The only thing that defines the current "netbook" category is that a few of those low-powered laptops have fallen below the magical $500 price point without being excruciatingly slow to use, as long as you're only doing some light web browsing.

Three or four years in the future, lightweight portables at the $300 price point will be fully capable of gameplay and multimedia, and will therefore shed the "netbook" moniker.

To me, Google's strategy is ridiculous: developing an operating system for a form-factor defined by limitations that will evaporate in a few years' time.

Reminds me of the set-top "internet appliance" devices that were being (unsuccessfully) marketed in the mid 1990's. A few people bought them, for a few years, but before long the notion of spending $400 on an inherently crippled device became laughable. As desktop computer prices reached the $500 - $800 price range, no one was willing to lay down the benjamins for an internet device that couldn't support general-purpose computing tasks.

However, most business users will eventually be able to do everything they need on a simple portable phone/computer that drops into a docked keyboard and screen.

yeah i might not want to code entire flex apps, great little tool for doing all sorts of other stuff... need to log a client meeting on basecamp... i'd rather use my netbook...

netbooks even give ebook readers a run for their money... you can do so much with a netbook and the price is not that bad...

i know my parents laptops are a total waste all they do is check email and surf the web, that makes netbooks the perfect computer for them...

yeah i might not be able to carry it in my pocket but its light enough to carry in my backpack, even my girlfriend loves them beause they actually fit inside her bag... on a netbook you can experience the web in all its glory including flash, a far better net experience than an iphone in my opinion...

@rich btw apple did enter the netbook arena with macbook air and completely failed because of they just didn't get the fact that people don't want spend that much money on a technology that is supposed to be really cheap and accessible...

would be cool to see apple catch a wake up and significantly drop the price of the macbook air...

I feel a "netbook" is really just a cheap, small laptop. I remember in the late 90's when my neighbor had one of these (they called it a booktop then, and it was really expensive rather than cheap) So, regardless, I am ready and willing to move to the region, and would already be there if I had the extra money to throw around.