Would you rather buy a $299 NETbook, or NOTEbook?

The question laptop-shoppers may very well be asking themselves as they go netbook shopping is whether they'd really prefer a "normal" laptop computer for the same price.

Why? Because that's what's happening out in the marketplace, as ZDNet reports via Cnet.

BestBuy and Wal-Mart are both in the game:

Walmart's $298 Compaq laptop was an instant Internet sensation, and Best Buy's $299 Acer laptop promotion went the way of the Dodo just as quickly. (It later offered a 15-inch Toshiba laptop for as much as $329.)

If you want the extreme portability of a netbook, that makes this deal a non-starter.

But if you're only buying a netbook to lower your price point from $499 or $399 to the $299 of these deals, this might signal a new era in "non-netbook, cheap-laptop pricing."

Giving up on the netbook idea, you do lose the aforementioned portability, but a "real" laptop offers:

• Faster processor
• Bigger hard drive (netbooks offer small solid-state drives or smaller than usual hard drives)
• Prospect of more memory. I'm sure there are netbooks shipping with 2 GB RAM, but many include 1 GB)
• "Bigger" version of Microsoft Windows (the value of this is up to you; I'd be using Linux, so the only "value" would be paying less for a lesser version of Windows that I'd plan to wipe anyway)
• Optical drive (typically a DVD burner)

• Small and compact
• Possibility of increased battery life due to power-sipping chips
• Solid-state drive makes no noise, has no moving parts, might (or might not) be faster, might last longer

The problem seems to be that netbooks can't compete on price if there are full-sized laptops selling for the same amount.

I've seen netbooks from major makers such as HP and even Dell selling for $400 and up. That really doesn't fly unless you're really, really into portability (and some of you, and possibly even I just might be).

But once a "standard" laptop dips down to the $299 price point, either netbooks have to get to $200, or it could signal the end (or at least the end of the hype) of that class of product.