most netbooks also have a low power processor like the intel atom. They're designed to be lighter, with longer lasting batteries, at the expense of performance. I strongly recommend looking for one with a solid state drive if you're interested in real portability. While i won't get into the argument about which is faster or more reliable after many years of use, I will say that solid state drives are much better with shocks and bumps. because there are no moving parts, there's virtually no problem with bumps and shocks that could kill a typical hard drive. They however do offer much less storage and typically do raise the price a little. Also if you're using it for notes take a look at the keyboard. Some of them get so small (like the dell mini 9) that they keyboard isn't standard and as such can be tough to type on. My little dell mini 9 runs like a champ though. I do like it expect for the keyboard. My last thing is, if you go with a netbook, look at the new ubuntu 9.04 (Karmic). It's INCREDIBLY fast, especially to boot. Karmic ran faster on my laptop from a live flash drive than 8.10 ran actually installed on the hard drive. It booted faster too.
Each version of ubuntu also comes in various flavors, standard ubuntu, server edition, kubuntu, ubuntu netbook remix (UNR)... I strongly recommend checking out UNR specifically. It has a different interface than the standard ubuntu but on the smaller screens it's really handy. You can also switch back to the regular ubuntu desktop in the preferences section. The one caveat is that UNR is fairly new compared to the rest of the ubuntu flavors and as such isn't quite as polished. If you're not so adventurous, stick with the standard ubuntu install.
-Kevin
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