Strange. I use my eee as my primary computer when traveling. Obviously my 8-core i7 machine at home is much faster, but this one runs exactly the same software, is super-light, and hardly ever needs to be recharged. It is the ideal traveling companion. It does everything I need it to do; I have the exact same config files on my home desktop as I do on the eee.
I am not sure how one Linux distro could be slower or less powerful than another. Same exact software, slightly different settings. (I use xmonad, which is going to feel fast on any hardware. GNOME/KDE/Win 7/OS X is going to feel slow on any hardware. It's designed to.)
I prefer to be at home with a 24" monitor and an 8-core processor with 6G of RAM, of course, but when you are stuck in the back of an airplane (which I am right now, incidentally; row 30, baby), nothing beats a netbook. When you are at your desk, nothing beats a desktop. (The laptop is truly a cumbersome device. It will never be as powerful as a desktop, but it needs a huge battery to last for more than 3 hours. And, a big screen would preclude opening it when you are stuck in economy class. Would not want.)
This is about the lowest-end desktop you can buy these days. Combined with the netbook, it's much less expensive than a 16" Macbook Pro, for example. (That's why I can't get too excited about laptops. They are underpowered, un-upgradeable, and very expensive.)
I am not sure how one Linux distro could be slower or less powerful than another. Same exact software, slightly different settings. (I use xmonad, which is going to feel fast on any hardware. GNOME/KDE/Win 7/OS X is going to feel slow on any hardware. It's designed to.)
I prefer to be at home with a 24" monitor and an 8-core processor with 6G of RAM, of course, but when you are stuck in the back of an airplane (which I am right now, incidentally; row 30, baby), nothing beats a netbook. When you are at your desk, nothing beats a desktop. (The laptop is truly a cumbersome device. It will never be as powerful as a desktop, but it needs a huge battery to last for more than 3 hours. And, a big screen would preclude opening it when you are stuck in economy class. Would not want.)