[saden1]

The new netbooks are awesome. They're not for any serious work but do things like watching movies and browsing the internet well (forget about doing any gaming on these). Ubuntu is the #1 consumer grade Linux OS out there and it does a fantastic job as a netbook OS, so much so that Windows 7 was digned to compete with it (and other linux distribution in the netbook market).

The Dell mini comes with Dell branded "Ubuntu Netbook Remix" which I am using on an Asus EEE netbook as I type this post. I have been using Ubuntu for the last 4 years exclusively both at home and at work and I love it. I'm a geek but some folks might find it frustrating because they expect it to function just like Windows. You never have to have a virus protection software installed and there's boat load of applications available free software developers around the world, some of the application are awesome and some of them trash. Ubuntu has a great development cycle, they release a new version every six months and the fix bugs and update some applications in the time between major releases.

If you have a specific question let me know.