The netbook market is one of the hottest segments of the computer market. These little portable machines are not only fun but are life saver to a lot of business people and individuals around the world. True netbooks are supposed to be portable, energy efficient, and cheap. But that doesn’t mean companies will not use the netbook name to push their other laptops. First we had the netbooks. Small, compact laptops that let people produce and consume content on the Internet. As the market started growing fast, companies suddenly started renaming their fully-fledged laptops netbooks. And now almost anything is called a netbook it seems.

A laptop that only lasts you 1.5 hours per each battery charge and weighs 5 lbs is not a netbook. Nor is one that comes with a 14 inch screen. If netbook manufacturers want to add tablet features to their netbooks, that’s great. But not all tablets are netbooks either. It’s not hard to see where the industry is headed to. The lines between laptops, netbooks, and tablets are becoming awfully blurry. The good news is a few companies realize the whole concept behind making netbooks and are keep lowering their prices. It would be dangerous for netbook manufacturers to start charging more for devices that are not meant to be high-performance laptops.

My hunch is the netbook market will continue to grow in the next few months. The lines between netbooks and laptops will become more blurry, and consumers will need to pay extra attention to what they want to get from their next machine. But it’s not hard to see cheaper machines succeed especially if the recession continues.