Netbook

Netbook

Netbooks are laptops that are light-weight, economical, energy-efficient and especially suited for wireless communication and Internet access. Hence the name netbook (as "the device excels in web-based computing performance") rather than notebook which pertains to size.

Especially suited for web browsing and e-mailing, netbooks "rely heavily on the Internet for remote access to web-based applications" and are targeted increasingly at cloud computing users who rely on servers and require a less powerful client computer. While the devices range in size from below 5 inches to over 12, most are between 7 and 11 inches and weigh between 2 and 3 pounds.

Netbooks have a wide range of light-weight operating systems including Linux and Windows XP rather than more resource-intensive operating systems like Windows Vista as they have less processing power than traditional laptops.