The cheapest lowest spec netbooks are/were available in America, but there are more available with Linux at the same or in this case, better spec in other countries. Perhaps Microsoft's influence is not as strong outside the US, or perhaps the Linux market is stronger in other countries.

http://www.kogan.com.au/shop/kogan-agora-netboo…

This could easily become more and more common as it begins to dawn on OEMs that if they offer better hardware specifications and a better OS with a full set of applications for the same price, people will buy it if they are offered it, even if it isn't Microsoft.

Apart from bigger disks and more RAM, another possibility is better processors, perhaps dual core or even quad core ARM CPUs could be the go here.

The maker of the almighty Atom chip is also responsible. They also put restrictions on the HW design when selling the chip. Some of Intel commandments are…

- Thy shall not have larger screen size then 10.2 inch
- Thy shall not have a digital video out connection
- Thy shall not have a digital audio out connection
…

(Some of the restrictions might be removed now)

With low-spec ARM-based netbooks on one side, and high-spec X86 Linux netbooks on the other side, it looks like Microsoft have staked out the middle ground — and are setting themselves up to be surrounded.

By the way, which “handful of companies have offered Linux netbooks that have additional RAM or other features”? I haven't heard of any other company doing this.