Toshiba renounces U.S.' netbook market to favor ultrabooks

An executive from Toshiba - a major tech manufacturer - said there are no plans for new netbooks in the U.S, clearing the way for its Portege ultrabooks. Dell did the same just before 2012 started.

Back in 2008, the netbook form factor had a market and predictions showed an upscale share. Looking back, tablets and ultrabooks were unheard of, and the market is very different now. When ultrabooks were introduced in 2011, they became desirable devices. Ultrabooks are faster, lighter, and thinner than netbooks, but about three to four times pricier.  

Under a similar price bracket, the rise of tablets also took netbooks' market share. Tablets also share advantages of ultrabooks over netbooks aside from processing power and solid state drive.  This trend leaves less demand for netbooks as time passes, and it started as early as mid 2009.   

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