For my birthday this year, I was presented, at my own request, with an HP Mini Mii 110 netbook. The basic specs are:
1024 x 576 screen freaking huge keyboard
The cost for this was machine was $349, including shipping. My hot blonde friend bought me a 2G RAM module to replace (not augment) the 1GB I paid for. It ran about $30 at newegg.com. My brother (who is the "B" in "FOB") bought me a 16GB SDHC card, which doubled my storage to 32GB of solid-state goodness.
The computer is 10,25 x 6.76 x 1.00 inches in size. this is not quite as small as I would have preferred, but it nicely accommodates the freaking huge keyboard, which is a delight a pleasure to use, despite very limited key travel.
I upgraded to the N280 Atom because it handles streaming video better than the N270. I could have added a very serious GPU and a 1280 x 726 screen. It was hard to see the benefit of getting great video on a 10" diagonal, and the price would not have been competitive with a full-size laptop.
The 5+ hours of battery life come at the expense of a an odd battery protrusion at the back, bottom edge. This serves as a kind of tilt-stand, elevating the back of the keyboard for more comfortable typing. It also makes it easy to carry the netbook, because it's perpendicular to the pull of gravity when the netbook is parallel to the pull of gravity.
I could have saved money by purchasing the standard three-cell battery, but that only provides 2+ hours of computing time. This half-size battery doesn't protrude at all. That would make it a lot more convenient for sticking in backpacks and book bags.
HP ships the computer with their own, stripped-down version of Linux. To be fair, there is quite a bit of utility in the included software. But the whole thing feels like a PDA on steroids (can I still type "PDA" in 2009?). The wireless connection is solid when established, but my Mac Mini with Airport is not-so-easily configured as a wireless router. It can be done, just not very intuitively.
Today's project is to install Macintosh OS X on the computer. There are step-by-step online guides, and even YouTube videos, which will show me how to do this. The performance reports are mostly favorable. If there are any significant problems, I will install Ubuntu Netbook Remix.
More as I proceed...