The Eee PC (And The Netbook Category) Turns 2. LAPTOP Throws Birthday Bash.

On November 1st two years ago, the first Eee PC 701 arrived on American shores just a couple of weeks after its debut overseas. The 7-inch, Linux-based mini-notebook garnered a lot of attention and a great deal of praise. At the time, laptops that small usually came with soaring price tags. The Eee PC changed the game, offering true mobile computing for around $400.

This year we’re once again celebrating the birth of the Eee PC and the netbook revolution it began. In just two years the mini-notebook category has grown from a small family of computers running Linux to an entire category of systems running several different Linux distributions plus Windows XP, 7, even Vista. Screen sizes quickly shot up from 7 to 8.9 to 10, 11.6 and even 12 inches. Netbooks have changed the tech world from manufacturers down to journalists and, of course, consumers. The new category has taken 20 percent of the market in two years, and netbooks keep evolving.

Just as with last year, we wanted to mark the occasion with an Eee PC birthday bash at LAPTOP HQ. We filmed the occasion and took the opportunity to ask our writers and editors, who have viewed more 10-inch screens than most people, what netbooks have meant to them and what they expect from netbooks in the future. Check it out:

Help us celebrate the birth of the netbook: create a video telling or showing us how netbooks have changed your life, which netbook is your favorite, or describe your ideal netbook. You can post videos to our Facebook page wall (you’ll have to become a fan first) or on YouTube.