I got an HP something-or-other for my mother, but I took an Acer for a spin at Best Buy and was really impressed. Unfortunately, all of Amazon, Best Buy, and Newegg were out of stock for the Acer model I wanted, and she lives in another state, so I got her the HP instead (similar specs, a bit more $$).
I've bought Acer R11 to myself, and gave my MBPr to my wife. Of course it is a huge downgrade, but my idea is to relax from writing code in the evenings for a few months, and then later install some linux on it.
It is very portable, and tablet mode is nice, but performance in web apps is pretty bad (so I even use MBP to use for stuff like AirBnB) – they work, but with quite frustrating experience. I am fine with it, but if someone will decide to go with it, be careful that it is really slow machine.
I still think though that for linux that would be more than enough.