Wow... HP really, really missed the point here. It's a crying shame, because the design is quite gorgeous, and it's the first Eee competitor that I've gotten excited about.

But the price-performance thing sinks it. The only one with a flash hard drive is the cheapest model. No options for an 8GB or 16GB flash hard drive. The best performer they make has quite respectable specs besides the processor, but you'll never know it having to run the pig that is Windows Vista.

Vista... what are they smoking here? They have wide-open access to install XP on this machine - Microsoft threw them a bone to do so just recently - and they pass it up to load Vista. Even if they could get Vista to perform adequately on this - a BIG if - it'll be miserably slow compared to XP.

Other problems:
- no Linux options for the fastest configurations
- no option for the larger battery on the slower configurations
- the pathetic VIA processor
- no optical drive (no problem at sub-$500, but a problem at this price point)
- makes computers like the Dell Inspiron 1525 look more attractive

Perhaps HP will be successful with this piece - it is a pretty computer, but the geek crowd will flock instead to the new 9-inch Eee.

The 1525 is a nice laptop, even saddled with Vista. Coming factory-installed with Ubuntu is awesome news.

All Microsoft would have to do to keep the $$$ rolling in, while letting people continue to use XP, is to charge $10-20 per license to keep providing updates to XP after 3-4 years.

XP can be given security updates indefinitely, while tossing out occasional software updates to work correctly on new software and hardware. Microsoft receives the income to fund it. People are happy.

All Apple and Linux need to keep growing their user base is for Microsoft to stop selling XP, and for people to seek out alternatives to Vista.

If one could shut off the trackpad function but leave the remote function in place, or vice-versa, then I see little issue with it. Those controls would be handy if one was using this laptop with a mouse.

I wouldn't write off the idea yet - it's nifty if it's implemented correctly. But it looks like an incredibly easy idea to screw up.