Netbooks?

Computers used to be the size of large rooms, consuming enormous amounts of power and requiring a full time staff of employees to run and maintain them. That was about 40 years ago. Now, desktops are gradually being replaced by laptops that can do more every day. Recently however, there has been a new generation of laptops with lesser processing power, smaller hard drive, memory, weight, and screen size that are targeted at people who use computers to browse the web and use the word processor or spreadsheet. These new laptops are called "Netbooks."

As the name suggests, these smaller laptops are made to browse the internet and have basic functionality because people seem to just want a laptop that is light, cheap, and can handle the necessities. Netbooks are being powered more by Intel's new Atom processors. Extremely small
and versatile, Intel's Atom processors are shaping the future of the mobile computing industry.

In addition to having the speed of regular processors, Atom processors also consume about half the power of a regular processor. Couple that with Solid State Hard Drives that consume about one tenth of the usual power consumption of a regular hard drive, it equates into a laptop that is not only cheaper, but can also last longer and more lightweight than its regular sized counterparts.

If versions of Atom processors make their way to mobile devices such as cell phones, then we might be looking at the possibility of integrating much of the functionality of a laptop into a cell phone better than it has been done before and with greater flexibility.