Shopping for a new netbook or laptop...

FWIW, I have Windows-based laptops made by Sager and by Asus, and I previously owned another Sager. All of them have been very reliable (the first Sager failed after 6 years of heavy use), and I've been very pleased with their performance (running Windows XP; you'll want to go with Windows 7 if you choose a Windows-based pc).

Most of the Sager models are overkill for your purposes, but you might want to check out some of their less expensive models (around $700 plus options). All of them provide a SPDIF output, which might result in better sound quality through your DAC than using USB would (particularly if you might ever want to play back uncompressed music files, as opposed to internet radio).

Powernotebooks.com is probably the leading Sager dealer, and is exceptionally good to deal with, as you can see by checking out their ratings at Resellerratings.com.

I have insufficient experience with Macs to be able to comment on them.

Regards,
-- Al

Every inexpensive windows system I've had has crashed, or severely slowed down over time. Probably something to do with the way the operating systems function, software compatiability etc.

That is a common experience among Windows PC users, but it need not be so. I have five Windows XP computers in my house, 3 desktops (which I built myself), and 2 laptops (which I reformatted and reinstalled the software on immediately after purchase, to get rid of the crapware that they are inevitably delivered with).

These computers range in age from 1 year to 6 years. Every one of them works very fast, very stably, and as well as when it was new. And I have never had to do a re-install of the operating system on any of them.

What do I attribute that to?

-- Researching any software that I may consider installing to make sure it is not a known resource hog.
-- Whenever a new program is installed, choosing "custom install" rather than "express install," so that I can select what options and what parts of the overall software package I want, and not install the others.
-- After any new software installation, using task manager to identify any new background processes it has added, and using msconfig or "administrative tools" to prevent them from starting automatically during boot if automatic startup is not specifically necessary.
-- Defragmenting the hard drives periodically, perhaps once a month.
-- Not using any comprehensive all-in-one "security suites"; pretty much all of them have problems in one area or another.
-- Avoiding Norton/Symantec software.
-- Using NOD32 anti-virus protection (just the av, not the full suite), which has extremely minimal impact on system performance.
-- Using a hardware firewall that protects my entire lan, rather than having the software in each computer perform that function (although Windows XP's marginally effective built-in firewall seems to affect performance very little if at all).
-- Keeping Windows security patches up to date.
-- Using Spyware Blaster.
-- Not visiting sites that are likely to be untrustworthy (file sharing sites, porn-hosting sites, etc.).
-- Using a drive imaging program periodically, so that in the event of hard drive failure, software corruption, or virus infection I can easily recover. In my case, that has only been necessary due to hard drive failure.

Obviously all of this will be impractical for many computer users, but my point is that the performance degradation of Windows computers over time, that is often reported, is both explainable and avoidable.

Regards,
-- Al