There was a time when I thought netbooks were a pretty silly idea. If you have a laptop, why bother with a mini version that is hamstrung in terms of features and has no optical drive?
I've done a 360 on that one, after using a Samsung N120 for a considerable period of time. This is now the computer I carry with me when I need to work out and about.
With files on a USB stick, a Vodafone broadband dongle and its own built in Wi-Fi it is all I need. I live without the optical drive, and love the long battery life which means I can manage for a weekend away without the power lead.
The N120 is a bit long in the tooth, and I've just been looking at a newer netbook from Samsung, the N210. There is lots to like about it, not least long battery life (again), a good screen, a superb keyboard that I can type on at near touch-typing speeds, and Windows 7.
But I'm not so sure about HyperSpace.
This is a secondary 'instant on' operating system that you can boot into when going into Windows 7 (Starter Edition) is too much of a faff. HyperSpace isn't, in fact, instant on. It takes a few seconds to get into. But once there you have access to the netbook's Wi-Fi and from that to the web, Twitter, gmail and other connected services. You can also use a word processor, RealPlayer, play a few games, and use a range of other applications.
If I had an N210 I'd probably steer clear of HyperSpace, to be honest, going for full blown Windows 7 all the time. But if you like the idea of secondary operating systems, this is one of the better, more rounded offerings I've seen.