I don’t know what it is about these fancy names that we have all come to love. Netbooks, nettops, and now smartbooks. Smartbooks are a new category of computers that are supposedly cheaper, lighter, and even more connected than netbooks. Smartbooks look very similar to Amazon Kindle or a UMPC XL. They use ARM CPUs that are more energy efficient than their Intel counterparts, and they will be using Linux. No wonder they’ll be cheaper than most netbooks. Best of all, some of these smartbooks can go as low as $99.

Smartbooks are not exactly ready for prime-time yet. But the idea is interesting to say the least. I always expected Amazon Kindle to go into this route, and Amazon may still do so. In the past few months, some of the laptop manufacturers have shot themselves in the foot by blurring the lines between netbooks and regular laptops. Devices such as smartbooks can help draw a line between an ultra mobile laptop and a regular one. And the price will work for a lot of people too.

It’d be interesting to see how much slack the wireless companies will cut for consumers when it comes to smartbook wireless plans, but it’d be good for consumers to have yet another portable machine to choose for their needs.