OPSE... I sent these answers yesterday, but somehow managed to only send them to myself ... D'OH....
Peter
I'll answer the questions so far....
Q: "What sort of battery life do you get (I appreciate that these are more of a desktop replacement machine so that may be less important to you, but for me it's essential) "
A: Not sure yet as I've not given it a full charge/discharge cycle yet. Actually it's not a desk top replacement.
Q: "Could you tell me what the wireless chipset is please?
A: The interface comes up as "ra0" and the module is "rt2500" /var/log/boot.msg has this line in it.. "RaLink RT2500 802.11 Cardbus Reference Card (rev 01)"
Q: "I also note that they don't mention if they have an ethernet port? (If they do, can you again tell me which chipset)."
A: Yes it has an ethernet port.. SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 91)
Q: "One question: have you tested the touchpad (or glidepad as they call it) with en external mouse? (I don't see a PS2 port listed, so maybe one has to use a USB mouse). Sometimes one cannot use the touchpad and external mouse at the same time, unless one installs a proprietary (usually Windows) driver.2
A: Touch pad is a bit odd... Seems that it buffers up clicks and sometimes "odd things" happen (esp.when using the gnome workspace switcher) but the good news is that a USB mouse can be used at the same time and that does the right thing. I'm sure that with time I'll get used to the touchpad "quirks"
Peter