Somewhere in between PDAs and smartphones (with tiny screens and tinier keyboards) and full-size laptops are the new breed of portable digital device, alternately referred to as "subnotebooks" or "netbooks". The next big thing is... small.

Just a few years ago, I looked at those tiny Sony VAIO 10"-screen subnotebooks and thought "I've got to have one of those!" Were it not for the prohibitive price (close to $3K), I might've actually gotten one. Even a 12" or 14" laptop was clumsy to use on a train or plane, and cumbersome to carry around if you weren't already lugging a briefcase or backpack. These sweet little laptops were just the right balance between a full-size laptop and a tiny PDA or smartphone whose interface was too difficult to write anything complicated with. But they never broke through in the U.S., which may be one reason the price stayed so high.

Enter the ASUS EEE. ASUS had made inroads as a manufacturer of motherboards and other PC components, but its introduction of its own line of subnotebooks came as somewhat of a surprise. The EEE caught on with a wide variety of people, not just techies who just had to have the latest technological gadgetry. Students found it great for taking notes in class. (Celia's original EEE 900 goes with her to class daily.) Travelers loved the fact that it didn't cramp their style in a cramped airplane seat. And, as a New York Times reader pointed out, it's small enough to fit nicely into a woman's handbag. Plus, with a starting price of under $400, the price was right, too.

The EEE's success in these markets was surprising—in part because it proved that your average computer user was not put off by an alternative (i.e., non-Windows and non-Mac) operating system like the version of Linux the EEE initially came with. It also caught established computer manufacturers caught off-guard, though Acer, HP, Lenovo, Dell and others have been playing catch-up producing subnotebooks of their own.

But ASUS has not stood still, updating their line several times over since the introduction of the EEE 900. Their latest innovation is the S101, which they tout as a stylish "melding of fashion and functionality" that's "slimmer than most fashion magazines". Recent articles in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Forbes magazine attest to the fact that small subnotebooks are big news.