Netbook computers spark corporate interest

One possible future of mobile computing is on display in classrooms in Fresno, Calif., where the public school district has deployed 10,000 Hewlett-Packard Co. "netbooks" with an upgraded Cisco Systems Inc. wireless LAN.

While the term "netbook" has no formal definition, it typically applies to a class of mobile computers that are smaller and lighter than conventional laptops and have lower-resolution displays that are 7 to 11 inches in size. Netbooks, which are made by vendors such as HP, Asus, Acer and Dell, typically have small hard drives or none at all, and they rely on less-powerful CPUs than standard laptops. To some critics, that adds up to a crippled notebook PC.