In the latest issue of Wired (not yet available online), the mag gives major feature space to netbooks and their increased influence over not only buyers, but also computer manufacturers. I hadn’t really given any thought to netbooks before the article. They seemed like cheap, throwaway PCs and not something that would fill my needs. Now, I’m not so sure.

The piece gives an interesting history of the netbook, how they run on Linux, the leading makers (Asustek, Acer, HP, OLPC, Dell), how the netbook boom has affected traditional PC makers, how the boom is actually significantly more boomtastic outside the US and most importantly to me, how Clive Thompson, the writer actually used the netbook to get stuff done.

It’s all about the cloud, that buzzy techspeak of having all your computing needs done online. Thompson wrote the piece (at least part of it) in Google Docs. He has entertainment, photos, videos, music, etc. available online through various services and storage solutions. He couldn’t find his Photoshop disc to reinstall on his recently crashed non-netbook computer and actually used FotoFlexer to do all that he required, for free, online.

All that got my wheels turning because I tend to use my almost exclusively Internet related activities. I rarely use Photoshop at home anymore. I don’t do video editing. I rarely use Word or Excel. It does leave me in a lurch with my music and other random things that suck up space on my harddrive, though. Like many of us with gigs and gigs of music, a netbook just doesn’t cut it.

But if that’s the biggest issue, do I need a monstrously powerful Macbook? Do I even need more hardcore PC laptop? Right now, I dunno.

[Update: The OTHER thing that makes me uneasy about the netbooks is that they’re really tied to Wifi/Internet connection. That’s just not always available. Without access, I’d be SOL. Hmm.]