I bought an Acer Aspire One during the holidays. I bought the Linux model
with the 8GB SSD drive. After a few weeks of usage, here's what I think
about it. It's a nice little machine I leave on the kitchen table. I use it
to browse the news while having breakfast. I also use it while watching TV
when I want to get more info on what I'm watching on a topic. For that kind
of use, it's perfect.

That being said, there are some downsides to it. The SSD drive is very slow
when it comes to writing. Reading speed is OK. There are various
optimizations possible to get more out of it, but in the end, it's not a
fiber disk. The mouse buttons are located on the side of the track pad. It's
kind odd.

The screen is very bright and colors are crisp. After a few days, you get
used to the small keyboard too. I run Debian Lenny on it and every device
works out of the box.

-jf

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 1:18 PM, David Pelletier <[email protected]>wrote:

> Right now, the best netbook seems to be the Samsung NC10, although not
> officially available in Canada, any store that operates in the US and Canada
> can get you one (say, ncix).
>
> Be wary of the Dell mini 12, it tops at 1gb of ram because of its chipset,
> which was intended for MID devices, not for netbooks.
>
> Also, keep in mind that netbooks are undergoing a transition right now, a
> lot of new models will come out in the following weeks, some with the newer
> GN40 Intel chipset (
> http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/09/intel-slide-shows-atom-n280-with-945gse-and-gn40-chipsets/).
>  Some of the newer netbooks use a PowerVR licensed graphic card that
> doesn't work well with linux (
> http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzAyOQ ), I'd recommend
> to stay away from them and look for a netbook with an older but better
> supported GMA 950.
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 10:47 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> On Sun, Feb 08, 2009 at 05:10:55PM -0500, [email protected] wrote:
>> > I find myself imagining myself with a Dell Inspiron Mini 12
>> > (
>> http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-12?c=ca&cs=cadhs1&l=en&s=dhs
>> )
>> > -- the Ubuntu versin, of course.
>> >
>> > The attractions on this device are
>> >   1.  It runs Linux
>> >   2.  It has a keyboard with standard key spacing.  ( don't need a
>> > number pad)
>> >   3.  It's lightweight (under 3 pounds)
>> >   4.  It isn't huge.  In fact, it's about as small as it can be and
>> > stull have a standard size keyboard.
>> >
>> > Does anyone have any experience with this device?  Or with other Dell
>> > Linux laptops?
>> >
>> > In particular, is it likely to run with *any* LInux distro, or does the
>> > hardware require proprietary Ubuntu drivers?
>>
>> My preference is Debian.  Although Ubuntu is Debian-derived, it isn't
>> Debian.  The big differences (aside from package version numbers and
>> bugfixes) are means of configuration and autoconfiguration, and embedded
>> proprietary software.
>>
>> -- hendrik
>> _______________________________________________
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>> [email protected]
>> https://listes.koumbit.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-listserv.mlug.ca
>>
>
>
>
> --
> David Pelletier
> http://spareminds.org
>
> _______________________________________________
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> [email protected]
> https://listes.koumbit.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-listserv.mlug.ca
>
>


-- 
Jean-François Théroux
Linux/network security consultant
http://www.theroux.ca
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