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I don't get it. Why do the SSD thing at all? If it's the same one as is in the Aspire One, it's not even worth keeping, and at 8gb? No point to that. And what's with the lower amount of ram in the Linux model? The fact that it comes with Ubuntu is nice, but I don't see how this really changes the Linux vs Windows hardware slant. The Windows model still has better specs... and what's to say Acer will, when the Linux SSD models are sold out, actually release a Linux model with an hdd like they say they will? It wouldn't be the first time an OEM backed out on something like this, let's face it.
Not that I buy anything made by Acer anymore, except a cheap monitor for a basic setup on occasion. I stopped trusting their machines long ago, they've had the worst failure rate I've personally ever seen, worse even than Dell. Granted, that's personal experience, but I've wasted enough of my money on Acer machines. Still, it's irritating that they persist on making their Linux models lower spec. One might wonder why that is...

I've bought a WinXP only netbook (Samsung NC10) and I've setup on it the Fedora 10. It really shine on that particular machine (Ubuntu 9.04 also but have some small issues with Intel video drivers as they were heavily refactored). With the same applications (OpenOffice, Firefox and Skype) with 1G RAM works nice, really nicer than on Windows (still I have to admit that Windows have a background McAfee antivirus). So for persons that are sensible at price, adding let's say 50 GBP to it to have an extra G of RAM will remove it's competitiveness.

Also, where is this RAM critical? Doing Photoshop? Think that Linux with KDE 4 fits in 350M of RAM. You will still remain with 700 M for applications! And on Linux because the applications are not so much bloated (as there are not all dlls for all backward versions), is really enough!

My single concern is to work flawless the new netbook on Linux and to be tested on it.

I know Linux runs fine in 1 gb of ram, but that wasn't the point. My point was that they should not spec each machine differently, aside from the os. It provides an unfair advantage to one os over the other and, depending on how difficult it is to upgrade the ram, some might buy the Windows model just for that. Acer isn't always known for making upgrades easy, anyone ever have to upgrade the ram in an Aspire One? It makes the Intel Mac Mini's ram upgrade procedure look extremely simple by comparison.
The difference in specs is what I'm taking issue with, not that Linux runs fine in 1g of ram and wouldn't necessarily need anymore. Considering how cheap RAM is though, why not put 2gb in both of them? More RAM never hurts in any situation.
Still, the RAM isn't nearly as big of a let down as that crappy SSD...

If people will pay 100 more just for the additional RAM, they better expend 150 more and get two machines. Let's make our homes distributed computing farms!

Yeah, the SSD drive is the real showstopper. I hope the Linux SSD unit sells OK or they probably will say it was Linux fault and take that option down.

Thing is, if the SSD Linux unit sells out and Acer does follow through on their promise to release one with an hdd, that means that those who bought the Linux SSD models did, in a sense, get screwed over. I wonder if it will use a Mini-PCIE SSD or a sata one? If they use sata, at least it could be replaced with an hdd or a better ssd, if they use Mini-PCIE the only option would be to replace the provided SSD with another SSD. A good SSD, of decent size, would cost more than the unit by at least half.
Perhaps they had a surplus of those 8gb SSDs laying around, and decided they needed to shove them in some product, whether it is well-suited for it or not.

The ram must be a pretty marginal cost.. Look at the pricing on 2GB dimms these days, for them to remove the 1GB (or 2x 512?) and put a single 2gb module in would increase the price by maybe GBP15-20 or so? Why not offer an intermediate model which has linux, more ram and the bigger HD?

More RAM mostly means more power consumption and thus a shorter battery life.

That's also why I don't fully understand why the author of this article is so happy about the battery-friendly SSD being replaced by a power-hungry HDD. Ok, I agree 8GB is too little, but I'm very happy with the 20GB SSD in my Eee PC 901 Linux; I you do not install a bloated operating system and a bloated office suite, you will have plenty of free disk space on a 20GB SSD, definitely enough for a netbook.

Battery life is not an issue for a net top, and the amount of power some extra ram adds is really negligible when compared to most of the other components in the system.
Yes, a 20 gb SSD is plenty big enough for a netbook. We're not complaining about the 8gb SSD in these things because of the space, although for any kind of desktop--even a nettop--that is a rather small amount. The SSDs in the AA1 netbooks are horrendously slow, unlike those in most of the SSD-based eee pcs. If it's the same 8gb SSD in these nettops, these things are going to seriously crawl when it comes to disk writes, think worse than a 1.8 inch 4200 rpm mechanical hd. They're not exactly blazing fast when reading either. In contrast, the primary SSD in the eee pc is quite good, although the secondary SSD--for models that do have two--runs at a similarly slow speed as the AA1's.

I meant, why do the SSD thing on a desktop? It's not like you're going to becarting the nettop around and, as has already been pointed out here, the SSDs Acer has used so far are not exactly top of the line units. And no matter which way you look at it, they're still ripping off their Linux customers with lower hardware specs.

@Thom_Holwerda:
http://www.osnews.com/story/21351/Report_Acer_Asus_MSI_Missing_Netb...

?

I don't think I explained what I mean properly, what I meant was, it will help netbook/top sales in general. Acer itself is doing fine.

You can even run it on the Apple TV, if having it on a very small device is important.

MS will allow Windows and Linux to compete equally once there is enough Windows-only applications optimized for netbooks, so their market share can be preserved.

Same here. I have a small form-factor computer with a smaller capacity internal drive. The files are routed to an external storage device.

The equipment is whisper quiet and the internal temperatures run much cooler using this logic.

Most Windows boxes, the ones I repair for people, run hot and have fans that sound like a military aircraft taking off.

Read the article linked to in the blurb. And I quote:

The headline...