I am running uBuntu 11.04 Natty as the primary OS even though it comes with Windows 7

I run Oracle Virtualbox for my old software on Windows XP, and will soon run Windows 7 the same way. The performance is great. Running XP this way is about 15 times as fast as my Toshiba that I bought in 2003. It was a 2.4GHZ single processor. And I have only allocated one CPU to the Virtualbox for XP! I can run my USB TV, Windows XP, development environment - Eclipse, Browser, and ham radio gear ALL at the same time with no performance problems. Simply amazing! I will be putting family VHS videos on DVD soon and that is why I bought this - I need the performance. 
There is only one problem - the nVidea GPU has no support for Linux OS. Fortunately, Bumblebee, an open source project is providing support to turn off the Optimus GPU when it is not used to save battery power. Mine runs about 7-8 hours on battery when not doing very much. nVideo really should support ALL OSes - you can't use the HDMI output unless the GPU is running! However, Dell is NOT alone in this regard. Many current generation machines with nVidea GPUs have the same problem. So if you run Linux - think about alternatives, although this machine still works great. If you do NOT run Linux - you really should. Performance has never been better, and if your Windows slow down it is really easy to get a virtual disk image of the way it was - without reloading the software! I'm very happy with this setup. I will not pay for Windows again if I am given a choice.