I am thinking of buying a netbook. I will use it for websurfing, email, word processing, spreadsheets and, of course, CV programs: both practice and simulation. I know I will need an external CD drive to load MS Office and CV programs. What specs should I look for in a netbook? What other advice can you give me?

Does anyone here know anything about Open Office? Is it as good as MS Office? Is there full compatability both ways, i.e. using a MS Office document or spreadsheet in Open Office and using an Open Office document or spreadsheet in MS Office? Ditto for Word Perfect products?