One of the companies I work I have to use Internet Explorer to report my work and to answer and email that is sent through the site. There was another company I worked for briefly that you can only access their site with IE. I didn't like the work with that company so I quit. The first company I still work for and enjoy the work, but having to switch to IE for reporting is a PITA. Thankfully I can do most everything else on their site with Firefox and the other companies I work for are fine with Firefox. Well, except for one Mystery Shopping company that for that reason I haven't done any work for for a couple of years.
I will 2nd the netbook not being a good idea as your main or only computer. We have one that is mostly as a backup and was bought in that capacity. My husband had an issue with his power cord for his laptop and we had to make sure he had something, so we bought the netbook so he could easily continue with his school work. We don't use the netbook very often, but it is there in case we need it. It is great as a back up or if we are traveling and need internet access without being near a plug for a laptop. I took it to Wilmington with me when I was doing some work in case I needed to access that companies site while working.