A classic example of what you're talking about is Los Angeles. Almost the entire stretch of land between Santa Barbara and San Diego is developed, and so now you see ever-growing hordes of people in the more inland, desert communities.
Well, MTBF could be tested manufacturer-side too. I'm not sure why HP/Lenovo/et. al. have not come out and said "After exhaustive testing, we've shown our netbooks last the wear-equivalent of X years of average usage, which is Y years/months more than that of competitors Z, A, and B."
My feeling is that they consider netbooks disposable and their "real" notebooks to be the focus of QC.