Wow, I'm glad I brought this thread up. Before I decided on the MP700, I did a whole whack of research re: portable daytime computing. I found this /. article a nice summation of many things I found in my travels...
"A Cheap and Portable Word Processor" -
http://ask.slashdot.org/askslashdot/05/05/24/190236.shtml
The only recent computer released that's b&w and meant for daylight writing with a decent keyboard is the Pomera DM-10, sadly only sold in Japan. Add to the fact, it is incapable of running anything else.