I've never understood the term netbook. These things aren't great for surfing the web.

I've got a Dell Mini9 and added 2GB of RAM and a 32GB SSD. All in all it cost less than $300, but color me underwhelmed. I can't really find a use for the thing. The keyboard is too cramped and the screen is too small/low resolution to do any work on. The CPU/SSD is too slow for flash based video sites or most 720p content. Looking up web content on-the-go is accomplished much easier on my cell phone.

I guess the battery life is nice, but at 4-5 hours it's not really spectacular. Plus I've never used it for more than 20 minutes (it's 2 months old and still has that new laptop smell when I open it up). Maybe it would be nice on a plane, but it's been ages since I've been on a flight that didn't have power plugs in every seat.

For $300 it really is an impressive little machine. It runs Windows 7, Ubuntu, and OSX adequately (though none of these OSes are cut out for a 1024x600 screen). For me it's become essentially a toy, and one I don't really want to play with. I think I'd rather have spent double or even triple the amount for a 12 inch notebook with faster hardware. Live and learn.

I'd thought of getting one since they are usually a bit cheaper than a laptop but you kinda get what you pay for... which isn't a whole lot. Netbooks seem kind of like an unnecessary middleground between the smartphone thing and a real laptop -- you get the same functionality of one, but none of the power of the other so... what's the point?

You said a lot of interesting things, but the thing that caught my eye was your comment about plane seats having power outlets. None of my econo class domestic flights have had seats with power plugs, even for the 5-hour flights. Boo.

Maybe it's just the Asian carriers. I've just had good luck with Singapore Air, Cathay Pacific, and China Eastern. I figured if China Eastern had them, everybody must.