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What are Netbooks?  

The word netbook is an amalgam of “Internet Notebook” and this pretty well sums up what these units are capable of.  Netbooks are mini-laptops, with 7-inch to 10-inch screens. They  are popular because they're about half the size of a normal laptop and much lighter, usually less than 1.5 kg. They also cost less, yet allow people to surf the Internet wirelessly and work on full, if downsized, keyboards. Manufacturers’ marketing hype claim they are great for “internet research”, “social networking” , “mobile entertainment” and “travel”.  As reported in the Courier Mail of April 30^th 2009 “One in 10 laptops sold this year will be mini-notebooks”. In this article by Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson it was noted “more than one in 10 laptops sold in Australia this year will be small enough to fit in a handbag and their number is set to rocket, a report says.” The article quotes the research firm Gartner who in a press release of April 29^th 2009   suggested  2009  be named "the year of the mini-notebook" at least in the Asia- Pacific region. In Australia the uptake of netbooks has been very strong. “Shipments leapt by 40.8 per cent this year, The Courier-Mail reports. The sales jump will result in netbooks accounting for 13.7 per cent of all portable PCs in Australia in 2009.”

The segment came into existence in mid 2007 amid deep and loss-making price wars between most laptop manufacturers. At the time a full sized 15.4” Acer, Toshiba or Compaq laptop could be purchased for $500-$600. Admittedly with a Celeron processor and 512mb RAM, but nevertheless these units proved very popular. Then along came the EEE-PC from Asus with its 7” screen and Linux operating system and sub-$400 price tag. It caused a flood of “me too” marketing that has now produced huge sales and a whole new segment.Incidentally, the $500-$600 full sized notebooks are now back to a more sustainable $900-$1100 thanks to the netbook revolution. Yes, many users as well as PC experts have criticised netbooks for being underpowered, as most feature the Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor with just 1GB of RAM and small hard-drive storage. They seem to be too small for sustained usage other than by travellers, students, or financially challenged.

Yet their popularity seems to be unquestionable. For example, Netbooks took seven of the top 10 spots on Amazon.com's computer bestseller list in recent days. ASUS’s EEE PC 900HA with an 8.9-inch screen, Intel Atom microprocessor, Microsoft Windows XP and black finish took the top spot and next was Acer's Aspire One taking the next two spots.