More and more is being written every day about the disruptive nature of netbook technology. A sub-niche category of this is the "disruptive nature of Rugged Netbooks" and what that influence will mean for a larger rugged portable computer niche. The following excerpt is from a recent blog entry from the editor of InfoWorld, Eric Karr, and is probably on the mark.

"Netbooks are the hardware trend of the day. In other words, they’re cheap and they’re selling like hotcakes. But I hear through back channels that vendors are having trouble "positioning" netbooks: How do they relate to full-size, full-power laptops? Are they second machines for the frequent or occasional traveler? And so on. Well, I have a suggestion: Businesses should consider buying netbooks and rolling them out as desktop replacements. I’m not talking about the Linux variety. I’m talking about netbooks running Windows XP."

Do a search on "the netbook revolution" and you will see what could be in store. There already are issues with Linux vs Windows, software licensing, software downgrades, what this all means to the bottom line price of netbooks, and the mini-laptops we will term "ruggednetbooks".

In many ways netbooks are already pretty rugged to a certain degree, as they have been designed for some expected abuse. At the same time most netbooks do not fit the traditional mold of a rugged portable computer that meets the military 810F standards. But you know what? It probably won’t be long before they do. You can bet that the idea of rugged-netbooks is on the drawing boards of many computer hardware engineers.

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Asus has the B51E series, but not much more has been said since the announcement of the product line. Karr’s notation of netbooks being used as backup computers, or second machines, has real possibilities for a huge market all by itself.

New Netbooks at CES 2009
There’s lots of netbook news coming out of CES 2009.

Netbook Pricing
WirelessHD and Netbook pricing.

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