This shouldn't come as a shock to anyone, but due to the recent economic times combined with the development of new cheaper more efficient technology, Netbooks are pouring off shelves while Notebook sales remain flat.

When you really break it down, most notebook consumers are not impressed with mobile gaming cards or expensive quadcore chipset technology. The majority of mobile PC users want something fast, allows access to the internet, cheap with long battery life. These features are exactly what netbooks bring you.

Now we are seeing netbooks and mini-notes reach 10 to 12 inch screen sizes.

Source

It is blurring the line now within "net"-books and notebooks. If they are pushing to include the 12" as part of net-books, then it is showing that net-books per sé have lost their appeal in the small screen and portability. I always travel with my old old and beat up 12" MSI.

cheers ...

I am seeing them everywhere. I just don't like it when someone sees my Ferrari and is like "Oh, is that a netbook?"

Hi Michelle, yes, that must be a bit offputting !

Although I've noticed that young people are a little put off the netbooks because they
don't incorporate CD/DVD burner (yet).

Yeah, I hate when my 12" ultraportable Dell Latitude X1 is seen as a netbook.

This will be interesting now that Intel is (stop) making real "netbook" processors???

"...Intel obviously wants vendors to migrate to upcoming Pine Trail CPUs, and Z-series Atoms were never meant for netbooks anyway. In spite of that, quite a few vendors, including Acer, MSI, Dell and Asus used them in their netbook designs. The decision will affect all of them, especially Dell, MSI, and to some extent, Acer."

Source.

cheers ...

Too bad the Toshiba NB100-11R is only available in the UK? It's certainly one of the more stylish netbooks out there for a decent price.

It makes sense the netbooks would dominate because most people only use their computers for email, web browsing and word processing. With a netbook, you spend less, have a lighter system to carry around and can do just about everything you want to do. However, for people who actually get work done on their computers, a laptop is required. I can't imagine getting anything done in the complex spreadsheets I work with and all the other stuff I need to get done using my HP Mini Mi.