In a survey aimed at identifying attitudes to netbooks and mobile Internet devices (MIDs) found that only 11 percent would use a netbook as their primary computer, while 79 percent view netbooks as a secondary device to be used in addition to a laptop or desktop computer.

Netbooks are smaller, so they’re not as easy to use or as powerful as a PC or a laptop, and generally don’t include built-in CD or DVD drives. However, smaller size and weight of netbooks makes them much easier to carry around the home or on-the-go.

“While their low price does cause some consumers to view netbooks as a replacement for a laptop given the current economic conditions, the majority view a netbook as being a secondary device,” says principal analyst Philip Solis,

“Even as a device that is secondary to the PC, this has to cut into the laptop market somewhat,” continues Solis. “When considering another laptop as an additional device mostly for browsing the web and using other Internet-based communications applications, consumers will find netbooks to be an appropriate alternative.”