Netbooks started out as cheap, barebones laptops to access the net. Screens were poor and very small, keyboards cheap and tiny, storage almost non-existent.

And then some bright spark realised that for a few pounds more you could actually make a device that would work - and work well.

This is the key to the success of today’s cheap netbooks and now everybody wants one. You keep the screen small, but make it a quality TFT display. You expand the keyboard to as big as you can make it so the netbook is good for typing on. And then you stick a 160G hard disk into your netbook.

Add Windows XP - or even better, add Linux and save even more money - and for under £300 you’ve got an ultra-portable laptop computer that will do everything you ask of it.

No need for a desktop PC, no need for a laptop, you can connect to the internet with your netbook and watch live tv online or use it as a standalone computer running all the usual applications.

Netbooks today are so cheap but compare favourably against laptop computers from just a few years ago. Look at the Samsung NC10 netbook in gleaming white, and look no further. As cheap netbooks go it’s a nice model and it’s all the computer you need. Its battery lasts for 7 hours so no searching for powerpoints, it’s light enough to carry anywhere, small enough to fit in your pocket, and well-designed enough to work with all day.