I Ordered A Dell Mini 1012 Today

Today, I decided I finally found the netbook I think can replace my Apple MacBook Pro as a day-to-day computer. I ordered a Dell Mini 1012 - the new version of the Dell Mini 10 netbook. I chose this netbook over an Acer 532h because the Acer's card slot is not supported in Ubuntu, whereas people have generally reported success (albeit with some effort) in making the Dell fully functional under Ubuntu. The card slot is important to me as I want to be able to easily load pictures from my Sony DSC-W350 (which I reviewed here and here) onto the netbook to upload to Flickr. I also needed a good screen, and the Dell I saw at my local Best Buy seemed as good as netbook screens get (if faded compared to my MacBook Pro or even my HTC Hero cell phone).

Now, here comes the fun part - I will be using this netbook as my only computer for all of next week, from Sunday through Saturday. Or at least, attempting to. If I fail for any reason (even just to get a document off my Mac, which I may need to do once or twice but I'll try to copy everything I need first); I'll blog about why I failed and what would remedy that. If I can make it a week comfortably with only a netbook, they'll be fine for any average user. If not, I'll learn what they're like in the real-world. Watch this space for more :) I'll be writing as I get it, and journaling all of next week. I hereby dub this the "Can a $325 Dell replace a $1199 Apple for an artsy geek?" experiment. We shall see. And remember, if you have any questions about this product, email them to me - mark@markuhde.com