Way, way, way too much is being made of the supposed impact Intel's new Atom N450 chip will have on the netbook and, by extension, laptop markets.

This chip, though 60 percent smaller and 20 percent lighter--like we'll notice--remains hampered by a slow 1.66 GHz. clock speed and all the other constraints implicit in the word "netbook."

Business users should wade carefully into the netbook marketplace, which I know is enticing this holiday season. The machines remain artificially constrained so as to avoid creating competition for pricier laptops.

If you need a computer with limited performance--as in basic applications running one or maybe two at a time, hampered by a lack of memory--then netbooks are an acceptable option.