I'm an Asus 900 fan, I mean, got three of them solid enough construction, price point under $300, bright wide screen. The one we got with XP was just too frustrating, so I put on Eeebuntu onto it, but sticking in a 2gb ram board, and making sure that Windows doesn't cache to the HD, it'd probably be worthwhile going back to it.
Umm, really, really recommend Eeebuntu for those looking at the EeePCs, the little tweaks in the OS improve battery life impressively, and it's relatively fast and extremely easy to use.
Also, DO NOT lose the DVD-Rom that comes with your laptop - if something goes wrong, the software on it can recover from the worst situation and restore it.
The Dell ones also appear to be quite good from friends that have them, but if fat finger syndrome is an issue, the HP's have the largest keys on the keyboard, which could be easier for those with large hands, but not extremely happy with the quality.
Pitfalls on the EeePC from nearly a year of ownership: Keyboard is unsealed - keep drinks away from it, else you'll be looking for a new keyboard in short order. SSD, if it crashes, can pretty much only be restored by the DVD-Rom that comes with the machine. User support, while very good from Asus, is best on Eeeuser.com's forums - pretty much anything that's can be done to an EeePC has been done, and support replies can be extremely swift. If you're looking for speed, make sure you get a 1.6mhz or faster processor, but I've found the 900mhz ones to be just fine for me - aftermarket SSD drives are now available that are much faster, worthwhile if you really, really need the speed, but to me, it's a disposable computer.
Thanks for posting that, I’m planning on getting my son a netbook when he graduates from the 8th grade in may.