Good post. But I must throw in my 2 cents here... in terms of the interface, I know it's not the prettiest thing... but geesh... how easy is it to install a new theme? Gnome-look.org is your friend. And if I may throw in a personal favorite of mine... look in the top rated section for Ubuntu Dust.
Besides that, I am really happy to hear about the snappy speed improvements along with hardware support. Maybe now I can run my laptop wirelessly! And maybe I can have some restricted drivers for my 9600 GT...