"Thanks to web applications, faster networks and technologies
such as VNC, GoToMyPC, LogMein and RDC, many applications that need
more computer horsepower can be run remotely.
"With such a limited range of needs and applications to cater
to, a full blown installation of Windows isn't necessary either:
Many netbooks are shipped with simple versions of Linux that make
it easy to carry out the limited tasks netbook users expect of
their machines.
"So netbooks have gone against the trend of providing more power
at a fixed price to providing a fixed amount of power at a lower
price. A netbook like the Acer Aspire One, with an Atom processor,
512Mb RAM and an 8GB solid state storage drive offers the power of
a state of the art laptop of a few years ago with a price tag of
just $319. There's a sort of inverse Moore's Law going on here: a
state of the art laptop of today like the 17" Apple MacBook Pro
with a Core Duo processor, 4GB RAM and 320Gb hard drive costs
$2,799. Something with a similar spec could be the netbook of 2011,
at a tenth of the price."
