Netbooks are small portable computers made for more price sensitive markets; they're basically laptops made using cheap and efficient components. Either the recession had a perfect timing, or Asus planned it well, we don't know, but the fact is that demand for cheap laptops have been increasing ever since these small laptops were introduced three years ago.
A common feature(or limitation) in netbooks was that they weren't as fast as other full-fledged notebooks. They had a small screen, a small efficient processor and just as much ram as the computer really had to have. They weren't much good for anything else than browsing websites, and that approach is starting to take a new direction nowadays. There are dual core variations of the slow Atom processor, and bigger computers are built using them.
A single core atom renders a browser, gets you through the day given that your day is mostly about communicating with other people through IM services or e-mail. Once you run into High Definition movies, or HD streaming media the steam escapes and the little netbook is brought to its knees, that's where a dual core atom would come handy, but do you really need these processors?
Dual core netbooks are fitted with these processors and usually a stronger graphic core to play HD videos, some older games and even the most detailed flash content. Not something you come across during a day on the move, and definitely something you don't use your netbook for if you have anything else. These new processors are most probably utilized now to keep the demand for netbooks on the rise, more power, more connectors, bigger screen.
It caters for other markets, people who considered 10" too small to comfortably work on and 10 hours battery life unnecessarily much for their needs. These are the people who pay 5 hours of mobile use for another extra core, a reasonably fast graphic core and more memory. It's more about blurring the line between normal size notebooks and netbooks than anything else, and considering that the price falls just between the two categories some people may find them appealing.
For hardcore netbook fans these computers are too bulky and they still think that a netbook should be ultra portable, work for many hours on a single charge, even if these features come at the expense of Dual Core Atom performance. Who knows, both groups are convinced that they're right, one thing is clear though, if you divide the price with performance these computers give you get two similar numbers for both categories, so the only thing you need to decide is if you want the bigger one, or the smaller one.
