IDC on Friday said worldwide netbook shipments went up sevenfold to roughly 4.5 million during the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same quarter last year. Netbooks comprised approximately 8 percent of all PC shipments during the first quarter.

Despite an early backlash due to uncertainty surrounding the device, netbooks have been grabbing more attention since early 2008, said Jay Chou, research analyst at IDC. Netbooks are attractive as secondary devices because of their low prices and small sizes, he said. Low prices helped fuel netbook sales, although people in general have reduced spending during the recession.

"People in different areas have different expectations of what [netbooks] are supposed to do. Some of our surveys show students using it as a note-taking device. They don't want to take a 6-pound [laptop] to campus," Chou said.

Netbooks also meet the needs of many people for Web surfing and word processing.

"Vendors are waking up to the fact that people respond to so-called 'good-enough' computing. They don't really need all the power of a Core 2 Duo CPU most of the time. Most of the time CPU usage is about 5 percent," Chou said.