"We've used laptops for three to five years or longer," he says. "In this time span, a netbook may need to be replaced. And if a netbook has more problems than a laptop, then this will lead to more support time, down time, and could result in lost productivity."

Likewise, Michael Boyer, VP of global IT for Fiberlink, a mobile security software company, agrees with Laughlin that purchasing a netbook as a secondary machine doesn't address the cost-saving problem that netbooks are designed to solve.