Does anyone have one of these?  I think there is a real paradigm shift getting ready to take place for remote workers.  Many of us lug around a 10-15 lb full size laptop today.  This is something that I’ve really grown used to – I currently have a Toshiba laptop with a 17″ screen……..no I am not a gamer.  This is something I’ve been accused of because the size of my screen is bigger than most.  I think it’s more a case of bad eyesight than it is of me wanting to have something big and showy. 

Habits die hard which is why I’m not sure how quickly the new Netbook line of small laptops will become the norm, but it makes sense that most would migrate into that gap between the smartphone and the full sized traditional laptop at some point.  If you have an Apple iPhone and live in one of the football cities this may not be the right direction for you, but for many of us that live on the “edge” outside of 3G (3rd generation cell phone technology), a device like this makes tons of sense.  Accessing the Internet on a Blackberry device has been like pulling teeth.  It wasn’t until I upgraded to a 3G Tour smartphone that I could actually get online without pulling my hair out.  For those of you that know me, I don’t have much more to pull on these days.

Netbooks make a lot of sense – plans are only $40 or $60/month depending upon how often you think you’ll use it and how many uploads/downloads will be necessary each and every month.  Outside of the 200 Mb or 5 Gb of allowable monthly bandwidth you can jump onto the WiFi network inside most Starbucks, Barnes and Nobles, or McDonald’s.  The time on these  WiFi networks are ”FREE” and not part of your allocated data time.   Both AT&T and Verizon are now offering these plans, but the Netbooks offered from AT&T have larger hard drives (160 Gb vs. 80 Gb) and operate off the GSB standard which provides for a larger, worldwide footprint.

So if you want a handy device to get things done while you’re on the road, but you don’t want to carry around a 14 lb, 17″ screen laptop, check out a Netbook.  You’ll look current, and maybe even get a date while enjoying a latte.