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During the last week I have been evaluating an Asus Eee PC for some of our mobile users who need something more than a PDA but less than a laptop. While I'm not sure it will suit our needs at work, anyone looking for a very small, full-fledged PC may wish to check it out. The standard units have 512mg of ram, a 2, 4, or 8 GB flash drive, WiFi and Ethernet. The 7" screen is only 800x480 but is sharp and you can plug an external monitor at it's native resolution.
This thing comes pre-loaded with a stripped-down version of Xandros Linux, Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, Pidgin (IM) along with some games and toys. An XP version is planned for spring. The keyboard is a bit small and takes some getting used to. But, plug in a USB keyboard and mouse and a monitor and you have a full size work machine for home.
And you can take it anywhere without lugging a laptop bag. Prices in the US range from $300 to $500 - no other PC can touch that yet.
A couple links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3829
http://www.eeeuser.com/
Or google it.
If you are in the market for a good, mobile, writing/surfing/chatting PC, and don't need Windows, this is worth investigating. If you are a geek, check the eeeuser.com forums and wikis for what else you can do with it. A caution: the "Surf" models have a smaller battery.
Jamie
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Yep, I've looked at those myself - they are neat. I don't really travel, though, so I wouldn't get any real utility out of it.
Though... Apple just came out with a "full size" laptop that's so thin it'll fit in a manila envelope. Of course, it's $1800 or so I think, but even at that price point, it's *far* cheaper than any other laptop that's thicker and heavier than it is.
Really?
Or were you just quoting Apple's advertising? What I'm typing on was a little over a third of that and, while it isn't nearly that thin, I don't think it is big or heavy at all (there are much bigger ones out there), and it does everything I ask of it (almost all the time - I don't ask it to play online games or anything like that, though). Of course, it was "last years modal" when I got it, but that just meant that I avoided all the latest improvements (like Vista).
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I watched the video from 'macworld' demoing it - it really is that thin. Of course, whether having a super-thin laptop is worth the price bump is another matter...for some people it is and for others it's not going to be. It depends on your budget I guess. The appeal of the EEpc is that it's extremely *cheap* and compact along with also having a solid state drive and whatnot. I think they were originally being designed as inexpensive laptops for third world countries.
The little laptop
A big draw of the Eee is the bang for the buck. The model I'm using cost $350, is about the size of a trade paperback, albeit a thick one. I don't mean to sound like an ad for it, and I don't have anything against Apple, I just don't think you can beat this for a take-anywhere, do (most)anything PC.
Jamie
Bang for the penny
I have to agree, it looks like the perfect travel machine.
Michelle
sounds great, but...
I will stick with my portege 3010 until it dies. Wireless card finally works under suse and open office (older versions, but functional). listen to music for almost 3 hours on battery at full charge. Claims it is at 3 pounds but came in at 1 pound 14 ounces on the ups scales and .75x10x8 inches... Surf, edit, email, etc. All around a nice ancient laptop. Also, the OLPC project looks interesting as well.
And I still use my velo to do some stuff. I wish they would have updated the format of that unit, as it was a great idea that was ahead of it's time :)
You are correct about the pricing though, and it does look like a little workhorse :)
Diana
ps I wish I could get an oqo to play with and see if you could run linux on it (not to mention WoW), but I was told no more toys until I get rid of all of my "old" "obsolete" "junk" :(