Anyone Have an Asus Eee PC?

[bdgbill]

I have been saving up for a new digital camera for a couple of months and was ready to buy a Canon G9 but I have been reading some very tempting articles on this little Asus which is just about the same price as the camera.

I may have to put the camera purchase off for a while. I travel a lot and my 17" monster Compaq laptop is way too big to use on a plane and is not particulary convenient to use in the airport (9lbs and a 5 minute boot time). I love the idea of a little paper back size laptop that I can throw in my briefcase or in my coat pocket. The machine runs Linux but is capable of running XP. M$oft is supposed to be working on $40.00 version of XP just for the Eee.

Does anyone here own one or have any hands on time with one?

[Torque]

I'm curious as well. My wife needs something to replace her day planner, but a PDA isn't friendly enough and a regular laptop is too big to carry around all day. The Eee looks just right.

A guy I work with has a roommate with one and he said they're a really speedy machine if you upgrade the RAM to 1 or 2GB. He said he'd be worried about the limited write cycles of the SSD HDD if you stuck with the 512MB RAM. His only complaint was the screen was just a tad too small. Either that or they need to bump the resolution up to atleast 1024x instead of the 800x res. I've yet to see one in person, but I'll take his word for it since we have similar tastes.

There are alot more players coming into the market, so I'm hoping in 6 months we'll see more competition and the screen size will increase.

[Torque]

Bill, check this out:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/19/hps-u...-revealed/

If they can match (or atleast come really close to) the Eee price-point, they'll have a winner.

[bdgbill]

Bill, check this out:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/19/hps-u...-revealed/

If they can match (or atleast come really close to) the Eee price-point, they'll have a winner.

I saw that article this morning. There are a lot of these ultra mobile devices on the way (in large part because of the success of the eee). My company just bought on of these for testing. I wasn't too impressed.

I like the quirkyness of the eee. There also seems to be a thriving, friendly user community out there. One of the biggest reasons I got excited about the little Asus is it's 10 second boot time.

I also like the idea of taking another run at Linux. This may be just the type of baby step I have been looking for.

The bigger screen on that HP is tempting but I'm thinking thats going to be a $700.00 machine with the SSD.

[martint123]

The Elonex seems even cheaper?

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/02/19/...s_for_eee/

UK PC maker Elonex will next week launch an offensive against Asus' elfin Eee PC by offering a compact Linux laptop for just £99 ($193/€132).

That's less than half the price of a 4GB Eee PC - if you can lay your hands on one. Asus' machine is still tricky to obtain, stock watching websites reveal.

[Torque]

I saw that article this morning. There are a lot of these ultra mobile devices on the way (in large part because of the success of the eee). My company just bought on of these for testing. I wasn't too impressed.

I like the quirkyness of the eee. There also seems to be a thriving, friendly user community out there. One of the biggest reasons I got excited about the little Asus is it's 10 second boot time.

I also like the idea of taking another run at Linux. This may be just the type of baby step I have been looking for.

The bigger screen on that HP is tempting but I'm thinking thats going to be a $700.00 machine with the SSD.

Yeah, portability for $700 isn't worth it IMO... so maybe the Eee is/will be the best compromise between size and cost. $700 is nearing the Sony and Fujitsu lineup for the 11-12" screens.

[il1019]

I had been pretty decided on waiting for the 2nd gen EEE, mainily due to screen size, however the HP might be my final choice. They said that you would be able to buy one "without thinking about it" which many people have decided will be around or below 600 bucks. Although it is a bit more, the screen is said to be 1366x766, a healthy bump over the EEE and might be what more people are looking for. I've been using Linux on my laptop (ubuntu, debian, mepis) for a few years now, and last year i decided to see how long i could go without booting windows on my laptop. I've booted maybe 3 times in the last year, which makes me feel pretty comfortable going all linux on a laptop. My old 15.4" hp is a monster. P4 3.2Ghz was not made to be housed in a laptop.

HP's add for it http://www.engadget.com/photos/hps-umpc-...ed/649702/ uses one of EEE's three E's - easy to use. Found that pretty humorous.

So yes, I think HP might be onto something. A slightly more "premium" edition of the EEE. The only thing that made me worry was "tamper-proof case, no visible screws." What about those of us who were born to tamper??

[Torque]

So yes, I think HP might be onto something. A slightly more "premium" edition of the EEE. The only thing that made me worry was "tamper-proof case, no visible screws." What about those of us who were born to tamper??

Good point. The Eee looks easy to get into and upgrade the memory and such. Maybe HP hid all the screws underneth the rubber feet? Or you'll need a tool like those things that are used to remove the theft-prevention devices from high-dollar items...

[bdgbill]

I had been pretty decided on waiting for the 2nd gen EEE, mainily due to screen size, however the HP might be my final choice. They said that you would be able to buy one "without thinking about it" which many people have decided will be around or below 600 bucks. Although it is a bit more, the screen is said to be 1366x766, a healthy bump over the EEE and might be what more people are looking for. I've been using Linux on my laptop (ubuntu, debian, mepis) for a few years now, and last year i decided to see how long i could go without booting windows on my laptop. I've booted maybe 3 times in the last year, which makes me feel pretty comfortable going all linux on a laptop. My old 15.4" hp is a monster. P4 3.2Ghz was not made to be housed in a laptop.

HP's add for it http://www.engadget.com/photos/hps-umpc-...ed/649702/ uses one of EEE's three E's - easy to use. Found that pretty humorous.

So yes, I think HP might be onto something. A slightly more "premium" edition of the EEE. The only thing that made me worry was "tamper-proof case, no visible screws." What about those of us who were born to tamper??

Looks like the price on the HP is $630.00 and it's shipping in April.

The more I read about the little Asus the more I like it. The screen is probably the biggest issue for me. I am still going to carry my big laptop. I'm looking for a machine I can pull out of my briefcase when I'm standing in line at the airport, use at Starbucks etc. I wil not be working or surfing on the machine for hours at a time. But it would be nice if the screen was closer to the size of the bezel.

The eee is very hackable. I have found articles from people installing GPS, Bluetooth and extra USB hubs inside the case with no heavy modifications.

Sounds like you may have the HP version of my Laptop. Mine is the Compaq Presario x6000. The AC adaptor is roughly the size of a carton of cigarettes and throws off enough heat to warm a one bedroom apartment. Also P4 3.2 Ghz. The $200.00 battery died long long ago.

I used to run my old laptop in the car with a simple inverter plugged into the cigarette lighter. This machine requires a huge 700 watt / 9 amp inverter plugged directly into the car battery. On the good side I can play Team Fortress 2 from the airport

I call it The Beast.

[Torque]

Looks like the price on the HP is $630.00 and it's shipping in April.

The more I read about the little Asus the more I like it. The screen is probably the biggest issue for me. I am still going to carry my big laptop. I'm looking for a machine I can pull out of my briefcase when I'm standing in line at the airport, use at Starbucks etc. I wil not be working or surfing on the machine for hours at a time. But it would be nice if the screen was closer to the size of the bezel.

That price might be with WinXP or Vista installed... did you happen to see this link someone posted in the comments:

http://www.umpcportal.com/modules/news/a...oryid=1257

"Entry-level at $499 with Linux and a decent hard drive."