While netbook keyboards can be constrained, typing on the glass screen is not that easy. In addition, netbooks generally have cursor keys to move the cursor to where you need to edit. Moving the cursor on the screen is not that easy and can be a pain-in-the-buttt. The word version is quite limited - to mainly typing text and not much in the way of formatting or adding stuff like pictures/charts/etc. There is no search function.
The spreadsheet does not allow copy/paste of one cell or a block of cells. It has some other serious limitations as to formulas.
Some expect it to be improved in Feb. But buy it based on what it does and do not count on any improvements.
If I understand the movie/dvd question - I don't think you can copy the digital version to the pb directly as it probably does not have the means to work around the drm. You would need to somehow find a desktop program to copy to the computer (breaking drm or removing it) and then copy to the pb. It's video presentation once on-board is quite nice. But currently there is no wireless/bluetooth so you need to use its speakers or wired headphones.
The current pb uses the calendar and contacts from a bb phone using Bridge. It contains no native apps.
Finding working models is hard but see if you can and try it out.
If you search for converting movies or something similar, you will find a few good discussions about getting movies loaded and converted for the Playbook.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
