I decided to buy an eeepc today I went online and looked at the options. I decided I liked the 4 gig "galaxy," then saw I could have an 8 gig for a mere 75 usd or so more. (the 8 gig has a gig o ram vs the 512 on the 4g). That put the price a little over 520usd. I wanted the thing for simple web editing, site management--stuff that is possible but awkward on the z (for me) as a regular thing. My wife suggested I compare the eepc with other options suitable for that purpose. I ended up spending 600usd on an Acer 5520-5912: 2 gigs o ram 15 inch screen turion64x2 58, etc... My Z remains my ultraportable, and my new Acer (which I need to get linux on) is a still portable, if hardly pocketable wysiwyg demon
If you only want the eeepc to run linux, the extra 4 gig disk space and 512mb ram are not absolutely necessary. A big SDHC (like a 8gb) can make up for that: swap, frequently written files (like the firefox profiles), mass storage, etc.
Interestingly, the bigger screen and keyboard actually make it a more productive mobile tool. For example, I can touchtype and type much more and faster than on the Z, and I can read all my PDF files on the go *comfortably*. Using it on the train doesn't feel uneasy at all.
And I don't have to worry about the smaller and less uptodate Xandros repos, not to mention any Zaurus/architecture-specific hacking and compilation anymore ... After spending one night going through all the fine-tuning of Xandros, this morning I decided to make a leap of faith and my 701 galaxy black put on eeexubuntu 7.10r2 (Gutsy)! It's just a regular ubuntu with the proper resolution (VGA) and the addition of some drivers specifically for eeepc (such as the wifi card). Setting things up takes just less than an hour, and it is ready to roll!
Also when installing xubuntu I used gparted (included in the installer) to merge /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2. Now my eeepc has reclaimed ~2gb disk space!
I've tried to carry it around and to the library. Despite being larger than the Z (about two and a half Z as a rough measurement), i have a real lightweight minilaptop to do my real work more efficiently everywhere.
Here is a small experiment: stop using my Z for a week and stick to the new eeepc. A verdict should come out after the initial excitement.