The ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Netbook and the Samsung NC10-14GBK 10.2-Inch Netbook are the two netbooks which I’m currently most interested in. The ASUS at $374 is almost $65 cheaper right now than the Samsung and *looks* to be the better deal. However, I’m still on the fence about the usefulness of a netbook for somebody that has an iPhone and a MacBook 13″ (i.e., me). My short lived trial with the HP 1033CL netbook from Costco a few months ago showed me what having a netbook was like: I simply didn’t use it very much (probably because the iPhone is even more portable/convenient than the netbook and perfectly fine for most of my email needs and when I need a computer, then my MacBook is there).
I can see how if I was traveling more how a netbook could be a good alternative to dragging along the MacBook but again, we’re only talking about a difference of 3″ in size and the MacBook has a lot more going for it than either the ASUS or Samsung. Plus, I’m used to taking the MacBook with me to school four days a week so the ‘hassle’ of lugging it around is not that big a deal since it does what I need it to do. If I didn’t already own the MacBook, then perhaps the idea of a netbook might make more sense to me. Right now, the netbook form factor is more of a curiosity than a necessity.