Dell is hopping on to the Netbook bandwagon, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

Netbooks are cheaper, no-frills versions of notebook computers with smaller screens and are ideally suited for web surfing.

Although the margins on the Netbooks are lower compared to notebooks, Dell has no choice because of competition from players like Asus with its Eee Netbooks.

The WSJ piece said the Dell Netbooks would be priced at less than $400.

Market researcher Gartner expects 5.2 million Netbooks will sell this year, eight million in 2009 and 50 million in 2012.