Should I buy a netbook with Linux OS?

Thiamin

My parents want a netbook to only use for surfing the web on holiday.They have a laptop so wouldn't want to be saving stuff on the netbook or creating documents etc.

They found a good deal yesterday a netbook for I think £150 but the OS was Linux.

Th salesman was telling them how bad linux is and trying to get them to buy another more expensive netbook.

I don;t know much about linux but I thought it would be ok just for them to go on the net?

Any thoughts greatly recieved!:rotfl:

mr_fishbulb

Firefox runs on Linux which will be fine for your parents.

DCFC79

For what your parents what to do with the netbook eg surf the web then yes linux is fine,

cyberbob

Linux is a great OS in many forms. The versions that they use on a lot of netbooks has a great interface and is really straightforward to use. Its also incredibly stable.

Ideal for basic webuse. The salesman was Talking B******* and is probably ob commision.

Which netbook is it?

Thiamin

Thank you for responding!:j

That is what I thought about the salesman too!!

It was an Acer. I had my old acer laptop for 6 years with no probs so I think that is an ok choice too!

I think they were at comet. I will check to I can post details for others.:rotfl:

cyberbob

Acer do some really nice budget Netbooks. I have an old Acer hanging around that has been great

asininity

The sales guy is speak crap, linux is fine. Acer are good too, if they're are used to windoze then tell them it will take a little getting used to, linux isnt windows.

Marty_J

As above, Linux is a good OS.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix is very good, so I would suggest maybe looking into installing that for them if they don't get on with the distro that comes pre-installed.

SunnySusie

I used a Samsung NC10 and have enjoyed Windows XP on it but want to try eg http://moblin.org/ or http://www.jolicloud.com/ on it.

Linux is fully functional and many swear by it, some netbooks are supplied with propietry interfaces which might be a bit limiting. But you can always replace with one of the above ^^

Personally though, having used linux elsewhere, I find that living in the linux world can be frustrating. Every now and then an app you want won't run, some hardware won't be compatible and so begins a difficult battle to find a decent alternative or a quest to sort out the problem.

The PC world is generally based around Windows (for better of for worse) so I would only chose Linux if you are sure you will only want to use a limited range of apps or are PC literate and happy to trouble shoot and deal with problems.