An E7 might be more usable with the SPB Mobile Shell. Also a lot of everyday apps are available easily. PuTTY is also available, just remember to download it from sourceforge, because the version in Ovi Store ISN'T FREE and possibly is a fake or something as well, due to negative reviews.

I was sent an E7 too, to my chagrin, but then I found perhaps the last shop in Finland that still had one unused N900. The shop agreed to swap their N900 for the E7 ^_^
Obviously the E7 is a bit more expensive, but my original N900 had 1 year warranty left and now I'm getting 2 years. Then again if the new one breaks, I'll be SOL...

...unless N9 has been released and I can bother Nokia enough. Which is pretty unlikely.