They get called lots of things. They should be called netbooks, or nettops. Ultra-portable is acceptable. But it’s not dominated by one brand anymore, there’s a lot here to pick from. The only thing these machines have in common is an ideal. It’s not price, since some of these machines can break the $1000 point, and it’s not performance, because there are some relative powerhouse netbooks. It’s about function: the idea that you want connectivity, data, and everything else that comes with the series of tubes, but you don’t even want to carry a laptop with you.
And, yes, price does play a part. Historically, little laptops weighed the most in dollars, and while you can spend a grand on a really nice netbook, that’s still a fraction of the cost of a true ultra-portable laptop. By being cheap alternatives, they become playful. At the top of the list is performance. Even the best ever product is going to be a little sluggish, unless maybe you haven’t bought a computer in about a decade. This comes with a list of applications you’re going to live without. These computers don’t even have optical drives. Getting a netbook is something of a digital lifestyle choice.
You’re thinking about joining a priorities-backwards club of people who don’t really care about power; it’s about access and traveling light. This is true for the software as much as it is the hardware. Browsing has come a long way since the ’90s and if you want to run a browser with more than one tab and maybe listen to some music simultaneously, you’ll see how clumsy they really are.
One of the biggest performance gains is in buying one with a hard drive that spins so much faster that it’s almost not worth considering a netbook with a solid-state drive anymore. Most of these computers are very similar, with 1024×600 (WSVGA) displays, 1GB of RAM, 1.3mp webcams, 802.11 wireless Internet and hopefully Bluetooth.