You see them on tables in coffee shops, under the arms of college students and on the laps of travelers waiting for a flight. Called “netbooks” or “mini-notebooks,” these small, lightweight and relatively affordable computers are one of the hottest tech toys of the year. Popularized by Asus Eee PCs, which start at $269, netbooks are designed for basic tasks — Web surfing, e-mail and word processing. That’s just fine for some folks. These sleek WiFi-enabled computers are usually limited in capacity, and to keep costs down, often ship with the open source Linux operating system.
