Although summer is generally associated with trips to the beach and other outdoor activities, recent Netflix figures imply that many people are opting to stay indoors and stream video content on their Apple, Toshiba or Samsung laptops.

According to CEO Reed Hastings, more than 1 billion hours worth of movies and television shows were streamed in the month of June - a significant milestone for the company. In a feature on the business, PCMag's Angela Moscaritolo noted that this is particularly impressive considering a few questionable decisions made by Netflix executives around this time last year.

In July 2011, the company announced that it would be dividing its DVD mailing and video streaming services, and would charge increased prices for both. However, the move incurred a heavy backlash, and Netflix ended up losing approximately 800,000 customers as a result.

Now, however, the source reports that many of those users have reactivated their subscriptions to the service, which has overtaken iTunes as the highest earning provider of online video content. In fact, the media outlet reports that, with over 26 million accounts worldwide, it is the largest subscription-based video service online.

In the last few years, most new devices, be they tablets, laptops, desktops or even eReaders, have been built with video streaming in mind. Many even come loaded with trial versions of Hulu and Netflix apps. Lightweight ultrabooks like the Macbook Air have even done away with disc drives altogether.

If you have a Netflix or Hulu account and are in the market for a new piece of hardware, you can talk to a specialist at PortableOne to determine the best specifications for high quality video streaming.