For a long time, 10.2 inch netbooks were king in the netbook market. But in the past few months we have seen more companies. Dell has already jumped in the netbook market with its Dell Mini 12 laptops. And Acer and other companies are expected to launch their own 12 inch netbooks in the near future. 8.9 and 10 inch netbooks target a niche market. They are designed for folks who don’t mind smaller screens as long as they get a portable device that they can take with them during their trips. However 12 inch netbooks are getting awfully close to the laptop territory. Can they actually compete with regular laptops?

Netbooks are wonderful devices, but when you start charging close to $600 for them, you are getting into a dangerous territory. Netbooks were designed to be cheap, compact, and powerful at the same time. Some companies don’t really seem to understand the difference between a netbook and a laptop. Will 12 inch netbooks be game changers? I doubt it. There will always be folks who don’t mind paying a bit more to get a larger screen on their netbook, but the question at this point is “how much more?”

Your take: how much more would you be willing to pay for large screen netbooks?

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