Let me get my head around this. UNE is the cut down or modified system
for netbooks. This I have installed. I tried the full Gnome with bad
results because the monitor makes viewing difficult. I installed the KDE
standard desktop and needed to install the network manager widget to
connect to the internet. likely because I don't know how else to do it.

Are you saying you have the standard package of Ubuntu installed on your
netbook or the UNE with the standard Gnome desktop installed?

I likely would not notice the problem if I had not tried to use the
computer in class hooked up to an external projector. I do not push the
system to any limits, however I do some image manipulation using Gimp.
Other than focus I have not had any problems with it. I now spend more
time on my Netbook than my laptop so I must be OK with the few
glitches. I now use KDE more than Gnome.