Wired: "Netbooks prove that we finally know what PCs are actually for: Not all that much"

This Wired article points out a fact about computers in the most basic way possible. Most people do not need heavy-duty hardware. Read the article on Wired: "The Netbook Effect"

"Netbooks have ended the performance wars. Our most common tasks—email, Web surfing, watching streamed videos—require very little processing power. Only a few people, like graphic designers and hardcore gamers, actually need heavy-duty hardware. For years now, without anyone really noticing, the PC industry has functioned like a car company selling SUVs: It pushed absurdly powerful machines because the profit margins were high, while customers lapped up the fantasy that they could go off-roading, even though they never did. So coders took advantage of that surplus power to write ever-bulkier applications and operating systems."

"Netbooks are evidence that we now know what personal computers are for. Which is to say, a pretty small list of things that are conducted almost entirely online. Netbooks prove that the "cloud" is no longer just hype. It is now reasonable to design computers that outsource the difficult work somewhere else. Netbooks are a classic Christensenian disruptive innovation for the PC industry. "