Word and Excel on Netbooks?

Hello,
My wife wants to buy a Netbook and to use it principally for Internet and for Word and Excel. I've been told it might run a little slowly because of the size of this application but she doesn't mind too much, unless it's way too slow.
I wanted to double check it's possible to install Word and Excel and how can I do so if there's no DVD/CD player on the Netbook she chose?
Thanks for the tips!