With regards to the Acer Aspire One, they write: "And one without any keyboard quirks to speak of aside from relatively small keys."

I'm guessing one can get used to reaching a tad farther for the left shift and right enter keys? It sure /looks/ like they've put backslash keys right where I normally hit enter or left shift.

--Edit Jan 11th 2009:

I tried one of these at Circuit City, and it had a regular key layout - quite nice, actually. I read the full Acer Aspire One review article*, and I notice they say:

"Our review sample was graciously provided by Canadian retailer NCIX, and it came with the dreaded English/French keyboard layout. This won't be an issue for US consumers (unless you are buying from Canada). English-speaking Canucks will want to ensure they get a system with the US keyboard."

That explains why the photo differs from the one on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Guang_Hua_Digital_Plaza_Launch_Ac...

I was amazed by how nice the keyboard was on the Acer Aspire One. I actually liked it better than the HP Mini 1000.

*- http://techreport.com/articles.x/15329/2

even though they're changing, please add prices (with some date) to the big comparison table, it would make it much more useful.

One review mentioned that the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 has the 945GMS with Macrovision not the cheaper 945GSE.

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend a netbook as a back-to-school laptop for anyone. Remember, most students are on a budget, so going through laptops like shoes is not an option. My recommendation would be to get a mid-sized regular laptop that has enough performance not just for text processing and browsing, but for some more complex tasks as well (basic programming, matlab, video playback on a decently sized screen, maybe even occasional gaming for the older titles).

I know netbooks are the "hip" thing to have at the moment, but tbh with their hardware and size limitations, they are trying to be a jack of all trades, but master of nothing really, the size difference won't make you able to put one of them in your back pocket.

They aren't that cheap for the hardware they pack either.

as always no one seems to care about battery life :( EEE PC simply OWNZ the market on this front.
also no one seems to care about size....I can tell you that some of the desks at my school are VERY VERY small, and make me NOT want a 1000H for this reason. I think I'll wait for Lenovo to release their netbook, and by that time HOPEFULLY gigabyte has theres out so I can see if I should get anything other than the 1000h :(

on the XP v. linux front, there is really no way to get around the fact that XP is more resource intensive than linux, but there's also no way to get around the fact that XP just make some (or a lot depending on your perspective) things easier. Its relative. /end of argument :)

Yes, those who post here and are active readers know that netbooks do NOT come with optical drives. Joe sixpack does not. Reviewers really ought to mention this prominantly in order to help the average user avoid buying something they did not fully understand. I can see tons of dell dot com orders getting returned when their customers realize there is no optical drive on their Dell Mini.. Diddo for others.

Does anyone know if any of these machines would handle some (sort of) serious java/eclipse programming??? That would be about the only reason i would want to carry one of these around school, other than checking email and surfing the web faster than wait in the line to use a public pc.

I'd love me a 1000H or an Acer One with a big battery

Just bought myself a nice 160GB EEE PC 1000H for only $479 on Newegg. Can't wait till it arrives!

Acer also offers an Aspire One model that employs a more spacious 120GB mechanical hard drive. This version comes with Windows, making for a more flexible system overall

Bullcrap. Yet more Windows-mongering from the narrow-minded.

Let's see here. What's constantly mentioned throughout the article? Oh yes, that due to their specifications, netbooks are limited to running webbrowsers and word processors. That's it, more or less. There's not a lot of options. The things are simple by design, and designed to do only 3 or 4 things.

So no, being equipped with Windows does not magically empower your computer to do more. Now you have to run an antivirus suite, perform regular defrags, and so on. That's a lot of overhead for the underpowered processors for these things. And not hardly enough space to fit your Windows installation + dozen required support applications.

None of that is necessary in Linux. You're not using it as a media center, or as a gaming station. Just for documents and internet. Even the most hardcore anti-Linux zealot has to admit that for these situations, any Linux flavor works just fine. In fact, since there's none of the previously mentioned overhead, Linux is the better choice.

Don't feed us crap about Windows magically endowing these laptops with greater flexibility. If the thing was capable of gaming or running Photoshop, then yeah, you'd want Windows. To misquote the credit card ad, "For everything else, there's Linux."

The Acer linux box looks great. How many slots for ram can be in that sucker? Wouldn't mind slapping 4GB of ram, if it could take it.

I bought the Acer One with XP but after an afternoon with it returned it because of the fan noise, I could hear it across a large room. This one would definitely annoy teachers. I got the MSI Wind and am very happy with it.

I'd love to see a netbook in a form factor similar to the Thinkpad x60. That would yield a regular-size keyboard and a larger screen, but the components inside would be the same power and money saving ones found in smaller netbooks. The slightly larger chassis could house more batteries, or extra slots and features.

I mean, they're already making the keyboards 95% normal size, why not just notch it up another 5% and give us a slower Thinkpad x60 for 1/3 the price?

I broke down and ordered the Asus 1000H with xp and 160 GB drive from newegg for $479. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220431&nm_...TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Con...[.com] 2GB of ram for another $30.
I'm a pc tech at a medium sized university, and do a lot of walking. My thinkpad, at 6lbs, is entirely too heavy to carry on every call, so the reality is that I'm not as efficient as I could be. Will use the netbook to remote into the desktop back at the office, surfing, email, and messaging.

Anyone know if any of these netbooks have dual band (2.4/5Ghz) wireless N adapters built in?

My wife will want the Coral Pink Aspire One as soon as it comes out, any idea when that might happen?

Thanks for giving the One the cred it deserves. I thought it was weird that Scott with the 1000H over that.

I'm waiting for the refresh on the HP before I decide. I really like the screen size (1280x768), but I'm not so much a fan of the CPU and the touchpad buttons on the sides of the device.

That chart on page 2 is gold. Thank you so much for taking the time to put that chart together.

Is that bluetooth mouse worth 50$ for the 1000h? Looks like mice detract from the portability if you're not carrying around the ac adapter.

Damn, after seeing all the netbooks lined up in chart form it makes me realize; Intel must be making one killer profit right now with the Atom CPU.