No, this isn't some depressing meaning of life, why am I here wrist-slasher post. It's actually a bit of an exciting thing, but not without a caveat.

This is the Dell Mini 9, an 8.9" netbook, or super-tiny-notebook. It has no optical drive, but is designed for coffee-housers and travelers who want the functionality of a real operating system with the size and portability that makes it amazingly easy to carry about.

The Dell Mini 9 comes with either Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu is free and open source, so I chose it. It has all of the functionality that one would need with such a portable system. I'm looking forward to learning Linux, too. I tried a few years ago, and failed. The problem was installing Linux on an existing system and finding drivers for all of the hardware. I couldn't. But I tested out Ubuntu on my current Dell notebook, and it worked A-OK. Yay!

And only $350! That'll save me mucho hassle when I want to take my notebook while traveling or relax and write at the Borders cafe. My current notebook is heavy and cumbersome. (Imagine five years ago thinking a 15" notebook is too large....)

So, all of that sounds fantastical. (That's not a real word.....) Unfortunately, Dell tells me it won't be delivered until October 27, 2008. October 27! That's 6 weeks!! WTF?!?!

I prefer instant gratification.