Top 10 Netbooks to buy instead of an iPad

So, an announcement today confirmed the Apple iPad will hit shelves stateside in late April though Brits will have to wait an extra month to get their hands on Apple’s holy tablet. But with Steve Jobs’ supposedly netbook killing iPad going down about as well as a cool pint of concrete, it would seem that little laptops are here to stay.

One of the criticisms leveled at Apple’s tablet offering is that it seems so sternly geared toward media consumption while offering little in the way of production — an area the netbook copes admirably.

The well-worn cliche of a professional type throwing open their netbook in a coffee franchise and bashing out a blog post, pitch proposal or even a freakin’ pie chart isn’t something I see changing any time soon.

And what with Apple’s infamous and bizarre Atlantic exchange rate mechanism set to land a reasonable mid-spec iPad with 3G somewhere between £450-£600, a lot of people will still be buying netbooks for at least a few years to come.

With that in mind I’ve compiled a neat little list of the top 10 netbooks currently available.

Click on the image to start the gallery