What you'd call a small laptop is being marketed as a netbook now, & there are vast numbers of 'em on the market. Tesco has 62 on its website, called netbooks.
Agreed, it's a semantic thing. "Netbook" always covered a range. The bottom end is probably transmuting into tablets & spoiled phones, & the term now means the top end, i.e. the bottom end of the laptop range. As with 'notebook', it's a marketing term. But there is certainly a market - and a pretty big one - for what it now refers to, i.e. mobile internet enabled mini-laptops, & I foresee that market continuing to thrive.
My problem with 'em is the performance/Windoze thing. One of my main reasons for wanting one is to use it for applications which, because of the user base, are overwhelmingly Windows-only. Mac versions are often available, but usually a generation or three behind the Windows releases. You want a Linux version? Dream on . . . 
I'm therefore pretty well stuck with Windows.
By netbook, I've always meant something with a smaller form factor - so 2/3rd size keyboard etc. like my Acer Aspire. One thing the concept of netbook has done is demonstrated the point that devices weighing four kilogram and with battery life below two hours stretch the definition of portable. Technology and finally battery life has changed that and I totally agree that there is a big market for the new devices whatever we opt to call them. For cut-down laptops, no. I think my initial point, somewhat lost in this, is that for a few grams more, users can get a full-size keyboard, ample resolutions, and effectively a full laptop. That'll win out. It'll probably cost more, but tech companies don't want to sell you cheap stuff on low margins.
Anyway, I'm buying a MacBook Air. I've no idea if its a netbook or mini-laptop, but I have verified that it's shiny.
Like I said, this is semantics, what you'd call a netbook, I'd call a small laptop. It's all to do with sizes and formats, most users have moved beyond what's inside,
As someone who works for a chip-design company, I disagree.
As one of the mugs that has to sell technology to the masses, I'd disagree. Computers are rapidly becoming commodity items like TVs and toasters. People want to plug them in and do their email, update Facebook, tweet that they're on the bog, that kind of thing. They don't much care if it's a Pentanium x9 quadra apple-core under the hood provided their videos don't stutter. It's a like a fridge, I care that my beer is perfectly chilled, not what the wattage of the compressor is.
