Asus Eee PC

[Fohls]

Anyone seen any of these little devils in the shops yet. They made a brief appearance at SiTex but as usual ran out long before I could get my grubby little paws on one

http://eeepc.asus.com/global/

[ksl]

Anyone seen any of these little devils in the shops yet. They made a brief appearance at SiTex but as usual ran out long before I could get my grubby little paws on one

http://eeepc.asus.com/global/

No but I do invest in the company, they have targeted 5 million for 2008.
They are specifically for low income families, with Asustek strategy, to provide all children with a computer capability!

I believe they are very limited in what they can do...although it had to be that way, to get the price so low!

However the main task is to enable computer literate skills to all 3rd world countries and very low income families, to encourage children at a very young age, to get involved in computer usage.

Many western Kids having top of the range already, although its target audience is related to low household income, It should be ideal also for adults that are using for the first time, but the aim is every kid should have a computer!

Having looked at the spec and weight, it could be useful for everyone, although I guess the processing speed, maybe like a handheld!

[Fohls]

With the inclusion of Open Office and wi-fi etc, I thought it would make an ideal meeting companion.

Bash a few emails out while surfing the net in Starbucks etc, for under $600 can't really grumble.

[ksl]

With the inclusion of Open Office and wi-fi etc, I thought it would make an ideal meeting companion.

Bash a few emails out while surfing the net in Starbucks etc, for under $600 can't really grumble.

Yes, I think it could well be very useful to many on the move and cheaper than throwing my laptop on the floor out of frustration!,
Terribly embarrassing and expensive lesson......1500 Pound to be exact, it was still under guarantee, and it worked still, after i threw it.

Just to replace the LCD, would have cost more than the computer at the service centre across from Funan!

I'll try and test it when i am in Taiwan next week, I have a contact with Asus, I can maybe then, give my new laptop to my daughter! and I use the cheapie Computer rage is quite often, triggered by the internet and accessing my web control panel in the US, been thinking to relocate the webhosting Ipowerweb have pretty well cut their own throats, with very cheap hosting and bad service,

Although I have been with them for 6 years, problems have only occured in the last 18 months, so yeah cheaper note books please !

[durain]

i was looking into this to use for surfing the net on wifi. other options i was looking are the nokia N810 and nokia E61.

i hate whipping out a big laptop in places like starbucks just to surf the net so a ultra small device would be handy. me using a lenovo X61 which is already small but the asus eee would be even smaller.

personally, i think a full blown laptop is more suited for 3rd world countries or low income users. you dont need the latest of the latest in order to learn computer. we got some "old" laptops and we are getting rid of because they are end of life from the maker. these old laptops are still very usable. i think if we recycle old laptops from pentium 4 cpu onwards, there are still a lot of life left in them.

[ksl]

i was looking into this to use for surfing the net on wifi. other options i was looking are the nokia N810 and nokia E61.

i hate whipping out a big laptop in places like starbucks just to surf the net so a ultra small device would be handy. me using a lenovo X61 which is already small but the asus eee would be even smaller.

personally, i think a full blown laptop is more suited for 3rd world countries or low income users. you dont need the latest of the latest in order to learn computer. we got some "old" laptops and we are getting rid of because they are end of life from the maker. these old laptops are still very usable. i think if we recycle old laptops from pentium 4 cpu onwards, there are still a lot of life left in them.

Well I guess, because of other components in the old laptops, it doesn't make it really economically viable in comparison.. I checked out the eeecp, its pretty cool for the size..although is equal to a pentium 900 hertz, which is pretty damn slow on surfing, but still probably better than my hand held PDA... its quite flexible and for the price probably well worth it.
But i believe we will see more competitors very soon and a more faster model in 2008....After all, what's inside is not much and can be produced very easy, now there is a 7 inch shell, one can purchase, to put ones own components in! I guess Via will soon have a mother board and processor to fit it! You can also get the eee in 8gb cost here is 10500NTD for the 4gb and 15000 NTD for the 8gb, I'll be back in Sing on the 2nd, anyone know the price in Singapore of the eeecp?

[Jeppo]

According to http://www.hardwarezone.com/news/view.php?id=9497 the 4GB is $598 including tax. Doesn't say how much the 8GB is but if you look through the pricelists you might find it

[Fohls]

4G purchased this morning in Funan - Harvey Norman had about 6 black ones left. Am posting on it now. Bit trickey keyboard but slowly getting used to typing on it though!!!

Overall pretty pleased with performance and useability. It does run a little warm but not too bad with the aircon on!

[durain]

how cool is that!

how's the battery life? and will you be using it with Wireless@SG ?

[Fohls]

Not tested battery life yet but so far so good, having a few teething problems with Linux, this is my first experience with it so a steep learning curve to install everything i want on it.

I've got a considerable UNIX understanding though so not a complete beginner!

Think some mobile WIFI will be in the pipe line soon. Managed to sort out wifi at home very easily.

[Splatted]

4G is currently A$488 here in Australia at Officeworks.

Probably cheaper elsewhere as Officeworks is known to be overpriced.

[Fohls]

It was S$598 in Harvey Norman.

[ksl]

4G purchased this morning in Funan - Harvey Norman had about 6 black ones left. Am posting on it now. Bit trickey keyboard but slowly getting used to typing on it though!!!

Overall pretty pleased with performance and useability. It does run a little warm but not too bad with the aircon on!

Would you say its faster than a PDA on surfing? I can't wait to see what's inside one...although with Microsoft out of the picture and the hard disk, I believe we may see a surge in competition from the likes of VIA tech...who can produce a faster processor and their own chips, much cheaper than the primary brand names...and possibly bring the price down too....Asus I have heard will bring out a 9 inch and possibly an 11 inch laptop too...The race will be on...to drop hard disks for flash memory I guess...for a cheaper laptop solution...

Also the flexibility of an external disk is a great plus.....

No doubt a surge in stockmarket shares will be a plus...for those looking to do some research!

[Fohls]

Not really used a PDA for surfing but it's as quick for rendering most websites I visit as my P4 1GB RAM XP machine which is admittedly 3 years old.

I spent a lot of time last night tinkering with the layout and have now managed to 'shrink' a lot of firefox/thunderbird's bulkiness down to fit the tiny 7" screen. The Advanced Mode seems to be the way forward although I'm seriously tempted to try another flavor of Linux to see if there's any difference, as at the moment there's limited amounts of additional software available for the Eee from the ASUS repositories.

However, there is loads of good community support already in the forms of eeeuser.com and other similar sites. Loads of helpful tips and tricks to get the most out of the little blighter.

So far I am very pleased with my purchase, even though ASUS has announced a 9" version. Which will be showcased at CES in Las Vegas known as the Eee PC 2 at the moment. Rumor has it it will come with WiMax too what ever that is

But seeing as though I waited since July to get this one, there's no way I could have waited until Dec this year to get one. And for the price, I might just buy the 9" as well...

[ksl]

WiMax is high broadband open technolgy, which will vastly improve downloads and connect ability!
http://www.intel.com/netcomms/technologies/wimax/

Don't know much about it myself, although I do invest in Asus and keep in touch with developments! Asus Tech is one of the more favourable companies to be involved in, with many divisions...they will move their R&D headquarters to Singapore soon and maybe some other departments.

The gadget is very useful, and i was going to get one for my daughter, although i think she may find it a little frustrating, after using my new laptop, I of course use my wifes old one, you know what kids are like with technology...7 years old and she wants an IPod for her music.

I'm more interested in opening it up, to look inside It's a good sign of things to come, I get tired of carting heavy stuff around, although my friend in Asus, thinks it's a little over hyped, of which is normal with new product launches every where!

But I agree with you, it does suit a specific purpose of on the move communication and flexibility for a reasonable price, if one can utilise the software. Happy computing!