The only real issue I have with my Ubuntu netbook is that Flash video is somewhat slow, so I am not interested in the slightest.

I am thinking about creating an Ubuntu partition on my aunt's laptop, too. Being that she only uses it to surf the net and to do some light office work, hardware and software compatibility would not be not huge issues, and the old computer could really use the added lightness and security.

I just did this on my Xubuntu netbook. With my main panel on autohide, I resort to Docky to launch the programs I use the most and to switch between windows. The desktop is almost empty, as I only put there things which need my immediate attention.

Slightly OT: is there any feed reader that integrates with GReader and runs on Linux?

I was about to complain about the complicated compiling procedure when I discovered that Stellarium is in the official Ubuntu repositories. Nice.