In a trial by AT&T, consumers in Atlanta can get a "netbook" for $50 when you sign up for their internet service. The netbook differs from a regular PC because the new breed of PCs are built to connect to and run applications on the network. The netbooks are much thinner and smaller and are configured with less features than a regular PC. The also won't run out of battery nearly as fast.

Is this a game changer? DisplaySearch, a unit of the NPD Group comments, "With the economic crisis on everyone's minds, many buyers are adjusting their discretionary spending and purchasing mini-notes as lower-priced alternatives to notebook PCs." The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that the market for netbooks will be growing by 65 percent this year compared to 3 percent for regular PCs. The New York Times suggests that the netbook could control 10 percent of the PC market by the end of 2009.

This new trend is troubling for Microsoft because the netbooks are typically based on a operating system called Linux and the inside of the netbook looks more like a cell phone than a Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft is working on a version of their operation system to work with the traditionally lower cost netbooks.

It is not out of the question that very soon some cellular phone company will offer a netbook for free if you sign up for their internet and data service. That is a game changer and most of the industry is taking notice. Writer Michael Horowitz commented on netbooks, "I think that Netbooks will be the first computer for a whole generation of children, starting, perhaps, as early as the upcoming holiday season (said in late 2008). Netbooks will help and benefit from the transition away from plastic DVDs as a movie medium to electronic media."

Not everyone is is singing the netbook's praises. Michael Arrington, comments in and article on TechCrunch called Three Reasons why Netbooks Just Aren't Good Enough, "I find Netbooks unusable for three reasons: they’re underpowered as PCs, the screen is too small for web surfing, and the keyboard is so small that effective typing is impossible. The basic problem as I see it: Netbooks are designed to appeal to two very different markets - the price sensitive and the size sensitive. The two are really mutually exclusive."