ASUS eeePC - Opinions?

[dapaterson]

Anyone out there bought or tried one of these gadgets?  Xandros OS on a sub-notebook with 512Mb RAM, 2 to 8 Gb solid-state HD, wireless (802.11g) and wired networking, USBx3 , mini-PCI slot, SD slot...  looks like a great portable computer, but I'd like some first-hand experiences.

Thanks.

 

[I_am_John_Galt]

I played with one in a computer store for a few minutes: it seemed to do what it was supposed to, but I didn't like the size.  I found it too small to function as well as a laptop, but too big to really be more portable (not like it would fit in a pocket).  The storage is very limited, so pictures and stuff would have to be stored on another computer ... I also think it would be a lot more useful if it at least had a DVD player.

 

[RTaylor]

Its a nice portable toy if all you want to do is internet, email, some cheap games and write papers or whatnot. You can also get it with Windows installed, but to be honest I'd spring for a cheap Core2Duo laptop. You'd pay a bit more but be getting a much better deal, unless you wanted the portable goodness of it, even tehn you can hit up Staples and get a 12" widescreen for $6-$700 dollars on sale quite easily with a DVD player included (saw one last week, very nice) and a solid video card, memory and 80 or 120gig hard drive, which if you were wanting to spend a bit more you can get a solid state drive to keep dropping and breaking at bay.

 

[Jorkapp]

I know 4 people who own one. The general opinions are:

1. Speed.
Not the fastest machine on the planet, nor the most efficient. Unless you upgrade to 1GB RAM, you can have a web browser or a PDF open, but not both (unless the PDF is small). Don't expect too much multitasking abilities, but it is somewhat capable. The screen is also pretty small (800x480 resolution), but at least it's usable.

2. Portability.
As my housemate so often gloats, "Can you put your laptop into your jacket pocket?". It is a really small machine, and it's portability is second to none. Due in part to it's low power processor and small screen, the battery life is pretty decent. It doesn't generate much heat or noise (occasionally the fan turns up, but it's not that noisy). The only portability beef I've heard so far is with the power adapter, which has some difficulty fitting into confined outlets.

3. OS.
I don't know of anyone who uses the default OS... then again, the only people I know who own them are CS majors. Windows XP runs decently on it. I've heard good things out of EeeXubuntu.

4. Storage.
Storage is definitely a short-fall for this system. It's usually recommended to put the OS and applications on the SSD, and mount the SSD as read-only, so to save on read-write cycles. Put documents, videos, etc on a thumbdrive or external HD.

In all, for $400, it's definitely a nice toy. Despite the drawbacks, everyone who I know that owns one does not regret purchasing one, and for the price, would not shed any tears if it were to suffer damage, destruction, etc.

 

[dapaterson]

JorkApp:

Thanks for the review.  I'm going to visit a local store and take one for a test-drive; you've answered all my questions except the keyboard - I'm not certain if I can adjust to a keyboard that small.

RTaylor and Aden_Gatling:

Thanks as well.  I'm looking at a sub-notebook for portability; the lack of an optical drive isn't an issue, as all the material I want I can transfer to / from other medial and bring along (USB drives and SD cards are cheap).

 

[OkotoksRookie]

Theres a 'light' version of xp which will take up WAY less space on the flash drive of the little guy. My boss uses it and really likes it.