As I get older and my eyes get worse mini-gadgets become less and less appealing. I want bigger screens, not smaller. Just got a 26”er for the home beast, I can actually use it for an hour without my glasses on before my eyes start getting tired.
I am with you on the larger screens, plus the keyboards on the small ones are not my thing. I am going to get a full sized laptop soon, and will be a come down to me with a 15 inch screen, I am more than happy with my 19 inch LCD on the tower. However, if I had young eyes, I might be interested in one of the small ones for travel and a few other things I can think of off hand. Also, some people just like small things and if they get the required job done then what’s the harm?:)
Luckily for me at age 61, I can read very well without my glasses. I do need glasses to see at a distance. As I tell people, I can see you but I don't know who you are without my glasses on. I love my X61 Lenovo laptop from work and am looking at getting an ASUS for my personal computer. My sister and nephew each have one and they love them. Traveling with them is a breeze.
You can plug a huge external monitor into the little EEE PC and get up to something like 1600x1280 rez.