Netbook Review

They are a recent addition to the portable family of portable computers. A netbook can be thought of as a very compact laptop. Netbooks represent a growing market presence as consumer needs shift towards simple focused portable wireless devices with functionality similar to that of a laptop.

From this Netbook article on wikipedia one can see how quickly people are adapting to the technology.
"By late 2008, netbooks had begun to take market share away from laptops and overtook iPhone sales by 900,000 units in Q3. It is estimated that almost thirty times more netbooks were sold in 2008 (11.4 million, 70% of which were in Europe[14]) than in 2007 (400,000), and for 2009 sales are expected to grow a further 189% to 21.5 million. Sales are projected to increase up to 50 million by the year 2012. This trend is compatible with the rise of web-based applications as well as mobile networking and, according to Wired Magazine, netbooks are evolving into "super-portable laptops for professionals". "

Here are some characteristic features of Netbooks (thanks to Watzman's description on CNET).

• some have solid state hard drives (although with less total storage, these drives use less power)


• don't have an optical drive (CD/DVD)


• simpler OS (they use XP & Linux instead Vista)


• small, slower, lower powered CPU


• some have limited battery supply (one of the key features users look for)


• expandability is limited, these aren't totally general purpose machines but are a step above PDAs and with tech improvements will approach laptop functionality