I would not recommend a netbook (small laptop with Intel Atom CPU) for what you need. Even though you say you need only to do email and web surfing, an Atom is going to be really slow for that. Netbooks are great for short-term vacations and such where you need a light computer with long battery life. I have an Acer netbook I always take with me when I must pack light to travel overseas, and it's great for that, but it's far too slow to use for an every-day computer, even for email and web use.
I have Ubuntu on my Acer. It works pretty well - since I don't have run an anti-virus program, it's a little faster than using Windows. But it's still really slow. Watching videos (even just YouTube) can be challenging: I can basically do it if NOTHING ELSE is running (not even Gmail in another Chrome Window). I really can't do more than one thing at a time. I can use it but it's quite a challenge.
This Atom CPU in the HP you list may be a bit faster than mine but it's still not going to be very fast.
I would suggest looking into an Ultrabook if you can afford it. These are just starting to come out (Intel is pushing them big-time this year). They are PC versions of the thin Macbook Air. They will have long battery life but be much, much faster than a netbook. Or, look for a laptop that has the ability to use a long-life battery. My Dell Inspiron 1545 for example (now a few years old) came with a 6 cell battery, but I bought a 9 cell battery on eBay for $35 and get 4+ hours out of it. Not all laptops can use a long-life battery.
As for what's compatible with Ubuntu: look at the pinned "Laptop Compatibility" thread at the top of this forum page. Also, some laptops are Ubuntu-certified. For example, here's a list of Dell laptops that are Ubuntu-certified:
http://www.ubuntu.com/certification/make/Dell/
If you are buying retail, you may also be able to boot a live CD or a live USB stick on the store model before buying it, to make sure that version of Ubuntu can run and work on the machine you are about to buy.
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