I have talked a bit about netbooks and I will in posts to come so I thought it could be a good idea to explain what a netbook is in case it’s unclear to anyone and to be sure we’re talking about the same thing.
When we talk about portable and foldable computers, we call them laptops or notebooks. I prefer to say laptop to not confuse what I mean with traditional notebooks made of paper. Of course everyone understands if “notebook” referes to a computer based on in what context the word is used but I think it’s better and easier to stick with only one name.
There has always been laptop models that are smaller and lighter than average. However those laptops have usually been top specification models costing a lot more than others.
The term netbook refers to a laptop that aims to be light, portable and affordable, by sacrificing features that are not essential for lighter computer use such as browsing the internet or reading and writing emails.
They can still be used for other things but since these tasks do not require high end components they can be made much more affordable than a computer which must handle tasks such as running graphics intensive computer games, decoding/encoding video etc.
There is an ongoing trend where more and more netbook models are released. It all started in 2007 with the launch and success of Asus Eee and other manufacturers didn’t take long to realize that they were about to miss out on something big. As I write this there are many new models waiting to be release so the future of netbooks looks promising.
I will come back and edit this post as more information is added and keep it as reference in future posts about netbooks. If there is anything you want to change or add to this info post let me know in the comments.
