Netbooks are overpriced, says AMD

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 16 Sep 2008 at 12:22

AMD has poured cold water on the netbooks craze, criticising their battery life and rising prices.

According to Pat Moorhead, AMD's vice president of advanced marketing, the company is taking "a wait and see attitude" to netbooks, even as rival Intel struggles to get enough Atom processors out the door to power them.

Moorhead goes on to take a swipe at the price, which began life at around £215 for the Eee PC 701 but has crept up to £350 for the Eee PC 1000H and HP Mini Note. He claims that, for a similar price, US buyers can now pick up a 15.4in laptop with an optical drive, 160GB hard disk and dual-core processor.

Moorhead also has reservations about the battery life. "You would expect to get eight or nine hours out of a netbook, because it's small and you compare it to a cellphone," he tells Uberpulse.

"In fact, for some of the ones that I've tested, probably the hottest one has a one hour and 45 minute battery life. You're not going to take that with you as a road warrior... Around the house it seems okay, but it's a big trade-off versus one of these 15.4in notebooks."

Moorhead's views on netbooks are expounded in more detail over his blogs, available by following this link.

AMD is currently working on its own Atom rival, codenamed Bobcat.