It's not a competitor for you; it is a competitor for some people. A weak competitor to be sure, but my N800 replaced my laptop; I have fairly ubiquitous network access so I can remote access my desktop. This makes it capable of doing everything my laptop was used for, although some things are slightly less convenient. So I bought an N800 to fill the same gap between computer (i.e. desktop or chunky desktop replacement laptop that I've no interest in) and no computer that my (aging) laptop used to fill, as a cheaper and more portable upgrade than a new laptop. An eee could also be a companion as well as competitor for me, but it was a competitor when I was researching what to buy.