Question, not a recommendation: are the next generation of tablets, be it from Apple, Google/HTC or Microsoft (because everything 2009 and earlier has been useless), kill the netbook category, or at least be really competitive?
No one can really answer that until the first useable tablet comes out. A virtual keyboard on a phone and is a whole different game.
funny, I've had nearly exactly the same experience. also loved my first Toshiba, also dropped it a few times without problems, also only looked for a Toshiba the second time round, and was very disappointed. same as you, random shut downs and noisy. it's not slow though. but unlike you, I didn't switch to a Mac, I'd never do that I'm a programmer, Macs are no good to me. I've installed Ubuntu Linux instead. the random shut-downs seem to be due to a loose contact in the power-supply unit btw, it's not Toshiba specific according to the net. and I've got used to the noise by now.. but I'm certainly not going to buy a Toshiba laptop again.
I paid around $320 for my NC-10 and the Apple tablet, which as far as I can see is just a touch screen netbook, is being priced at $800. It's a no brainer.
If the Apple tablet is anything like the HP slate thingy that Steve Ballmer presented at the CES, yeah, you're right, it's stupid to pay more for what is essentially for a netbook missing a physical keyboard. But there's no reason to believe that's the case. Apple could have released a touchscreen netbook years ago if they wanted, but Jobs wouldn't launch a product that couldn't do more than what you could already do with a netbook, surf the web in the bathroom. Here's the thing - there are two kinds of people who buy netbooks, generally speaking. People who want the portability, but willing to live with the low computing power and people who don't want to pay for a full-sized notebook. Now, a good percentage of the former crowd would be willing to pay more if it meant more computing power, improved user experience, better build quality, etc. Now, the price-conscious crowd will still buy netbooks, but with the margins already pretty tight, it's not going to be an area where manufacturers will be putting much energy. And the price advantage won't matter as much if the tablets come lower in price and you can get comparable or better practical computing power in a portable device (for most on-the-go computing, I find the iPod touch preferable to netbooks I've been on). So what's in it for the manufacturers? They're willing to manufacture these machines at low margins because they can make up for it in volume, but if the market is shrinking, what's the point?
The fundamental advantage to netbooks is the physical keyboard because it enables people to easily navigate the Internet and use office software. If you remove that advantage you basically have, depending on your view, a bigger, overpriced and less feature rich smartphone (minus the phone obviously) or a smaller, overpriced and less feature rich laptop. The public don't do touchscreen devices which is why the vast majority have been failures. It is a niche market. The greatest touchscreen success has been in phones but with a small screen size, often a lack of a physical keyboard and limited software it is not a viable solution for everyday Internet and office use. Netbooks were a huge success because they were perfect for the majority of the public. They were cheap, portable and performed their key tasks well. At this point you simply cannot say the same for a tablet device. They will be a success in the fanboy and tech crowd but I doubt the general public will be interested.
If you're expecting the mythical rumored Apple tablet to simply be another tablet, I think you're thinking too small, and ignoring history, both of the company and the tablet's development within Apple. If Apple wanted to release a tablet like the ones out in the market, they could have done it years ago. But they haven't and they're doing it this year. Remember, before the iPod, mp3 players were poorly designed geek gadgets. It took a couple of years, but the iPod got the general consumers into portable digital music devices. Before the iPhone, smartphones were mostly for people whose employes made them carry them. Again, the iPhone got general consumers thinking about smartphones. In both cases, there were industrial design innovation that got people's attention, but what really hooked people in was the interaction with iTunes, which made song/app purchase and transfer more elegant. It's a mistake to just look at the hardware - it's the complete experience that people pay extra for. But about the hardware - I have no idea what the input option on the mythical rumored tablet will be, but I'm sure it's thought out. I think the importance of the laptop-style keyboard is overstated. If we imagine this device to have a software version of the Kindle keyboard, then we'll be just fine. And Apple already has a developer base they've cultivated with iPhone apps and (presumably) content partnership with publishers, so there's little danger of the device being simply a paperweight.
Apple is apparently working on an iPhone/Pd touch like interface for it's equivalent of MS-Work, called iWorks. If this is true then Apple's tablet - likely to be called iSlate - will do much more than just browse the web. You might be able to create content on it too.
Regardless, I'm interested to see what Apple does. I'm sure they've been reviewing many old Star Trek episodes (Next Generation, of course) to figure out what the interface should be. The e-Book market is long overdue. Just image as a college student being able to have an all you class books, plus an entire library in a little device in you backpack. It will beats the old day of lugging around 50 lbs of textbooks.
But there are already Kindles and other similar devices, and they are easier on the eyes than most machines. And they have the bonus that you don't need to put fingerprint streaks all over the screen. The selling point of this is that it is a computer. But you need to figure out why people would carry around a book-sized computer you can't type on. Microsoft has tried many times to do this, but it never came off.
Apple TV or Cube, for example. I never suggested Apple wasn't capable of releasing a bad or useless product. But even if you just looked at the development of the tablet, it'd shocked if Apple releases a "me too" product that fails in the same way Microsoft has.
Back to the netbooks. What do you think about netbooks for younger kids? It would be mostly internet searching as they are not really creating much at this point. I'm considering getting a Dell Mini 10v and "hackintoshing" it. Thoughts?
Isn't there this 100$ Netbook project, where you can buy a netbook for 200$ in a developed country and finance a netbook for one child in a developing country as well? I'd say you want something that is robust, so it can handle kids doing stuff on it, possibly even accompanying them to school or college later. No idea if there's a netbook that fits that bill, however.