A netbook is a type of laptop that is designed primarily for accessing the internet. They were sold from 2007 until around 2013, when the widespread advent of smartphones and tablets eclipsed their popularity. Netbooks are smaller and less expensive than traditional laptops, and they typically have less powerful hardware and do not include an optical disc drive. Instead of the traditional hard disk drive, netbooks were some of the first machines to substitute solid-state storage devices, which are smaller, more power-efficient, and more shock-resistant. Netbooks are designed to be slim, weigh next to nothing, and have a smaller screen size. They are also energy-efficient and more suitable for wireless communication. Netbooks vary by the operating system, but most run on software that’s designed to work from the internet. With most of the functionality happening online, there’s less to store on the computer’s hard drive, which allows the netbook to have a more modest processor and less memory. Netbooks are cheaper than traditional laptops.