I ordered the PengPod
for the fact that I can use it on the go as an Android tablet with touch and then boot into Linux and use it with a keyboard and mouse.
The normal tablet is insufficient for more sophisticated computing work. There are apps for editing photos, audio and video but these are basic but for fine-tuning, precise cutting or cropping, professional colour tuning, full-blown movies with credits, subtitles, transitions, to name a few, the tablet is not the place to do this type of work.
Having said this though, a tablet running Linux will be a bit under-powered for the moment, until processors and hardware on tablets advance further bringing their hardware configuration closer to higher-end PCs. With 1G ram, the PengPod is very useable on the desktop. I am still using some single-core PCs with 1G to 1.5G ram running Ubuntu or Linux Mint smoothly and quickly (using about 250Mb ram after boot-up).
So, yes, a tablet that can boot into the Linux desktop will be a welcome addition. This probably explains why in about 21 days from about $14,000 the deveopers received a storm of pledges raising their total to over $70,000 by the time the deadline came (their target was $49,000).
If you read the comments, the donors (or buyers) do really want a tablet that combines Android and the Linux desktop. Note also many have ordered, or even separately, the keyboard case. I already have one and have found it surprisingly effective and comfortable despite its size (7-inch) and my size (6-foot-2). I even tried connecting a mouse along with the keyboard and this works too, albeit only on Android. So, I am looking forward to the Linux desktop on a mobile tablet because I can type fast and point and click quickly without swiping. Don't forget there are also keyboard shortcuts and copy-and-pasting is a lot faster, speeding up work (e.g. writing a novel on the go).
I do believe that the Linux desktop on the tablet will prove popular.