They create what's arguably the best netbook available, and now they're supposedly going to abandon it? Seems unlikely to me, unless they're *trying* to give the market to the Samsung NC10.

"the 10in screen size, hard drive and Windows XP, will become the de facto netbook form-factor in 2009"

Not for me it won't, that extra pointless inch of size makes all the difference between a netbook and a "small laptop". You can argue over the relative benefits of XP vs Linux or HD vs SSD all day, but there's no point making the whole device bigger and bulkier unless you're going to increase the screen resolution to go along with it.

I like my little SSD AA1. I had a lot of fun playing with a few Linux distros before settling on Ubuntu NBR. The price at the time I bought was at a comfortable level for what was going to be mostly a toy - though it is great to take on short trips.

Something bigger (and presumably heavier and more expensive) wouldn't have done the trick at all. Maybe a bigger SSD and more RAM, but i don't need a full-size HDD, I don't need a bigger screen and I get quite enough of Windows at work, thanks...

But I suspect I'm in the geeky minority, and the mass market will want Windows. Mutter.

I bought one last week, and if you want the Linux 8GB SSD model, pretty much nobody has any left (PC World had none in the company, according to them, and said it was end-of-line, they're not selling, not getting any more, blah blah blah (usual DSGi sales accuracy disclaimers apply)).

Amazon had none actually in stock, Expansys are quoting 3-4 days, and are over priced, Tescos have no stock left, Currys Moorgate (London City) had one in the stock room they didn't know about, which I nabbed, and have had no more since (I checked, as I want another one), Currys Old Broad Street (London City) have run out and "probably" won't be getting any more.

Shame, as the fact that it is Linux was one of the major attractions, and the SSD making it light and fully no moving parts also appeals. If the new model is only hard drive based, that's fine, but only on XP, no ta (and yes, I could re-install Linux on it, but the whole point is to buy a netbook with Linux included, which requires no effort to get up and running, and to put my money where my mouth is with regards to showing there is a market for pre-installed Linux).

Anyone know of anywhere who do actually have stock?

Matt.

a good SCC should have a SDD so when you drop it while running it won't brick itself (I've let my AA1 slip of the coach and bed a number of times with no ill effect) and Linux...cos XP is shite!

10" would be nice, but I can live with 8.9, f''nar f'nar

"It's also worth recalling that various netbook market observers have forecast that the 10in screen size, hard drive and Windows XP, will become the de facto netbook form-factor in 2009. ®"

So, the masses don't want a netbook but a cheapish, smallish desktop replacement? :(

Well many people probably want to use their freakin "phone" for those tasks i want an SCC.

I own a AA1 8.9"/Linux/SSD. While i otherwise only use windows, i suspect windows *XP* can't reasonably be made to write as few to disk as possible (pagefile, NTFS, and no, no FAT please). As such, for what i want i think a Linux is a good choice on this. SSD is an absolute must, while running every piece of special needs software is not as it is not a desktop replacement but just a platform for Firefox, Thunderbird, XChat, a PDF reader and a text editor (maybe add an image viewer, mirage seems about right for me). And 8.9" screen size is good enough for light usage, as is the corresponding keyboard size (while bigger screen makes it less portable, stating the obvious here).

First time penguin icon use for me. Not OS to the gods, but fits an SCC pretty well.

Windows works perfectly fine on an ssd - this note is being written on the original netbook the Asus eee 701 - it's been used 8 hours a day for over a year.

I use a 2GB RAM module, no pagefile, the "last access" stamp disabled for NTFS (simple registry tweak) and 256MB of ramdisk on which the internet cache, realplayer cache and "temp" are located.

The machine is not just usable, but FAST! Much smother than the Linux distros I've tried including eeebuntu.

You could also use the enhanced file writer (EWF) from Windows embedded - a favourite of the car pc brigade. This overlays RAM over the file system as can be done in Linux.

Like Linux you just need to learn how it works and how to configure it properly.

I work for Acer and can assure you that we have no plans to stop selling the Aspire One 8.9". We actually believe the 10" and 8.9" appeal to a different type of customer and can therefore exist side by side. More 8.9" Linux stock will be arriving in the next couple of weeks with updated specification, but still at a great price.

If you would like any more info on the 10", the press release has gone up this morning:

http://www.acer.co.uk/public/page92.do;jsessionid=2AA87527D2D0AE91BB5C6581889E697D.public_a_14c?sp=page74&dau42.oid=17143&UserCtxParam=0&GroupCtxParam=0&dctx1=17&CountryISOCtxParam=UK&LanguageISOCtxParam=en&ctx3=-1&ctx4=United+Kingdom&crc=2045683279

(sorry for the long link)

@Adam: try tinyurl.com. That long link of yours is turned into the http://tinyurl.com/b69jfs

I've bought mine AA1 (8GB SSD, Linux) for approximately $200, while WinXP/HDD model was twice more expensive. I suspect that WinXP license alone adds something like $100 to the price... WRT Aspire One 10" -- I believe that current 8.9" model's frame already has enough space to accomodate 10" matrix, and this would be much more worthwhile investment than putting crap Billy's OS on the AA1.