads customers to believe that performance and capabilities of netbooks are akin to notebooks.

Later this year netbooks will cease to have screens larger than 10.2”, a guideline defined by Microsoft Corp., but while this may potentially reduce popularity of netbooks, Intel Corp. has perfect explanation why netbooks do not need larger screens.

“They are not so much constraints. We are trying to frame the category that we’re trying to encourage. If you use a netbook with a bigger screen, people expect a standard notebook. The responsive of the system might be disappointing. You saw some people trying to experiment with Atom and a bigger screen and stuff like this. Try to open the system, open more windows. Try to open some more demanding applications, and I believe you will see the responsiveness is not what we were planning for,” said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of Intel's mobility group, reports IDG News Services.

Netbooks are not designed for high-performance or rich functionality and should be tailored for very basic computing needs, such as email usage, Web browsing and so on. As a result, Intel and Microsoft believe that such systems should not be equipped with screens larger than 10.2”. In fact, Intel also claims that with smaller screens netbooks will be able to have longer battery life.

“It's not magic. If you want to get more performance, you will pay with more transistors, you will pay with more leakage, you will pay with more power. You will end up with [the netbook] being slightly thicker with lower battery life,” added Mr. Eden.

Instead of boosting performance or features, netbooks should get thinner and smaller, Intel claims.

“We're trying to take this category to the next level and I will not be surprised if you see even the netbook space will be shaped differently because, again, we can give better battery life, we can give you better performance. We can give you smaller form factors,” explained Mooly Eden.

Tags: Intel, Atom