It's a little more than your $600 mark new, but http://www.system76.com/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=100 would be pretty cool (I'll likely be getting one myself shortly). They test and ship their machines with Ubuntu, so you know it will work right. I would certainly agree that a netbook would be frustrating to have as your only machine. It's a great secondary, but a poor primary. As long as people are talking about the Thinkpad T-series, I'll mention that I have a 5 year old Thinkpad T43 here that I'm looking to unload, with both the original battery and two newer spares. However, it being 5 years old it has done that "taking a beating" others mentioned, and has a bit of a worrisome quirk at the moment that may or may not be fixable. VGA output only as well. Just thought I'd throw that out there in case you or someone else is interested. - Tony