If the EEEs have windows, they're off the table for me completely. I'm not dealing with virus threats and blue screens of death. I'm just... not. I'm not sure how they expect to keep the price low if Bill has anything to do with it, either.

See? For me, it all *does* come down to those 'few 100 bucks more'. I'm not poor but I'm trying to be a very sharp consumer and not buy more than I actually need (unless, you know, I get distracted by The Shiney like I was when my friend innocently showed me his N800 toy and, damned, it was under $225).

Been there, done that, got the bills to prove I used to do it.

I especially find that laptops, with their higher rate of repairs, are lousy assets and depreciate in value and usefulness much faster than my desktop set-up.

So, for me to consider one, it'll either have to be relatively cheap and have a screen I can actually read without squinting or scrolling all over the place (and Linux-y) so I'll be happy if I get a year or two of real usefullness out of it or I'll by-pass cheap windows machines and invest in a basic, refurb MacBook with AppleCare that know I can use for years.

Of course, my last mac lasted me seven years with about $400 in internal upgrades so I guess I'm not your average computer user, either

Then again, there are these people who bought out the first batch of Amazon.com's $400US Kindle "wireless reading device". I don't get that one. It doesn't even have internet surfing capabilities that I can read in the description... .