eee PC

sparhawk -
1.what is the pro's / con's of this laptop?
2. Linux based, how does it do compared to normal windows pc?
3. Do u think it's worth the price?
 
@ spiderz - I tell you what let me play with it a bit and I will post my review on it either later tonight or tommorrow morning.
 
and how is it's online connectivity?
adding a usb 3g modem, Skype, gtalk, email, browsing, contact management, ect.
 
You can plug in a 3G modem via USB and it has skype, a chat program (I think it does multiple protocols) as well as Thunderbird for mail.

It's a great machine but I would only buy it if I had a monster desktop and needed this for documents on the move. Frankly I can't think of any use for it besides documents.
 
spiderz said:
and how is it's online connectivity?
adding a usb 3g modem, Skype, gtalk, email, browsing, contact management, ect.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it does have Skype and comes with Pidgin as well. Pidgin supports the jabber, msn, aim, ICQ, yahoo and IRC protocols, just to name a few.

The whole point of this machine is for internet on the go. It's a great 2nd laptop. It boots up in 10 seconds, so if you need to check something quick, it's great. It's also a quick way to upload your digital camera photos while on the move. Just connect your camera and then upload your pics to Picasa, Flickr or Facebook.
 
I think it'd be quite nice with decent mapping app and a usb gps.
 
Mike_De_Lange said:
Downside to the awesomeness of the EEEPC is the size of the solid state drive. Yes is silent and so much better than moving parts but I mean 4GB? Good lawd. If I wanted to install windows xp it would take up about 1,5GB plus a page file and you left with almost nothing. What if you need to download a 7GB image or copy across lots of files? You would need an external adapter and having extra peripherals defeats the point of a laptop since it no longer becomes portable and mobile. Fail! Its as bad and pathetic as the disgrace of the apple mac air pro, 1 usb port, no ethernet, no firewire, wtf ??? Its all cool if it looks shick and is small but if it can't do **** then its just an ornament!

If there is a hack to remove the solid state 4GB and replace it with a normal 2.5" drive i'm very keen for this beauty!
Click to expand...



Thats what 32GB SD cards are for.

or 32GB flashdrives
 
My Findings and feeling on the eeePC

First off one must remember that it is not a laptop / notebook but rather a subnotebook. It was designed in my opinion for the mass market that do not have access to normal laptop's and or desktop pc's. It is designed to be simple in design, robust and extremely easy to use.

I found the unit to perform well within its limitations [ I will come to these later], startup is extremely quick 10 ~ 15 secs max. The interface is designed to be extremely user friendly [dare I say for the not so techno savvy among us] connecting to the internet either wirelessly or via lan cable was a no brainer. Plug in and go online. It uses Pidgin as its messaging application and having never used it before it is a pleasure to set up.

The unit I have has 3 USB sockets, great for add on cards, external HDD or whatever your pleasure. The design is sleek and I reckon will be very popular around xmas time for the teenagers and the adults who want a new toy to play with.
 
However the limitations for me are the fact that the keyboard is so small and typing is a pain. [for me at least others may disagree] I found that the unit does get hot on either side of the touchpad where I presume the RAM and the flash drive is located. The screen is tiny however for its design purpose it is perfect.

I would not run it with Windows as what is the point you can't play games on it and I already have desktop PC to take care of that problem for me. However I would remove the Linux distro [Xandros based I believe] and load Ubuntu or some other small footprint distro. But for those that want to run XP the drivers are included on a cd with the unit.

I would buy this unit as a gift for someone but I would wait for the 8GIG model for myself as the most desirable feature is the fact that you can remove the flash HDD and replace it with a larger unit. [ It is a reader embedded in the unit and not soldered onto the motherboard as they currently are]

That is my opinion, yours may vary. To each there own.
 
The one I saw today had 3 USB ports, wireless & ethernet, no CD The Asus guy was saying that if one wanted bigger disk then use a file server or a USB disk drive.

Looks interesting, but there appear to be options from other manufacturers in the pipeline.
 
@spiderz, remember, size is important in this case,and those are literally double the size.

@Sparhawk - is the 8G model the only one with the removable flash hdd,or can you do it on the 4G as well?

Also, how big is Ubuntu? I been meaning to get into Linux for work purposes, and this might be a perfect opportunity.
 
bekdik said:
Looks interesting, but there appear to be options from other manufacturers in the pipeline.
Click to expand...

At this price? Where? Any links?

I'm not sure a lot of companies can manage to create such a small laptop at such a cheap price and with Asus' superior build quality.
 
The OLPC costs a $100 more and then you also get a slower CPU.

The OLPC and Asus Eee don't compete for the same markets, either. The one is for 3rd world poor people and the other is not.
 
EtienneK said:
The OLPC costs a $100 more and then you also get a slower CPU.

The OLPC and Asus Eee don't compete for the same markets, either. The one is for 3rd world poor people and the other is not.
Click to expand...

Never the less, the concept is similar. Produce a small, well-built PC that can connect to the 'net' and share information between participants.

I also think your price comparisons are a bit out of whack.

Also, never forget, you could become a 'third world poor person' at the switch of Eskom's button.
 
the eeepc isnt meant to be your primary laptop, so stop thinking of it like that. 4gb is massively more than you need when doing the odd bit of surfing, skype and msn. it's like a useable smartphone, that you can type on, with a screen 4 times the size of a smartphone, all for half the price.

:-) ok, so what i mean if you already have a laptop, to use as a laptop, this is just an "occasional" goodie you can throw in your briefcase, use it in a meeting for notes, sit on the couch and browse a bit of amazon/ebay/googling. if you want more storage then get a usb key, or map a network drive.

the thing is brilliant.
 
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