COMPLEX TECH: Install Windows 7 RC1 on a netbook

Considering the price of a netbook ($300 - $450), the price of Windows 7 RC1 (free to download and try until June), and how easy it is to put Windows 7 RC1 on a netbook, there is no reason not to try out this new operating system on a secondary system.  I put Windows 7 RC1 on an Acer netbook over the weekend, and the process was amazingly smooth.  You will need an external DVD burner to make this really easy to do (around $100), since netbooks don't come with optical drives.  Also, it will be easier to do this with a netbook that includes a hard drive, rather than a solid state drive.  The solid state drives in many netbooks are just too small.  Finally, follow these instructions on ZDNet.

The operating system looks beautiful and seems to be faster than XP was on that same netbook.  The screen looks better under Windows 7 than it did on XP.  IE 8 seems to open and load faster.  It handles wireless settings much better than XP.  Pending further study, I will buy a copy of the OS for that netbook when it comes out later this year.