I’d say +1 on ASUS and +1 on take a liveCD to the shop.
I chose my ASUS because it had an instant on “splashtop” (Linux-based) environment so I figured hardware compatibility would be good.
The only thing I found with the ASUS PRO59 is that the webcam is upside down (although the splashtop version its fine, they must have a customized kernel or skype) and that the card reader doesn’t work.
Most of the free webcam apps (cheese, kopete, egika) have a simple invert setting which suits me. Its just skype that doesn’t have a setting for that.
Performance is pretty good for a cheap-ish laptop. Desktop effects work out of the box.