It seems that netbooks are the hottest things since sliced bread. At the same time, you might remember my article a while back that explained why netbooks are already obsolete. In the interest of fairness and balance, I thought it would only be fitting to give the flip side of that argument, discussing the reasons why a netbook should be an integral part of your digital lifestyle.

Do you own a netbook yet? If not, maybe you should consider it.

The Advantages of a Netbook Over a Notebook

Going back to my earlier article about why netbooks are already obsolete, one of the reasons that I provide is that netbooks are not as cost-effective as they could be. For the price of a suitable netbook, you’d be getting pretty close to buying a budget-minded notebook. While there are certainly exceptions, I think it’s fair to say that most notebooks are going to be more powerful than just about any netbook. This rationale overlooks one very crucial selling point for netbooks: they’re much more portable.

Sure, you could spend $500 on a cheap laptop and while it may not be the sexiest computer on the block, it’ll be able to handle most of the basic tasks that you throw at it. However, more likely than not, this $500 notebook is going to be a 15-incher. That’s a fair bit bigger (and heavier) than a netbook.

In order to get into a new 11- or 12-inch notebook PC, you can expect to spend a fair bit more than $500.

Further still, you don’t necessarily need to spend $400 or $500 on a netbook. It doesn’t take much shopping around to find a deal on a refurbished Acer Aspire One, for example. These cheaper netbooks can handle basic Internet tasks without a hitch and they come in at a pinch over $200. I doubt you can find a new laptop for $200, refurbished or not, 15-inch or not.

Have Netbook, Will Travel (And Be Entertained)

Alright, you probably won’t be able to slot that netbook into your back pocket (it’s also unlikely that you have a rear end as attractive as the model above), but I think we’d all agree that netbooks are a fair bit more portable than their larger laptop cousins.

Both in terms of physical size and in terms of weight, netbooks can be better travel companions than regular laptops. Popping the Eee PC or HP Mini-Note into your backpack at school is probably easier than trying to shoehorn a larger Dell Inspiron or Compaq Presario in there.

The same can be said about when you go on vacation. Wouldn’t you rather have a little netbook in your carry-on rather than a bulky notebook?