My experience is the following:

- Screen: at least 8.9″, although go for the 10–10.2″ if you can possibly afford it.
– Keyboards: you are correct about cramped keyboards for the 7″, and for the most part also for the 8.9″ models (the exceptions being the Aspire One, which I found to have a very usable keyboard, and the HP 2133, the keyboard on which is better than the desktop keyboard I’m using now).

You can pick up a 2133 super-cheap now, as the new Mini 1000’s have just come out. Just note that the 2133 has the (much slower, if benchmarks are to be believed) Via C7-M processor, while the 1000 has an Atom.

To answer your last question, while I tend to hook up my Wind to an external keyboard at home, I have used it remotely for extended typing sessions, and found it to be extremely usable. I also think the build quality is quite good, and the Kubuntu version of Intrepid Ibex runs EXTREMELY well on it.

I finally got a chance to play with a few different netbooks at Best Buy the other night. The MSI Wind I looked at seemed OK — at Best Buy, they often lock them down so you can’t play with much software-wise, but the hardware seemed usable. There was a key missing, though, which made me wonder about the build quality. I know they get used pretty hard as display models, but overall, do you find your Wind to be pretty well put together?

Of the ones I tried, the 7–8″ ones had keyboards that were far too cramped for my hands (I’m not NBA-big, but I’m a pretty big guy nonetheless). The Wind felt OK, though with a key missing it was a little awkward to test well. I found a 10″ Asus to be the most comfortable to type on, of the ones I tested. My question, though, is whether these keyboards are comfortable enough to use for longer than a few minutes. What has your experience been?