I agree that Opera runs well, but it is still somewhat of an unsung hero in the browser wars, and up until I started using Firefox recently, Opera was my main browser for a few years. I’ve been a proud user of Opera since 8.53 or so. Love the portable version OperaUSB and the portable version of Firefox 3 works well also. I like the “paste and go” feature in Opera which is very convenient. Wish I could get that feature in IE or FF.
I like the ‘paste and go’ too. And, being the tweaker and customizer that I am, I like the cool looking themes Opera has as well.
While i use Firefox as my main browser (OpenSUSE 11.1), i've found that Opera (now version 9.6) is much faster. Of course, i have A LOT of extensions on Firefox, and that tends to slow it down.
As for that "Paste and go" feature, it might be beneficial to contact some extension developers and see what can be accomplished. i've done so with some theme developers. They do listen to suggestions.