I agree with James’ comment that while some users will pay a premium for small size, the target market is interested in price also. IMO netbooks need to be in the $300-$450 range, otherwise larger mainstream laptops offer better value for price sensitive buyers.

I too was rather surprised to read> “We’ll buy the powerhouse every time for the same bucks.”

Those of us actually “on the run” all the time want to lug as little as possible….and we do NOT need powerhouse computers….we need just enough computing power to get the job done and are much more concerned with battery life and portability. Geez, I would be so happy to just add WWLAN to something with the form factor of my ancient history HP Jornada 680….which way back in the late 1990s gave me 9 hour battery life and “instant on” and SSD ability that lasted entire my entire flight time from Los Angeles to London and nothing these days seems to give me as much ability to accomplish as much work in a pocketable factor (the latest to dash my hopes was the 1 hour battery Willcom D4…what a joke!).

I understand what you are saying. But, for these OEMs to make any money producing netbooks they must have big sales numbers. That means they need to sell them to the mass market, not just mobile geeks like us. That’s why they need to compete on price with the bigger laptops because that’s what mainstream consumers are buying now.

As for me, I’ve been paying a premium for mobility for years.

1 clearly has the power advantage, 1 clearly has the portability advantage. that then makes them even in their respective tradeoffs.

so why does the MSI Wind ALSO have to be cheaper on top of it? it sounds like James wants them to be everything.

your logic is flawed & what your asking for is unfair.

and the argument that “they have to be cheaper to compete” is false also. 1st, these subnotes are not competing against standard laptops. 2nd, the HP Mini proved you dont have to be cheap to still be a huge success.

then you are not a true mobile user.

keep pushing your lame power argument all you want. but personally i dont need that kind of power. if Lenovo 3000 & MSI Wind are both $600, i will still take the MSI Wind. i dont mind trading off size for performance.