@ the post by Ben:
The classification of a device as enterprise or consumer often doesn’t have anything to do with the power of the device. Rather it usually refers to the support models that are put in place for the device. For example, my company uses Dell servers, desktops and mobile devices. When Dell classifies a device as enterprise it means that they will provide a higher level of support for it. They strategically place and stock enterprise parts warehouses around the country so that they can deliver the parts to you within the time specified in your support contract. Often they can have a replacement part to you within 4 hours (and always within 24 hours). Consumer products most often don’t provide that same level of response.

Also with Dell enterprise products they have a guarantee that they will manufacture and sell the exact model for a minimum of 18 months. This is important to corporate IT departments because they do not want to have spend resources to constantly update their OS images and driver sets to accommodate changing models. They are guaranteed that they will be able to purchase the exact same device for at least that time period (and usually longer). Consumer products do not have have this same guarantee, a certain model can be here then gone within a couple months, and often can contain different hardware components from one day to the next.

These same points would apply to netbooks that are classified as enterprise. A couple of us techs at my site are now evaluating different netbook makes and models in order to determine if they could be a possible solution for deployment within our enterprise. We have actually setup a forum at http://www.netbookinsider.com in order to discuss the different makes/models/options that we are considering. We invite everyone to stop to stop by and share their thoughts, opinions and findings with us, as it will help us in making a determination on what solution we will present to our Enterprise Technology committee, while all the while developing into a netbook resource for general users (hope that isn’t too spammy).

XP, while being the OS of choice at the moment and for most of 2009, will definitely be on the way out for netbooks. Win7 will be a much better alternative when it is released next year, and with Intel’s Pineview solution being released early next year as well (coinciding with the HP 2133 refresh I must add) the enterprise will be a fast-growing segment for netbook sales next year.

Eventually Medfield will enter the market in 2010, pushing performance even further. Win7 on a Medfield netbook will be the killer combination to look out for.

Netbooks are certainly useful for many people working in the corporate world.
However, if you happen to be working in the finance industry then it might be slightly underpowered if you have to work with massive excel spreadsheets

I still don’t understand the difference between an “enterprise” computer (n*book or otherwise) and a “consumer” computer. You buy the computer that fits your needs. I can’t imagine that many “enterprise” folks use more than the general office and internet programs, and of course a netbook is suitable for that. Of course, if you need a more powerful computer for some specific reason, then you get that.

How can an “enterprise” netbook (or otherwise) be any different than a “normal” netbook??

We bought a netbook for travelling. At home we can plug a full-sized USB keyboard into it, and connect video to an LCD monitor. For a vast majority of what we do, it’s fine!

not surprised one bit. and this is why some of the big names was late to market. this basically undermines the point of the 12″ ultraportables that they have so happily been supplying to the business grade customers.

i swear, most computers used on offices are just terminals to the mail and calender server, and maybe the ability to type up a letter or memo (word-processor/typewriter)…

When I ran an IT department, the executives were always begging me for smaller, lighter notebooks. Some of them used their phones, but they wanted something really easy to carry and not too big. Most executive users only need email and browsing and a lot of them find the Blackberry a little too limiting when they travel.

Consultants who move around to different clients and who may use client computers, still need notebooks for carrying reference data and stuff related to their own companies. I worked for a consulting company for a while that would have found netbooks to be a perfect solution.

A Netbook like the samsung NC10 with some docking solution would IMO suit 90% of users everywhere be they enterprise or otherwise.

The vast bulk of modern computer users rarely venture beyond the browser and office applications

Vista would definitely be an operating system of choice. The improvements in Battery life warrant the use of Vista. In addition, the OS seems to work surprisingly well even with 1GB RAM. With the introduction of SP2 the OS will only improve.

I know a few VPs of a very large company that have Mini 9s. They use netbooks for their size while traveling. The VPs that are using them can order anything they want and normally walk around with 3k plus ultraportables with 4 gb of RAM and 128 GB SSDs. Yet they choose the Mini 9 for some reason on short trips.