Acer's Linpus Linux Lite (Fedora) ultra portable laptop piles the pressure on Microsoft (FSM)

I'm planning to get one with the SSD, expand it with a SATA drive (it 
apparently has the SATA port ready, used with the 2.5" HDD version, but 
the SSD is hard-soldered), and install Gentoo from binary packages I've 
merged into a chroot onto my main system.

I've wanted a decent freedomware based 120 gig-plus MP3 player for awhile.  
For the longest time, they basically weren't available.  Then they were 
(160 gig ipod classic and etc), but only with proprietaryware firmware.  

Then the Eee genre came out and I thought it was perfect, as it would be 
be way MORE than an MP3 player, being an actual fully functional Linux 
install with small but standard keyboard and all, but of course the SSD 
was way to small and it had no direct SATA/PATA interface, and the 800 px 
wide screen was good as an MP3 player but somewhat crippled as a full 
Linux laptop display.  Still, I was tempted to get it and hardware-hack it 
with say four 32-gig USB flash drives hard-wired into it.  There's a lot 
of hardware-hacking info on the net for it, so it would have been 
relatively easy.  But I wondered what that might do to the already limited 
(for an mp3 player) battery life.  Chances are I could have it shut down 
the display when using it as an mp3 player only, but I wasn't sure.

Then the bigger Eee came out, but it still didn't look to allow direct 
SATA expansion and was rather more expensive.  I looked at the various 
competitors as they were announced as well, but couldn't find one that fit 
what I needed, with good specs and etc.  The hardware on the MSI Wind 
looked decent, but they haven't been known for their Linux friendliness 
and I rejected them a few years ago when looking at a main machine upgrade 
because all their downloadables were MS exe format.  Docs in (apparently) 
self-extracting exes, not PDF or the like.  BIOS updates, self extracting 
exe, everything, executable.  I wrote them at the time and told them 
exactly why they were being crossed off my list.  (I ended up with a Tyan 
mobo; they had a Linux FAQ and support, multiple distro certified, even a 
preconfigured sensors.conf for use with lm_sensors! I've been VERY happy 
with them!  =8^)  While that particular MSI machine now ships with a Linux 
preinstalled option, I still don't trust them and barring some extremely 
good MSI/Linux reviews which I've yet to see, they are still off my list.

Then the Acer Aspire One was announced, and coming about the same time was 
a bunch of associated PR about Acer planning to make Linux an option for 
their entire line, over time.  This was a very positive sign, and the 
hardware was getting good reviews as well.  One site even took it apart 
and listed what was upgradable (including that SATA detail I was 
particularly interested in) and what not.

As for the SATA upgrade, now that they announced a shipping upgrade to 120 
gig, I'm thinking about getting it and forgetting about the hacking.  
However, the SSD version still looks interesting, particularly if I couple 
it with a 120 gig SSD drive like the SuperTalent 120 GIG 2.5" SATA format 
SSD now available from newegg for <$600 (multi-bit per cell, but at that 
price, can't complain). 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820...  Or I 
could go with an even bigger standard 2.5" SATA HDD.  Haven't decided yet, 
but I'm almost certainly going with the Acer Aspire One in /some/ form.  
That's already decided.

Duncan