Those of us who are technologically challenged might not know the difference between a laptop and a netbook.  There are major differences between the laptop and the netbook.  The term laptop is really a misnomer and first used in 1983 with the Gavilan SC.  Due to heat and other issues, most laptops are unsuitable for use in one’s lap for an extended period of time. A laptop includes most of the usual workings of the typical desktop computer.  They both have a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and a battery.  A laptop’s rechargeable battery is charged for an AC/DC adapter and usually can run the laptop for several hours. A laptop computer will house a built-in disk drive unit.  A CD/DVD ROM drive is already in the unit or the unit has a bay in which to insert a removable CD ROM drive.  The display unit measure 15 inches wide diagonally.   There are other features of a laptop computer to consider.  A standard laptop computer has a 14″ to 17″ (widescreen) TFT screen, a large full featured keyboard, and 3 hours+ battery life.  A laptop is upgradeable with integrated modem, network, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities.

Standard laptops have low power consumption.  A laptop is a small, moveable computer and is designed in the flip form factor to protect the screen and keyboard when closed.  The introduction of the netbook is relatively recent.  The first netbooks were Psion’s discontinued netBook line, the Palm Foleo and also the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC).  They were all small, light network-enable computer.  Netbooks began to draw market interest with the introduction of ASUS Eee PC by Asus in 2007.  The ASUS Eee PC weighed approximately 2 pounds and featured a display measuring 7 inches.  The keyboard was 85% the size of a normal keyboard.  The device’s measurements were 8.9 x 6.5 inches and included a custom version of Linux with a basic user interfaced specifically geared for netbook use.  Other versions have followed such as Everex’s CloudBook, Dell’s Inspiron Mini and Hewlett-Packard’s HP Mini.  Size is the major distinction between laptops and netbooks.  While laptops typically weight between 3 to 12 pounds, netbooks are significantly smaller in size and weight.  Netbooks weigh approximately 2 to 3 pounds.  Also, the size for a netbook ranges from 5 inches to over 13 inches.  Laptops usually are approximately 15 inches wide.

An increasing trend is that more consumers are buying netbooks compared to purchases of laptops.  In late 2008, it was evident that netbooks were taking market share away from laptops.  In 2007, 400,000 netbooks were sold.  The netbook sales figure for 2008 was 11.4 million netbooks.  Sales projections for 2009 are estimated that 35 million netbooks will be purchased this year.   Consumers like the portability of the netbook.

Compared to the laptop, a netbook has only limited functions.  The naming of the netbook is a combination of the words Internet and notebook.  It is a class of laptops computers that are geared towards access to the Internet and wireless communication.  That is, a  netbook’s function is to allow web browsing and emailing capabilities.  Further, netbooks rely almost exclusively on the Internet for remote access to web-based applications.  Linus or Windows XP are the normal operating systems used to operate netbooks.

In conclusion, the best laptops are designed to be able to replace an entire desktop PC.  It also offers desktop performance in a portable platform.  Netbooks are designed to offer Internet access and email capabilities in a small portable device which allow people to get online and do basic tasks just about anywhere.