[nkorth]

It just seems to me that it should be possible to design a really good laptop that costs less than $1000, if specs are secondary. I think that would be the best way for a PC manufacturer to finally beat Apple. The problem, however, is that such a computer might not run Windows very well. (but Linux would run quite nicely!)

[Xion]

Right, but how big is the market for low spec laptop with good design? As you have pointed out, it may have trouble running Windows which excludes the vast majority of users right here and there. It might work well in conjunction with Ubuntu et al., but that would require some non-trivial marketing effort from Canonical to create some demand for "premium netbook" niche.

However, given the success of Chrome OS, it might not be that difficult, actually.