Extensive review of the $399 Asus Eee PC laptop

Ars Technica lives up to its usual standards with the best Asus Eee PC (yep, it runs Linux) review I've seen.

It's long -- just keep hitting the "next page" button to see all six pages.

Writer Ryan Paul sums up:

The Asus Eee PC offers outstanding value for Linux enthusiasts and good value for a mainstream audience. The laptop brazenly defies the conventional standards of portable computing and delivers extreme mobility at an appealing price.

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The hardware is impressive for the price, and the sheer portability of the system is mind-blowing. Despite the quality of the hardware, the cramped keyboard will be a deal-breaker for many consumers. ... The low screen resolution is also disappointing, but virtual desktops and font customization make it easier to tolerate.

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The fact that the Eee lacks an optical drive might turn off some potential buyers, but I found that network file transfers and the SD card slot were more than sufficient for my needs. ... The bundled software is mostly pretty good, but the poor performance of OpenOffice.org is frustrating. Abiword provides a solid alternative, but it isn't officially supported by Asus on the Eee.

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The Eee PC will likely have a noticeable influence on future mobile computing development. Companies are increasingly adopting Linux in the mobile space, and Linux developers and distributors are embracing this trend and accommodating rapid development.

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The Eee PC is a stunning example of what a hardware maker can accomplish when mixing a highly compact form factor with a custom open-source Linux platform. With the Eee PC, consumers can get a taste of the future today.

My question: What else is coming into the Eee space? Everex is planning to release a $399 laptop based on the gOS variant of Ubuntu (I'm not so impressed with the OS ... review forthcoming). If only somebody can get a similar device priced at $300, then we'll be talking. And of course there's the Classmate PC from Intel and the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) ... but who knows if or when any of these will come to the legitimate market.