Back in May, I took a look at the small notebook PC market to try and determine the distribution of screen sizes. I took screen sizes of 11” and under and plotted them on a graph to find the unsurprising result that the 10” screen size was the most popular and the original 7” netbook had all but died. In May 2009, 68% of the devices had a screen that was over 10”. I also promised to revisit the subject. By taking a second snapshot today, I’m able to work out what sizes are growing and waning in popularity. It’s only a second data point but it’s very interesting.

There has been a huge growth in the 11” segment (and 12” but that’s out of scope for this mobile-computing-focused data set) which means that of all the SKUs, 79.6% are now 10” and over.

• 79% of devices have screens of 10” and over. (was 68%)
• The 11” segment grew by 65%
• The 5, 6, 7 and 8” segments all declined in % (and absolute number of devices available)
• The 8” segment declined by over 40% from 61 devices down to 45
• Linux-based devices still count for 8.5% of the devices (no change)
• 80% are over 1KG (12% increase)
• Nearly all netbooks under 1KG are 1st-gen devices that are outgoing.
• The sample size is 279 (up from 243)
• The cheapest device in the segment is the Hercules eCafe EC-800 based on the AMD Geode CPU. 160 Euros. Hercules also make the cheapest Atom-based device, the EC-900, for 190 Euros.

In general it’s a sad story for mobile computing fans especially as some of the best ultra-mobile solutions aren’t even reaching the normal online channels but there’s one shining star in amongst that lot. The ASUS EeePC T91 for 450 Euros, in Black, with a 24-month guarantee. 960gm, 5hrs battery life and a whole lot of flexibility!

As before, the results are based on data from the German/Austrian price comparison engine – Geizhals.at and include all notebooks (and almost insignificant numbers of tablets and UMPCs) with screen sizes equal-to or below 11”. Again, I’ve put a note in my calendar to review the situation in 3-4 months time.