HOWEVER, the 1.6gHz Atom processor isn’t beefy enough to do everything that my 13″ unibody MB can, and expecting it do be as powerful isn’t realistic. This isn’t a gaming machine, and will never be one. People need to understand what these machines are good at:

eMail
Web Surfing
Document Editing (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
Remote Desktop client use

I use it on the office network to remote back to my machine so I can do some work while in meetings. The graphics card isn’t great, but all I need it to do is push and pull data through a wireless connection. My office desktop does all the heavy lifting.

These things are great for high school/college kids who need something to do homework on. They’re great for cloud computing. They’re great for meeting hoppers who need something to take notes on (they’re light and very portable). They can even do some basic digital camera/digital photo processing, as long as you don’t need to do a BOAT load of picture tweaking. It runs Kodak EasyShare software very well (tho I wouldn’t want to do that without the extra gig of RAM…).

You’re NOT going to be able to play Halo on this thing. Don’t think that you are.

As long as you know what to expect and are using it for the right tasks, a netbook should be a good, economically sound choice for many people. If you’re going to do anything graphics or processor intensive that requires more than 1-2GB of RAM, then a netbook likely isn’t the right choice for you.

I guess many people still don’t understand the netbook market and are simply attracted to the price point. This is a basic-basic computer and not an IBM mini (mainframe styled computer). Once they understand what it can and cannot do, then they’ll either buy one or opt out for a more powerful laptop (like Mitchell’s 13″ MBP, for instance… its small, but packs a decent punch). Netbooks only offer a “jab” and not a knock-down punch.

This is why when I was speaking to my auntie about ordering her a laptop (he only computer) I recommend she not get one of the small $700 netbooks, because for the same sort of money she could get a ripper of a Dell. The price of regular notebooks is too close to netbooks to choose a netbook on price along, and to get the smaller size, you have to give up more than many people realise.

I think it is all about managing expectations. If folks expect a Dell XPS with a 10″ screen they will NEVER be happy, even with the Ion. I was OK with my HP2133 running Vista … but much happier with the Lenovo running XP. I would be disappointed with Linux, as it would fail to meet some of my goals …

Even with Windows on it, I have 3 people here at work who purchased various Eee PC’s and they all love them.

Nvidia will change this with the introduction of their Ion graphics chips which are tailor made for netbooks.

I am not quite sure who NPD is surveying!