1. 1.8x is fine for an AE-300.
2. Yes it will accept PAL prog (625p)
3. I don't feel it should be a show stopper at all, certainly not for gaming or video as you can still achieve very acceptable results. It does make a mess of the desktop though so you won't want to be browsing with it

Note: You can get 1:1 mapping if you're willing to mess about (a lot), but the effort out-weighs the gains in my opinion (for the AE300 at least

). As for a firmware update to make it easier, who can say
-- Jon