Amen to that. I have the 6-cell, 1GB RAM 8GB SSD Linux Acer Aspire One and I couldn't be happier. Compromises? At this size and price of course there are, but I got exactly what I was expecting for less coin than Asus. The EEE hooked me on the idea of a netbook, but Acer got my business for making a better/cheaper product. 7 hour battery, SSD, 1GB RAM, Linux, 8.9" screen and Atom processor: It's exactly what I wanted for a cool $400.

I get lost on my way to the gas station, and as nice as my Garmin Nuvi 350 is... it's old. The game would have to be a gift for my bro, I don't have a 360.

Finally! I've never anticipated the release of a gadget as much as this one. I've been waiting for the perfect netbook since the first eee came out and this is the first one to really fit the bill. Sure the keyboard is kinda weird, but that's something I'm sure I'll be able to get used to. It's also a nice bonus that I'll (probably) be able to buy this with Ubuntu preinstalled. Nothing like an excuse to encourage big computer manufacturers to support Linux on their hardware, especially my very favorite distro. and get a kickass netbook to go with it.

No word on price? How about Garmin's own website?
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134&pID=14933
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134&pID=14926
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134&pID=13430
... etc (only 3 URLS allowed)

As far as release date I guess all we have to go on is "Product Available: 3rd Quarter, 2008"

Pretty much as expected based on Garmin's past prices.

A lot of (perhaps deserved) iPod ripping going on here, but all the iPod hacks are actually part of why I own and love a first gen iPod nano. It currently has Rockbox on it, so I can play all the formats every nerd demands - ogg, flac, etc - in addition to mp3, and of course I can change the background and the theme. To be honest, I don't think I would own an iPod if all it could do is what Apple made it do. I think Apple made an awesome device with the Nano. It's crazy small and looks great, the interface is really nice, and combined with custom software, it's an awesome player.

I'm going to go with Gears of War.

Thank God for the AA batteries. I can't believe people are actually complaining about this - I wish more electronics used standard batteries rather than proprietary li-ion crap. I don't want to have to spend craploads of money just for a second battery, I'd much rather spend a little bit for a pack of NIMH AAs and be good to go. They're cheap, last a long time, are readily available, and if all your recargable AAs wear out at once you've probably got some alkalines lying around to hold you over. Even then it's a better solution than if your li-ion battery dies - you can't just pop in some readily available, cheap replacements while THAT battery charges.
Nintendo made a great call if they're using AAs.

I must go to a different college than everyone else, because I keep hearing that you've never seen anyone use a laptop for taking notes. If anyone wants to see someone genuinely using a laptop for note-taking, and to great benefit to himself, they are free to come to Computer E 210, section 8 at Iowa State university next semester. I'll be there. My HP ZV6000 will be there. I'll be taking notes on it.
The fact is that I can take much faster and much more readable notes on a computer than by hand. Heck, half the time I have my screen partway folded down so I can see what's going on at the front of the class and still type. If I want to write by hand, I have to look at my paper. If I want to write on my computer, I can keep looking at the prof. For programming classes, the computer becomes that much more useful - every day in my computer science classes I've got Eclipse open and am running the code being written on the whiteboard. It helps to see what's going on, and it's easy to go back to if I want to study it or use it.
DG, I don't think anyone's saying you should be able to pay for school, goof off for 4 years, and get a degree. But if you choose to do other things during a lecture - like surf the web while in lecture or simply not attend lecture at all - you should be allowed. If not paying attention or attending lecture results in you failing your exams, then you screwed up and I have no sympathy.

I'm really amazed at the comments this article has gotten. Are people really distracted by other students using laptops in class? I'd say my laptop has been invaluable in helping me take and organize my class notes. Microsoft Onenote rocks.
Usually I'm self-conscious about people looking at my laptop screen, so I sit near the back of the room, so maybe that would also be less distracting for other students, but I mean really, how distracting is a screen on which I'm typing my class notes and maybe checking my email or engadget if I'm not particularly interested in what the prof. is talking about? Considering how much college costs, and the fact that the professor works for me (I pay his salary), I should have the freedom to do whatever the hell I want in class, as long as it doesn't distract other students or the professor. If that means taking notes on my laptop, that should certainly be allowed. If that means surfing the web in class, I should be allowed to. If I want to read the newspaper or sleep in class, I should be allowed to. Now why you'd want to go to class just to read the paper or sleep, and pay for the class to boot, I don't understand, but you should be free to if you want. I should not be forced to turn my laptop around to show the prof what I'm doing. That's my business, not his/hers.

As a laptop user, I WISH this type of thing could be used for gaming. Oblivion just refuses to run any faster than about one second per frame on my lappy, and upgrading the graphics card is really not an option.