Well, for many it really isn’t. The netbook has always been the dream of any computer geek who didn’t have $2000-3000 to spend on an ultraportable laptop. Asus made this dream come true one year ago when it launched the EEE PC series. The EEE is the successor of the One Laptop Per Child project. The first release of the series was the 701, which had a 7 inch screen, a 900MHz Intel Celeron Processor and not much else. The enthusiasts bought it right away, and so did many parents because the 701 was and still is the ideal computer for a child.

Still, the netbook lacked several features and many potential buyers still questioned if the trade-offs were worth it. There was no CD/DVD drive and most web pages didn’t fit on the screen because of its low resolution. Furthermore, the computer was supplied with a Linux distribution only and this held many users on buying the minicomputer. Yet, the Taiwan-based company demonstrated that a low-cost, portable computer is a feasible project.

Asus immediately sensed that this new device will get the attention of a lot of potential buyers and, therefore, further reiterations of the minicomputer appeared. The company released a bunch of models with bigger screens and better battery life. They also provided the new Intel Atom processor which doesn’t perform much better than the old Celeron, but it impressed with its low power consumption.

But it was not only Asus which felt that the netbook craze was getting bigger and bigger. HP, Acer, Dell and MSI quickly came with similar models like the MiniNote2133/1000 series, the Aspire One, the Mini 9 and the Wind. Besides different battery capacity, all current netbooks share virtually the same hardware. Along with the big companies, there were also other smaller manufacturers which tried to grow their income by releasing netbooks. This summer, there was a netbook launched almost every week. As a consequence, prices went down and sales went mad.

Today, the market has almost settled and analysts are starting to believe that the netbook represents the future of computers. Most of the time, these little devices cost almost half the price of a standard laptop and many people are ready to go for a 3-pound netbook with less features and 4-7 hours of battery life, rather than getting better specifications and 10 pounds around their necks.

Intel is ready to launch a dual-core processor for netbooks next year, so that users will be able to do more than just checking email, surfing the Internet or watching videos.