Excellent design; great battery life; seamless 3G connection

Slower CPU leads to frustratingly sluggish performance

Nokia's entry in the crowded Netbook field shows that the company's hardware know-how translates to computer design, but a poor choice of CPU should give you pause.

Nvidia Ion graphics adds HD video and basic gaming functionality ; reasonably priced ; hi-def display

Annoying touch pad ; streaming Flash video support for new Nvidia Ion graphics is spotty ; 20 extra for a white lid, seriously

HP's Mini 311 adds a larger, high-definition display and advanced graphics to a basic Netbook, while keeping the price very appealing. Once it starts shipping with Windows 7, this could become our favorite Netbook.

Unique, rugged design ; excellent battery life

High-end Netbook price, without the high-end extras

Samsung brings a different look to a generic Netbook build with the N310, but is there any good reason this costs almost $500?

Feels faster than an Intel Atom Netbook, but keeps the price low ; high-def display

Uninspiring battery life ; terrible mouse buttons ; no Bluetooth

The 11-inch, AMD-powered Gateway LT3103u does well on price and performance, but drops the ball on battery life when compared with the competition.

High-res display ; cool color combos ; typical high-quality Sony construction and design

Poor battery life ; better display adds a $100 premium ; smallish keyboard ; loud fan

Attempting to create a premium-priced version of a Netbook, Sony has added an HD display to the Vaio W. It's an attractive step-up package, but the internal components are the same as are in cheaper models.

Bigger 11-inch, high-resolution screen ; overclockable CPU ; great battery life

Slightly slower and more expensive than standard Netbooks

Swelling the ranks of 11.6-inch Netbooks, the Asus Eee PC 1101HA impresses with its design and battery, but having to overclock a slower version of Intel's Atom CPU is a dodgy workaround.

Same basic chassis as Dell's more expensive Netbooks ; very low entry price

Limited configuration options ; inset screen is not as nice as the Mini 10's edge-to-edge glass

Dell's Mini 10v keeps a lot of the features of the more expensive Mini 10, while dropping the price below $300. It's one of only a handful of $299 Netbooks that doesn't look and feel especially cheap.

High-end extras including a higher-resolution screen and HDMI output ; very configurable, for a Netbook, including optional mobile broadband

Options drive the price up into mainstream laptop territory ; same basic chassis as the sub-$300 version of the Mini 10

Dell's popular Mini 10 is the most customizable Netbook we've seen. Adding extras such as a higher-resolution display makes it more useful, but also blurs the price line between Netbooks and mainstream laptops.

Rugged design with rubber cover ; touch-screen option

Tiny keyboard ; big and heavy for a Netbook

Aimed primarily at school kids, the Dell Latitude 2100 is an interesting new take on the Netbook. It's worth a look if the unique features--including an especially rugged design and a touch screen--are important to you.

Revamped version of one of our favorite Netbooks ; excellent keyboard and touch pad ; sturdy and durable ; includes accelerometer ; optional higher-resolution display

Loses its ExpressCard slot ; standard Netbook components at a premium price

HP's biz-minded Mini 5101 is a successor to the Mini 2140 (one of our all-time favorite Netbooks). It looks and feels great, but for a premium-price Netbook, we expect to get more features, not fewer.