If you need a small computer for business on the road, taking notes in class, doing your thing in the coffee shop or anywhere else, and don't need the resources or have the budget for a full-featured computer, a netbook computer is your solution.

I outline 3 netbooks below that are the top of their class, providing the best features while keeping cost down. I also have more information so you can see a wider range of models.

ASUS has been getting good press with their Eee PCs. Although it's designed for simple tasks, it is upgradable, and apparently its pretty easy to do so. Coming standard with a 1.66 GHz processor, and 1 GB RAM (upgradable to 2 GB), the 1005HA also offers 160 GB of memory (standard in the industry) with a way to access their online hybrid storage giving you an additional 10 GB. Bigger hard drives are also available. For a netbook, this is surprising, as all of my laptop experience has been to maybe add RAM and otherwise leave it alone.

The 1005HA features a 10.1 inch screen, pretty standard for a netbook, but also boasts a 10.5 hour battery! I imagine that it will degrade over time, but if you can coax over 9 out of for the life of the netbook, you've done pretty well.

All of this for $400. A great deal and a great machine.

The high end Acer model leads in most categories by sacrificing a little bit of processor power.  Unlike most netbooks, the Acer AO751h runs the 1.33 GHz Intel Atom Z520 Processor which is designed to conserve battery power - a respectable 8 hour battery life.  The tradeoff in your favor includes a bigger-than-standard 11.6 inch screen, standard 2GB RAM and a whopping 250GB hard drive. 

All of these features require less fiddling around to upgrade it, and although it might not run some software, it trades it's one limitation for more memory and makes it the perfect netbook model for people who want a computer that works that they don't have to mess with.

All of this for $390. 

The Toshiba NB205 is very middle of the road with a 10.1 inch screen, the Intel Atom N280 processor which runs at 1.66 GHz, 1GB RAM, and a 160 GB hard drive. This is very common of many netbooks, but very few with these stats also boast 9 hours of battery life.

This model comes in at $400 and is available in four colors, but if you are happy with the Black Onyx model, you can save an additional $50. This gives you a netbook comparable to many others and at a considerable discount.

$350 (Black Onyx) - $400 (White, Blue and Ruby Red)