The skinny on netbooks

Looking for a lightweight laptop that doesn't cost a bundle? If all you need is to e-mail, surf the Web, and do a little word processing, a netbook might be a good choice.

A netbook is a downsized laptop with a 10-inch or smaller screen that weighs 2 to 3 pounds and costs $300 to $400, though with holiday season bundling deals and sales, you may be able to find one for even less. Some come from computer brands that are household names, like Acer, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, while others are from brands you may not have heard of.

Netbooks are hardly powerhouse computers. Their processors can be slow, because they're designed to minimize power consumption. The operating system is a lower-cost alternative, too, either Windows XP or a version of Linux. You'll probably get just 1GB of memory at most, a small hard drive of 80- or 160GB (or even less if you opt for a solid-state drive), and no CD or DVD drive.

And while a netbook might help avoid the backache you might get from lugging a heavier laptop around, it could still take a toll on your hands. The keyboards on many are small and uncomfortable. Left- and right-click keys are sometimes inconveniently placed on the side of the trackpad instead of at the bottom, and the trackpads themselves can be small. The only way to install new software is by using an external CD drive.

Still, their price and convenience make netbooks worth considering for limited uses, and they have more features than you might initially expect. Many have bright LED-backlit displays, a webcam and microphone, a headphone jack, and a couple of USB ports. And, of course, they've got Ethernet and WiFi capabilities.

We've just finished trying out six netbooks in our labs, including some of the latest models from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and MSI. We'll be posting our comparison of those models in this blog in the next couple of days. To see how they stack up, be sure to check back.

—Donna Tapellini