Now.. the only qu
In the end, sanity prevailed. I really cannot afford $1300 for a netbook with subpar interfaces and heavy weight.

So instead I picked up a Samsung N210, a real 10" Atom 450 netbook. With the external USB DVD-RW drive, it cost $300 + tax. Plus another $45 to upgrade the RAM from 1GB to 2GB CL4.

With a bit of fuss, it now has Ubuntu 10.04 installed and all of the ports and magic Fn-keys working as Samsung intended. Hey.. the touchpad even has limited multi-touch capability, aka 2-finger scrolling.

I yanked the included 250GB Win7 hard disk without ever powering it on, and substituted a 100GB SSD from the collection here.

The screen (MS XP standard 1024x600) is small, but fine for the intended use as a travelbook. And the (real-life) 7-10 hours/charge on the battery is a big step up from the Dell X1's 2 hours max, worth the extra 0.4 pounds in weight.

I might even get used to the funky international keyboard. The USA-centric BestBuy models had a more normal layout than this unit, but those also had a lower-capacity battery, smaller HD, unsupported WiFi, and no bluetooth.. no thanks. The built-in Atheros Wifi (B/G/N) on the international version seems to work well enough out of the install.

Thus far.. recommended, if one can stand the funky keyboard!

Cheers