The NY Times (select title for link) offers an interesting analysis of the challenge offered by netbooks to costlier laptops. Some of the very inexpensive netbook options require commitment to a data plan (similar to a smart phone data plan). I doubt this funding model would work in educational settings and I have heard that some netbook users have found themselves with huge bills because they did not understand the limits of the download cap assumed by their plans (via TWIT podcast).
