IDG News Service —
Netbooks dominated the Computers & PC hardware bestsellers list on Amazon.com on Cyber Monday in the U.S., the biggest online shopping day of the year.
The mini-laptops, with 7-inch to 10-inch screens, are popular because they're about half the size of a normal laptop and much lighter, usually less than 1.5 kilograms (3.3 lbs). They also cost less, but allow people to surf the Internet wirelessly and work on full, if downsized, keyboards.
Netbooks took seven of the top 10 spots on Amazon.com's computer bestseller list by the end of the day Monday, with a few high-definition LCD monitors from Samsung and an Apple MacBook taking the remaining three spots.
Asustek Computer's Eee PC 900HA with an 8.9-inch screen, Intel Atom microprocessor, Microsoft Windows XP and black finish took the top spot, but it flip-flopped the lead with Acer's Aspire One several times during the day. Amazon updates its bestseller lists every hour.
The Aspire One took second and third place on the list, with the black version topping the sapphire blue one as the favored color.
People buying netbooks chose versions with 6-cell batteries on all of the top 10 models. Some netbooks come with 3-cell batteries which provide only a few hours of power, while a 6-cell battery can give up to 6-hours or more.
Samsung Electronics scored one of the few non-netbook bestsellers in the computing category Monday on Amazon.com. Two of the company's high-definition LCD monitors placed in the top 10, the Touch of Color T200 HD 20-inch LCD HDTV monitor in fourth place and the Touch of Color T260 HD 26-inch LCD HDTV monitor in sixth place.
One Laptop Per Child's XO netbook nabbed fifth place in the rankings. Considering the device is being sold on a Give One, Get One basis, it appears people are in a giving mood despite economic concerns.
OLPC teamed up with Amazon.com to give people a chance to buy an XO laptop if they also donate one to the OLPC cause, which is to provide school kids throughout the developing world with an XO of their own. People can also choose to forgo an XO for themselves and simply donate on the Web site.
Samsung's netbook, the NC-10, with a 10.2-inch screen, won the seventh and ninth spots on Amazon's computing bestseller list. People chose white over blue this time, with white in seventh and blue in ninth place.
Apple had the only other non-netbook product among the top 10 of Amazon.com's bestsellers list with the MacBook MB466LL/A, a laptop with a 13.3-inch screen.
Micro-Star International rounded out the top 10 with its Wind netbook, the U100-432US with a 10-inch screen, 6-cell battery and black finish.
As of this writing, none of the major Internet traffic watchers had released sales figures for Cyber Monday. But Integra Telecom, a communications carrier from Portland, Oregon, said in a statement that it saw a spike in Internet usage on Cyber Monday that matched that from the same time last year. The company operates in 11 Western states, including California, Colorado, Minnesota and Washington.
The Monday after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday is known as Cyber Monday because many Americans shop online during work hours that day, the first day back to work after the holiday.
