How to destroy a first mover advantage
Asus really are stupid. They gain a massive advantage of being first to market with a decent Small Cheap Computer. They then start to think that it is the Eee brand that is doing all this rather than the price point + usablility, and proceed to plaster it over every stupid more and more expensive variant they come up with, diluting the value of it and even its raison d'etre - to be small and cheap. They cosy up to Microsoft to ensure that the XP variants are priced the same as Linux versions by artificially screwing with the specs, thus increasing the entry level price point.
Stupid Stupid Stupid.
I'm not a Mac fan (I own nothing Apple), but at least they know how to launch a product.