A Holiday Shopping Guide for Netbooks

They are the hottest computers around. Those little laptop computers are in such demand that stores can't keep them in stock.

The official term for these micro-notebooks is "netbook" -- a combination of network connections and notebook.

They are super lightweight (two to three pounds), with small screens, small keyboards, small storage capacities, small amounts of memory, wireless connectivity, power-friendly processors and very low prices.

HP sold the first netbook a decade or so ago, but it was Asus, a Taiwanese company, which popularized the modern-day netbook with its Eee PC.

In the year or so since Asus introduced the first Eee model (a 7-inch screen running a form of the Linux OS), it has come out with dozens of different models with screens as large as 10.2 inches, a choice of different brands of Linux or Microsoft's (MSFT Quote)Windows XP operating system, flash storage memory or hard drive, and a dazzling array of styles and colors.

With the holiday shopping season approaching, many other companies, including Dell (DELL Quote), Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ Quote)and MSI, have followed Asus' lead and introduced their own little netbooks. All are priced competitively with popular models selling in the $350 to $500 range depending upon the choice of features and options.

You can see recent reviews of some of my favorite netbooks here, here , here and here.

The big question for this holiday shopping season is whether or not a netbook is the right computer for you. The answer depends on what you're looking for in a portable computer.