I have found the eee PC to have reached the perfect balance for what I need:
- 10.1 screen, occupying a larger part of the lid IS enough of a difference for me, and Ubuntu Netbook Remix uses it quite efficiently.
- 4 hours of battery life is what I need (of course, other people could need more).
- I have NEVER changed a laptop/notebook/netbook battery. When I might have needed, they were no longer available (and I still have and old i386).
- As to power, I left a Toshiba R500 (six times more expensive here) and felt no difference.

Summing up, good price, power, screen, battery life, and VERY portable.
A perfect balance for my needs ;-)

If a portable computer doesn't come with internal 3G then it's a no brainer - I don't buy.

I want a laptop that I can take outside and I can get access to my web stuff within going into a Cafe.

on Apple to make a netbook.

While Widows 7 will make a fine OS on a netbook, I have found nothing better at maximizing smaller screen space than Mac OS X. no brag, just fact.

There's also a FSB bump from 533 to 666 in the N280..

Non removable battery, just because Apple did it does not make it right, dumb move, show stopper. 10" screen still too small.
Solar power makes me think, it would be cool to see the top of a laptop lid covered with solar cells that could charge it back up as it sleeps and add extra power as you use it so the battery lasts even longer. I think it may become a reality in a couple more years.

I say bring back the SSDs. I don't need a massive energy eating 160gb hardisk. A 4-8 gig SSD is more than enough, if it isn't I can get a 16gb SD card.

I guess I will have to stick with my 700 model for a while longer.

Sigh....review complaining about their inability to find ports or recognize what they were for???

In any case, non-removable battery??? UGH. 1.66 280 providing extra speed over the 270? Give me a break! The increase is at BEST described as marginal....which then oddly, the reviewer admits in the next sentence.

Terrible battery life on a non-removable battery??

Man...model after model, and no netbook has yet to give me a compelling reason to dump my 8.9 inch, 6 cell, Aspire One, which is now well over a year old (bought last summer). Amazing how every single manufacturer manages to botch it, and how little the tech has changed. eg. non-upgradable ram (Dell), the SLOWER Atom 520, Vista.....the list goes on and on....

The title says it all really, sorry Asus, but I'm *never* going to buy a laptop with a non-removable battery.

It was a dumb move from Apple, and it's still a dumb move from Asus.

No sale.

What's the use of a thin netbook if I have to plug it to the wall every few hours?

They should really throw in a solar-power adapter. THEN it'll be truly portable.

Ah, in the old days a few years back, Asus were trailblazers, providing small, affordable netbooks up to a year before anyone else. Now, they're coming up with model after model which are any combination of overpriced (if you're spending 300 quid, get a full laptop for goodness' sake), underspec'ed (1024x600 for a 10.1" screen, single core 32-bit relatively slow CPU, only 1GB RAM), no Linux pre-installed, poor battery life (6-cells should get more than 4 hours on netbooks surely?!) and no SSD.

Sorry, Asus, but the Dell Mini 9 I got for 149 quid with Linux pre-installed and an SSD is virtually a match for your machine that costs more than twice as much. I think the INQ was very generous with a 7/10 rating for this Asus - I'd have given it a 4/10 myself.

still waiting on something that can do 10 hours battery life shaped and sized like a checkbook with all the linux goodies.