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I was never sold on the netbook fad. I tried one for three weeks and just couldn't get used to it. But, being in IT, I was also probably trying to do more with it than what was intended. As has been said, the small screen can take time to get used to and the lack of CD/DVD drive is annoying, especially when you want to load new software. I had to share the CD drive from another computer on my network and run the install files that way.

Especially with electronics, I wouldn't ever tell anyone to buy anything without trying it out first. Take a trip to Best Buy, CompUSA, or whatever your local b&m electronics store is and try typing on one for ten or fifteen minutes to see if you could get comfortable with it.

If you do decide to go with one, I think minimum requirements are: 60GB hard drive, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor (pretty much standard on all of them), and 1 GB memory. But, like I said, I was only on it for three weeks, so there may be some varying opinion about what the bare minimum is.

HP and Asus have the highest reviews. Apple iPad doesn't currently support flash player, which can be a big part of some website's design. And as you would use this primarily for browsing, there no point in getting something that will fall short that way.

Good luck!