after all for most people, if the iPad/netbook does email, internet, maybe play movies, for sailors does navigation/chartplotting; the functionality is adequate. The next question is "what is the overall user experience?". Here the iPad wins, all in, hands down. Cheap netbooks are hampered by cheap displays, a clunky virus infested operating system with a clunky user interface. Yes this is a judgement, and some people think otherwise: they are not iPad customers. I will bet money (and give odds) that in the next couple of years netbooks become far more iPad-like rather than iPads becoming more netbook-like. That's what customers want.