The difference between netbooks and notebooks

Netbooks are laptop PC's with smaller than full-size keyboard keys, which determines the width of the PC. That is what allows them to be smaller than 11 inches wide (see calculations below).

Low-cost laptop PC's with full size keyboards are "low-cost notebook PC's".

The first notebook PC's had U.S. notebook paper dimensions of 8-1/2 x 11 inches. Then "A4" notebook PC's came along which had the longer length of the international standard "A4" notebook paper. And then wider screens came along more recently that made laptop PC's that are huge. But, for "netbooks", it's all about size, which is determined by the width, which is determined by the keyboard key spacing.

The smallest width that a notebook keyboard can be is 13-1/2 keys wide, which is 10.125 inches (full-size keys are on 3/4-inch centers), plus another half inch for the case on each side, equals 10.625 inches. But usually the Backspace and other keys on the right side of the QWERTY layout are at least another half key larger, which makes the keyboard widith 10.5 inches, so, with the case, 11.0 inches (ah - the length of a U.S. standard piece of "notebook" paper!). Anything less than that is a "netbook"!