Study shows massive ongoing confusion over netbooks

In a world where the term "interwebs" is still used in a non-ironic manner, it shouldn't be surprising that there's confusion over the relatively new (and genuine) term "netbook."

Yet the amount of confusion over the term is far higher than even I would expect: So much so that a strong majority of netbook buyers are expressing disappointment over their purchase, victims of far higher expectations about what the devices can do than they can deliver.

For the uninitiated, netbooks are small and inexpensive laptop computers, often featuring stripped-down operating systems, minimal features, and rock-bottom performance. While some machines push the boundaries of what defines a netbook (including higher-power chips and features like 3G radios), they carry higher price tags too -- exactly what your average netbook buyer is trying to get away from.

The typical netbook runs about $400 these days, compared to $800 and up for a full-featured notebook. For buyers on a budget, that kind of cost savings is hard to ignore, though 59 percent of netbook purchasers were swayed primarily by portability rather than price.

NPD Group offers some sobering statistics about these netbook purchasers, with many seemingly regretting having taken this less expensive path. Most damning: 65 percent of purchasers aged 18 to 24 said they expected better performance than their netbook offered.

The report also raises some doubt over whether netbooks are being used in the way they were originally intended: Despite the fact that the majority of users claimed to be buying the machines for their portability, 60 percent of buyers said they'd never taken their netbooks out of their house. (Maybe they were too embarrassed.)

So what happens now? It's pretty clear that, as a category, netbooks aren't on the verge of immediate death -- though some are already chiseling tombstones -- but as netbooks get larger and more powerful, the question of cannibalization becomes an issue. At some point, the line between netbook and notebook is bound to get so blurry that the term loses relevance. And, really, for many of the more expensive netbooks on the market today, the only thing that makes them notably "netbookish" is a slightly smaller LCD and the fact that they don't have an optical drive.

Still, there's no stopping the netbook march as far as I can tell, at least for the foreseeable future. As it is, it's a rare day that goes by without some computer vendor announcing a new netbook hitting the market. But does that mean people really want to buy them? You tell me.

The full NPD report is available on a paid basis here.