Netbooks are cheap - this is why they took off in the first place - but if you buy one, it won’t necessarily suit your music-making needs. However, if you’re a live musician whose set revolves around a laptop, or someone who does a lot of tune-making on the move, you may have been thinking about investing in one for a while now.

A slimmed-down machine like this is not going to be making up the backbone of your studio setup any time soon - the minimum requirements for today’s processor-hungry production applications are too much for them to handle. Instead, netbooks are likely to find a home with producers, DJs and bands who are looking for an ultra-portable live solution or ideas pad.

We’ve tested ten of the latest netbooks by loading them with some of your favourite software: click on to read the results in ascending price order.

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