A popular question on a lot of minds. The netbook vs laptop debate or question is one that needs an answer and I’m here to give you the updated and most current answer. Sure this is one mans opinion but I can tell you that I have debated this netbook vs laptop question for a year or two. What you will get is a lot of rubbish out there. Yes, rubbish from even the most “expert” and “egotistical” laptop writers. Sure they know it all but they can’t even sort out the netbook vs laptop debate amongst themselves. A confused lot? You bet.

If you’re looking for a which is better debate in netbook vs laptop then I can tell you there is no clear winner. It really does come d

own to whether you are looking for a 10 inch “netbook” or a 11 inch or greater size “laptop”. Now of course I have a different view on screensize which I get into later. In most cases, netbook will save you money whereas a laptop will empty your wallet.

Let me break this netbook vs laptop debate and simplify your life as a consumer. Will others follow this simple logic about netbooks vs laptops? Probably not.

Is netbook vs laptop based on the argument that a netbook is powerless and only good for basic tasks? Is a laptop something that can power through most tasks and that the whole “netbook vs laptop” debate in a nut shell? I think not. It’s actually much more simple than that.

Netbook – defined to me as a secondary portable laptop.

Laptop – defined as a fully functional primary computer. Laptop was consider the portable computer, but that segment has been expanded with the netbook computer.

Trust me, in 2011 this is the lay of the land. In the greatest sense, laptop was created to be a portable computer. Sure in the beginning it was portable. We can laugh now at that thought now that netbooks are here right? Since the early days of the laptop, we progressed with technology. Largely thanks to the Intel Atom processor, there became a new portable laptop that had amazing battery life and was small and was light weight. The netbook is the new category. A netbook is a portable secondary laptop. The netbook reinvented our notion of portable.

It’s not the laptop that you will be using at home for one reason. It’s not because of power, speed or battery life. It will essentially come down to screen size. In most cases a screen size of 12 inches or less and the smaller keyboard that comes with a small laptop like a netbook is not ideal when you have a full size home PC or home laptop that has a nice 15 inch or 22 inch display. Trust me, I don’t spend time on my netbook at home because I have a 24 inch monitor. Could the netbook vs laptop debate be simply laid to rest and settled by screensize alone? Trust me I wish this were the case but instead you have experts out there who want to muddle the waters and confuse the consumers. Of course the manufacturers don’t want “netbook” to describe their 11 inch and 12 inch laptops because they are afraid of preconceived notions about people thinking their 11 inch laptop is gutless. Not only that, but netbooks likely come at a cheaper price point and I’m sure the manufacturers fear that also.

People may distinguish a netbook vs laptop based on price, but this is false. Afterall if you put a powerful Intel iCore processor in an 11 inch or 12 inch laptop, it still doesn’t mean it’s your main home laptop or computer. Sure it’s fast but it’s still small and not ideal as a primary computer. So if you beef up a laptop with expensive procesors, GPU’s, RAM and large storage, it still doesn’t change the primary purpose. If it’s 12 inches or less it’s still a secondary laptop. Do you see where I’m going with this?

Another argument on netbook vs laptop is power. When you get an 11 inch laptop with a great processor it still doesn’t make it a primary computer (laptop). It’s still going to be a great laptop, but it’s a premium netbook. Netbooks perhaps in the first generation were underpowered but they have evolved. Unfortunately you have a lot of blogs and websites out there who are stuck in the past. They think if it’s not gutless or if it has premium components, that suddenly it’s not a netbook. I say rubbish. It is a netbook, but it’s simply a premium netbook. The point is that it’s still a secondary laptop.

So you’ve heard my opinions on netbook vs laptop. What about the other so called technology “experts”? I will summarize a few key points of their netbook vs laptop debates. Some say netbook is 10 inches and less. Anything about 10 inches is a laptop. Some people say that expensive and not cheap is a laptop and not a netbook. Some say that netbook is gutless and laptop means powerful.

So are you wondering if a netbook vs laptop debate should determine what is the best choice for you to buy? This really comes down to who you ask. Are they all laptops? Sure, I suppose so. I’m in the minority when it comes to breaking down the difference between netbook vs laptop simply by the screen size. Oh well, I will continue this quest for logical and simplistic definitions so that the consumer out there can steer clear of the manure.