Dell Inspiron Mini iM1012-571OBK 10.1-Inch Netbook (Obsidian Black)

amazon customer rates:

first of all this has no fan so theirs almost no sound with this net book
construction is very sturdy compared to other netbooks.
the battery is built in, not sticking way out like other net book brands.
i get around 11 hours on a full charge.
sturdy keyboard. it seems like this net book was built out of a rock.

amazon customer rates:

I bought this for my girlfriend to use for her jobs, which require frequent document creation/viewing and spreadsheet creation/editing, as she often complained about the weight of our standard laptop, an Inspiron 1545. The specs for this, or any, netbook don't warrant paying anyone over $300 for such a device, and after shopping around for prices, I found this to be the most reasonably priced machine from a manufacturer with good repute. It is perfectly capable at running Microsoft Office 2007 applications, with multiple windows and programs opened. The battery life is about 8 1/2 hours in my experience so far. It did NOT come with a an operating system backup disc (Windows 7 Starter edition), unlike the past two PCs I bought from Dell, to my dissapointment, especially considering there is no factory default image. (However, it did come with two other backup discs for drivers and applications, and Microsoft Works 9.) I called Dell tech support to share this concern. They assured me that in the event of any such necessary procedures as dramatic as a factory default reset, Dell would replace the hardware something that has Windows 7 Starter preinstalled in such a way as to make it possible to reset the system. I persisted with my request for the disc, explaining that down the line when my support year expires, I would be out of luck if I did have a major problem. The customer service guy then agreed to send me a backup disc. It came three days later, along with another driver backup disc, and a Webcam software backup disc. Very satisfied with their customer service, as always.
This netbook is absolutely perfect in size, weight, and balance for casual surfing on your lap. After reading many netbook reviews, this was a major concern of mine, as my girlfriend can spend hours on Facebook with the laptop in her lap; so, in that respect, this PC is a winner. Its as cozy as opening up a good book to read in your lap. The screen is very bright and crisp, better in fact than my Inspiron 1545's 15" screen. I'm not a huge fan of the small keyboard, but its easy to get used to. One con--the touchpad is flawless, but the left and right mouse-click buttons are in the left and right corner of the touchpad itself, instead of being separate buttons. Good space saving design, but the practical result is that the buttons are difficult to push down hard enough to operate, compared to any other laptop mouse button experience I've ever used. Kind of a pain, but not too bad since I usually just tap the touchpad for left-click features anyway.

P.S. In case I gave anyone the wrong idea, this computer does not have a dvd/cd drive, you will have to get an external one to use discs.
P.P.S. The price has gone up 25 bucks to $340 since I bought just two weeks ago. Lame, folks. Seriously, 1 GB of memory and an N450 Atom processor, just as Intel is preparing to release its next batch of more powerful netbook processors and more netbooks with 2GB are about to hit the market...that price is just not justified. I'm deducting a full star from my original review for this price hike. Yeah, its competitive, but all netbooks in this price range are overpriced.

amazon customer rates:

It has a very solid structure, far different than many others netbooks that have a plastic body. Design is nice, it's a pretty and sexy machine. I wouldn't say fantastic because of its strange rear "increment". Anyway, better than the Acer Aspire. Keyboard is OK.

But, when it comes to performance... well, everytime you restart it or open Internet Explorer or Microsoft Office 2007, you'll remember that your old desktop machine performs better than this new little one and that you should have spent a few more bucks for a Dual-Core or a Core2Duo machine with more RAM.

amazon customer rates:

Incredible battery life. Very cool for just what I needed. Only complaint is the touchpad is not as good as my sony vaio or other touchpads. I plan on using a mouse a lot so no big deal

amazon customer rates:

this is a great netbook if you want all around amazing system this is the best portable computer ive ever scene. however it is not openable, that is to say there is no access to the ram hard drive ect. other than that it is wonderful.