The bad is that notebooks are rather problematic.
No. The bad is that *your* notebook is problematic. Mine (Dell D630) works just fine, thanks very much. I'm sure other people's do too.
Want work of wonder... Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Now that has me impressed. I run Windows machines, but on my netbook Ubuntu Netbook Remix runs perfectly and the UI is brilliant. Much better than the Windows 7 stuff.
Hmmm, this is heard quite often. I'll set up an opposing point of view here:
I found Ubuntu (admittedly it was Intrepid Ibix) to be substantially inferior for day-to-day usage on the afore mentioned Dell hardware. It was slower, with poorer battery life and much, much less stable - graphics problems mostly. And, unfortunately, Gnome + X11 when dealing with external docks with multiple monitors connected was almost laughable in the poorness of its support. Windows 7 (and, indeed, XP) handled all of this without any difficulty at all.
Don't get me wrong here; I like Linux. I use it at work and am glad to do so. But for a large slice of the regular computing world, it's still got a long way to go. That said, perhaps I should try the latest Ubuntu distro and see if things have improved...