I assume other than phishing it's also the poor UX of switching to your email inbox and then back to the browser, which can be especially bad on mobile.
That being said, I like the idea and have asked myself that question before as well.
We are looking for someone to join us on site, but depending on the Visa process, we are willing to help matching candidates with the process. And we have non-European team members.
That is quite a normal concern. Fortunately, the Archlinux wiki has good info on how to configure fonts: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Font_Configuration#Ubun... (that link leads to the section about Ubuntu-patched packages, but the whole page is a good read).
If you use Archlinux, make sure you use the wiki and bbs to their full power. Most of the problems you think of have been solved in a way or another. It usually just requires installing some packages, which is a breeze.
The upgrade I chose for the MacBook Air still includes a power-efficient CPU, probably with the exact same TDP rating, just a slightly higher clock rating. This will most likely not increase the power drain, depending on what task your putting it to.
I can't keep track of all the models around, so I picked the biggest competitor to the MBA. On a glance, that Asus doesn't seem to have a particularly sturdy case and also Nvidia Optimus might make it a nightmare to run Linux on.
We're targeting Debian, so running that (in a VM) on a 4GB MBA is not pleasant. Borderline unusable, sometimes. That's why I'd have preferred an ultraportable with either more RAM or the ability to run Debian natively on. Turns out, I found none so far.
