I've had a Neo for a about six months. My two kids have had Alphasmart 3000s for a couple of years -- for my 15 year old, it's the one piece of technology we never hold over his head as an incentive. He goes almost everywhere with it.

I got the Neo because I wasn't getting enough writing done. I needed distractions removed. In addition, I was sick of fiddling with my Palm keyboard. It's been a valuable addition to my writer's toolbox. It's much better for drafts, but using it for editing is only a pain, not impossible. The Beamer application (available separately) makes moving documents back and forth to a Palm via IR extremely easy. Between my Tungsten T5 with its WIFI card, the Neo, and a cell phone, I'm very well equipped for mobility with very little weight.

The Neo isn't perfect. It's word processor lacks overwrite capability, and the cursor is very hard to lose. The keyboard navigation commands are a bastard combination of Mac and PC, and the keyboard itself shows its Apple ancestry (there's nothing WRONG with that, but I wish they'd make up their minds whether they want a PC-centric keyboard or a Mac-centric keyboard).

$250 is a little steep, but I got mine with a tax refund. In the past I've used a Tandy M102, a Sinclair Z88, HP 100 and 200LX, and tried an eMate 300. The Neo is a winner for me.