What is a Netbook, anyway?

Who doesn't love a nice Netbook?

It's taken the computer industry a little while to fully embrace the charms of the under-sized Netbook, although with big players such as Dell and Lenovo on board, as well as major retails like Best Buy and Amazon, these small laptops are more popular now then anyone could have anticipated.

We've even finally come to an industry wide agreement on what to call these products, which were originally dubbed mini-notes, sub-notebooks, mini-laptops, etc., before we all settled on "Netbook."

In perhaps the final step towards mainstream acceptance, the eagle-eyed gang over at Laptop mag just spotted Netbooks getting their own category over at Best Buy, complete with an "official" explanation of what it means to be a Netbook:

"A netbook is a streamlined mobile device designed for the Internet, so you can stay connected on the go. Get up-to-date news, the latest scores and weather information, access your e-mail and social networking sites, and enjoy digital videos, photos and music.

"Netbooks may look like laptops, but they don't have the full capabilities of a computer. Instead, a netbook specializes in mobility and the Web, so it's great for travel or as a supplement to your main PC."

[myles taylor]

So what's the appeal? With computers getting smaller, lighter, and thinner, while at the same time more powerful, and smartphones becoming more like computers, isn't the netbook filling a shrinking gap between phones and computers? Seems like it's going to be edged out soon.

[dirty55409]

I think it is a shrinking gap, but netbooks appeal to those who need a laptop (ever tried typing an 8 page document on a smartphone?) but don't need things like an optical drive. Netbooks are hitting the demographic of consumers that want functionality for as cheap as possible. No frills etc etc. The netbooks I see on newegg run for $319-330. bare bones of course 1gb of ram and a 30gb hard drive. but still someone will think it's a great deal.

[awwang101]

The appeal is for basically surfing the web, creating documents and such, basically it is for basic tasking, carrying to coffee-shops and traveling. It is really dropped between PDA and Computers while making a decent keyboard for people with big hands that unfortunatly get crappy in PDA keys. Overall it is like a super-sized PDA or tiny-tweaked Notebook.

[myles taylor]

Yes I see what you're saying, but I see that as a shrinking appeal. It's a gap that's shrinking and should be gone in a few years. But you're probably right; the netbooks will probably just merge with the smartphone and become a more mobile device. I think there IS a gap right now, but I think that gap will get narrower, not wider, and the netbooks will be a dead market.

[alenas]

Point is that computers have so much more power than average user needs...and netbook is probably enough for 80% of home users, who just browse internet, open some porn presentations and listen to music.
Just remember - 5 years ago - some Pentium III laptop was good enough for everything. These netbooks are more powerfull than those Pentium III laptops...so maybe computer industry realized that it speed does not matter to average user anymore - and if they can give good user experience for cheap - then why not go back in time :)