Meet "Tux."
I know, I know. Lately I’ve seemed obsessed with sharing things Linux. Humor me if you will.
You see, it was a big deal to me when I chucked Windows-7 for Ubuntu 10.10 cold-turkey almost a year ago, and I really didn’t expect to adapt so easily or fall in love so fast.
It’s wonderful not to have to worry about viruses any more; wonderful to be running software that doesn’t have to be unlocked or registered. Wonderful not to worry about defragging my hard drive.
What I’m doing now is digging into the different Linux Distros (distributions), to see which one best suits my personal needs and how I like to manage my desktop and so far, it’s Mint although for many of you, Zorin 5.1 may be what best suits you. Whether or not you try a Linux distro doesn’t matter to me. You must use what you know and what’s productive for you.
I have the luxury of time to experiment and my only regret was not moving to a Linux distro sooner. Truth be told, it was only recently that Linux distros began emulating the Windows experience enough to make them appealing to me without fear of a loss of productivity or enjoyment.
Actually, Linux has brought the “fun” back into computing for me. Hand me that old dusty computer of yours—I have a version of Linux for it that’ll bring it to life and speed it up. 🙂
Mike Apsey 
When I get the time. . . I would like to try the Linux O/S out on a spare pc. Good news! I just found out that American Express gave me a full refund on my Acer Netbook, due to the recurrent broken hinge issue, and I get to keep the Netbook too!
So now, do I want to buy another Netbook with the new improved hinge design, or do I want to try out a slick and slim Tablet.
Great news about what AMEX did for you, Michael.
If it were me, at this juncture, I’d likely opt for another Netbook but get an ASUS instead of an Acer.
OTOH, the world seems to be embracing tablets. Follow your nose. What *you* want is what matters most.
Great advice Mike! Two other considerations regarding the Ipad are: They do not contain a replaceable battery, which means you have to send it in for repair when it finally goes south. The other concern, you have to always look down at an Ipad, at least when you are typing, unless you add a peripheral keyboard. Something to think about. . .
I made my choice! I am the proud owner of a new 11.6 ” Acer Aspire One Netbook. The choice became very easy as they went on sale today @ $100 off at Costco. I paid $249 for the Netbook and it has a 500 GB HDD, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, 1.333 GHZ AMD Processor, Windows 7 64 Bit OS, and a 6 hour battery.
Although it is not an ASUS, I feel the value for what I received is nothing short of excellent.
This is my first post using my new Netbook!
Congratulations Michael! Excellent bang for the buck for sure, and had I seen a netbook with those specs at that price, I’d have snapped it up too.
I really think we’ll be seeing more netbook bargains as the popularity of tablets increases for what may have been potential netbook customers.