Michael Dell: Netbooks go sour after 36 hours

However, netbooks serve two important niches: people who want ultra-portables and people who want really cheap computers to do basic tasks. Those two sets can and do overlap somewhat.

For the latter group, one can argue that a really cheap notebook(or older desktop) would work as well as netbook.

As for me, the ultra-portability is the aspect that appeals the most. I remember paying ridiculous money for Toshiba Libretto P75 a long time ago.

More extreme portability(iPhone, N900, etc) are nice, but they are not running x86.

I've been thinking of buying one for the portability, but am worried that I'd keep going back to my workhorse laptop to do anything more than check email / browse the Web / use vim.