So I just got my first netbook. It is a Dell Insiprion mini 9 with 512 mb of ram and an 8GB solid state media drive. This laptop (or net book) is tiny. The screen is bright and crisp and the track pad is very responsive. The only negative feedback I could give today is the fact that the keyboard is small. I knew this going into the purchase, so I am not going to stick on this point.

It came preloaded with windows XP home and bloated with junk software. I quickly removed all the crap software and loaded my core applications. Two hours later (and at least 4 reboots), it was ready for some real world testing.

In the first few tests, it has been very quick. It took less then 3 seconds to wakeup and it was ready to surf the web. Button clicks and mouse movement is very quick as well. Plus word documents opened in a flash in office 2007.

At first use, I am very impressed. The honeymoon stage may be gone in a week, but I am positive it will serve its task well for kitchen surfing and email. I say take them, but keep in mind what their purpose is – portability and surfing.