Because it's still fast enough to do most things that most people want to do most of the time i.e. browse the web, check your mail, and watch videos on Youtube.
So what can't I do with a netbook?
Intel likes to describe netbooks for being for consuming content, and full laptops for creating content for say picture editing or video editing on the go.
That said, netbooks still aren't powerful enough to convincingly run high definition video even the 720p streams from YouTube will be beyond almost all of them.
What are the business benefits of netbooks?
For many business uses a netbook fulfills most of the functions that they need when on the road checking mail, accessing data and filling in forms. They are also both practical and beneficial for taking into a meeting as they are light and portable and you can either show your presentation slides directly on the netbook or hook it up to projector. Get one of the more premium models and they also look pretty swish.
What's more, if you need to kit out a team with portables and their requirements are modest the netbook is an inexpensive way of doing that.
So who makes them?
Pretty much everyone. Asus started the ball rolling, and initially the major manufacturers turned their noses up at them but eventually they were forced to join the party.
The latest to succumb was Sony, who famously declared that it would never produce a netbook as in terms of the market they were nothing more than, "a race to the bottom". Sony's VAIO Mini W-series netbook came out in July.
You can also take your pick from Asus, Acer, Dell, HP, Toshiba, Samsung and MSI. The only major exception is Apple, and the industry is waiting with bated breath for it to eventually produce its own take.
So netbooks are just cheap laptops?
A prime example would by the new HP Mini 5101. It's clearly designed as a premium netbook, but the price is equally premium, so the cheapest you can find it for is 375 including VAT. Alternatively, you can get an Intel Celeron based Dell Inspiron laptop with a 15.6in screen for less than 300. It's larger and heavier though, so size is clearly a factor here.
Go on then, what the best netbook?
That's tricky , as there are so many on the market now to fit different wallet sizes and needs and more coming out all the time. For a starting point, check out our buyer's guide our current favourite is the Samsung NC20 a larger model offering the usability and build of a regular laptop at a netbook price.
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