geneven: The "can't write a novel" argument is based on the alleged impossibility of touch-typing on a small keyboard, and the assumption that touch-typing is essential to novel-writing, not (AFAIK) on performance issues. I don't really consider either of these valid, but I can't touch-type or write a novel (with or without a netbook), so how would I know.... Ensuring that your computer is inside the house, and is cooled by circulating room air through it, rather than, say, ducted to a wall, is sufficient to heat your house with it. Using a heat engine to recover some of it as useful work is a little harder.