Lenovo is taking suggestions for a higher quality ThinkPad netbook. Here are mine:
The Ultimate Netbook: Think Sony P done right (bigger).
Using the Thinkpad Trackpoint & 100% sized keyboard but maintaining the wider format. You get a 11-12″ screen with the footprint of a 10″ netbook. Dial back Sony’s ridiculous res to the soon to be standard 1366×768. You have usable resolution on a screen large enough to not require squinting. Take the Asus/MSI over/under-clock to the next level with 1.12/1.66/1.84Ghz & focus on reasonable sized SSDs (32+GB) for the power savings & performance balancing act. As much performance as possible is great but battery life is key. 8-10hrs would be great but 6+ (in the real world) is required. Find a way to fit an expresscard/34 slot without losing too much and you’ll be at the head of the class for expandability. And finally build quality, build quality, build quality.
Such a netbook could command a (relatively) premium price and sit between the std netbooks and ultraportables.