Well the Netbooks are using smaller lower powered processors. In effect they have the same sort of computing power as an average 4 year old laptop. They tend to have a 1GB of RAM but with a modern sized hard disk (for a laptop not a desk top - so you won't get 1 TB of space)

The idea behind these Netbooks is that they are smaller lighter and last for longer on batteries. They are meant to be more portable particularly compared with some large screened laptops with desktop processing powers on the market.

Basically if you want something for a couple of years (say 3) and you want to email, surf the web, and do a bit of word processing then I guess they'd be fine. Over here they retail for about 200 euros upwards (probably for about the same money in USD where you are). If you want to do gaming and 3D CAD modeling then this is not the option for you!