ASUS Eee PC 1008HA Seashell 10.1-Inch Pearl Black Netbook - 6 Hour Battery Life Order Now

This isn't a full review yet, as I have yet to test things like battery life, performance, Windows 7, etc. But just a couple observations:

Keyboard:
Thank GOODNESS that the keyboard is very nicely laid out, and very comfortable. For some reason Amazon has pictures of the black one with a horrible layout in some of the pictures, including, ironically, where it says "Ergonomic Keyboard." In particular, a couples pictures show a horribly mis-shaped Enter key that also moves the back-slash key under the A-key, which is where the left shift key should be! I was planning on sending it back immediately if this was the case, and thankfully it's not. Some pictures have the correct layout, and I believe all the pictures of the white version are accurate.

Setup:
The Windows XP setup was a breeze, just taking a matter of minutes. UPDATE: I installed Windows 7 RC. Runs great, although there are "blackscreen" issues. This seems to only occur on setup. Basically it looks like it's booting up, then the screen goes blank. But if you wait a little bit and then hit the Power button again, the log-in screen comes on. Hopefully Asus releases a BIOS update to get around this. Once you're in though, I have yet to experience any issues, and it looks great.

UPDATE: A great feature I discovered is that the the HDD comes pre-partitioned, so you can leave XP on the first partition (and keep the pre-loaded software/XP) and install Windows 7 on the other. You can even pick which Windows version you want to use when you boot up--very cool! I just need to reinstall some of the drivers on Windows 7 though so I can do things like below--

Side note, it's very cool being able to do things like switch resolutions and turn things on and off on-the-fly with the Fn and F-keys. There is also a 1024x768 "Compress" mode, which helps with compatibility issues with some programs (and, while it looks a little jaggy, is much less annoying than having to scroll the screen up or down). Hopefully it'll retain those same quick functions with Windows 7 [UPDATE--it didn't. Hopefully the utility disk will install these features. I'll update again later].

Memory upgrade:
UPDATE: What a nightmare!! I first saw just the 4 screws and hoped I just needed to take those off and I was in. Wrong. The case stays tightly closed, presumably by latches. I popped some loose but eventually gave up, fearing I'd break something. What's worse, if you look online, it looks incredibly difficult--having to release certain clips near the F keys, pulling off the keyboard, moving ribbons out of the way, just to name a couple steps. The most egregious thing is that apparently there is no reason for not having a door at the bottom, as there's nothing separating the bottom from the memory (and all sorts of guts getting in the way on top), so presumably the "to save on size" argument is invalid. This is a HUGE, almost inexcusable design flaw on the part of Asus.

While I'm not the most advanced expert in the world, I've built and upgraded many a computer, and this is just too much. I'd recommend trying to find a shop that specializes in this sort of thing... wherever that is.

USB:
UPDATED: The one gripe I have about the USB besides there only being 2 ports (vs the typical 3 which is unfortunate, but I knew that going in), is that they're on opposite sides. If you have a powered USB device that might need a Y cable to use two ports, it probably won't reach the other side without an extension. And even then it's a lot of cord. Thankfully I haven't had any problems with my external DVD drive as far as installing things, although I haven't tried recording anything yet (I've heard it's a little slower if you just use one plug).

Size/Style:
Nice. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say this was the main reason I purchased this--the slim-ness/weight especially for myself. But yes, the looks are also very nice, very sleek.
I plan on taking this thing with me on a trip around the world in a couple weeks, so the lighter and less volume, the better.

Other thoughts: I've noticed a couple of just-audible beeping and clicking noises. Has anyone else experienced this? They don't make me feel too good, as I've only heard this before when things overheat, etc. Please share thoughts.

I plan on updating with more observations later. So far it's still good, but there are certainly a couple things that could use improvements.Get more detail about ASUS Eee PC 1008HA Seashell 10.1-Inch Pearl Black Netbook - 6 Hour Battery Life.