I bought my Asus EeePC in October, 2008. I've used it quite a bit for email and internet surfing. It still works wonderfully. I bought a bag that normally is used for a portable dvd player to transport it in. But a backpack could work also.
The only con of it is the size of the keyboard - that defintely does take some getting used to.
I bought it for $300 at Target. I think there is a slightly more expensive one that has a web camera built in. So, if you think you might like to do any kind of video conferencing with it, you may want to go for the one with the built in camera. I've had great difficulty finding a web camera to use with mine. (Due to not being able to install any programs via a disk.)