I hope that my experience with the Asus Eee assists others.
I purchased a Linux based Eee PC701 in February and used it as an email and web browser, for some word processing and spreadsheeting, as well as with a data projector for classroom teaching and information sessions. Being only Linux based I did not use Basic4PPC on it.
I was happy with my PC701, but so were my daughter and grand daughter - so after a while I could not get near it.
With news of the PC901 (power efficient Atom CPU) coming I was going to wait, but instead upgraded to the PC900 with Celeron CPU, 1GB Ram and running on XP. It is fantastic - with 12GB of SSD a 9 inch 1024*600 screen, and wireless. It came with numerous applications including StarOffice, Works, a Powerpoint viewer, and Skype. Via an external DVD writer I have installed Microsoft Office (and a Word reliant application named Course Genie used to develop online learning modules for the tertiary college I am employed with).
I have also installed Dream Weaver, an Icon Editor, a GIF creator, a Photoshop type application, and of course Basic4PPC. I could probably have loaded Visual Basic, but why bother!
All load and run quickly, demonstrating that this incredible little PC is a serious contender for development work.
My desk computer now lies idle for several days on end, while I daily use my PC900.