ASUS Eee PC [MERGED]

[Stoner]

The ASUS Eee PC is shaping up to be quite a product. It's prices range from US$299-US$425 for the different models. Specifications are as follows (as taken from wikipedia):

[SIZE=1]Connectivity: [/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] 10/100 Mbit Ethernet[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] Atheros AR5007EG 802.11b/g wireless LAN[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] 3 USB 2.0 ports[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] MMC/SD/MS card reader [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Media:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] 2/4/8 GB flash memory [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Operating system: [/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] Xandros-based OS or Windows XP [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Input: [/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] Keyboard[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] Touchpad[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] Camera[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] Microphone [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Camera: [/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] built-in 300K pixel video camera (4G and 8G models) [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Power:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] 4 cell 4400 or 5200 mAH battery [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]CPU:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] 900MHz Intel Celeron-M ULV 353, fan [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Memory: [/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] 256MB DDR2-400 or 512MB/1GB DDR2-667 RAM [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Display:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1] 7 in TFT LCD with LED backlight * 800×480; although the unit is slightly larger than the screen to accommodate the speakers and other components[/SIZE]

The ASUS Eee PC is slightly larger than half an A4 paper, and will come in white, black, and other pastel colors.

Now, the big question... would you consider buying one if ever?

[Jun aka Pekto]

The ASUS Eee PC is shaping up to be quite a product. It's prices range from US$299-US$425 for the different models. Specifications are as follows (as taken from wikipedia):



The ASUS Eee PC is slightly larger than half an A4 paper, and will come in white, black, and other pastel colors.

Now, the big question... would you consider buying one if ever?

I would. If anything, it'll be great for travel. It looks a bit bigger than my portable Sony DVD player which has an 8" widescreen lcd. It's also much better for surfing the net than my PSP. Having WinXP as the OS, I can play a lot of older games on it. It'll keep me entertained for those long airport waits.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Just wondering if the thing has a hard drive. If not, where is the OS installed?

[BlueBimmer]

^i guess in the flash memory? IMO 8gig is too small...that's if it relies solely on flash memory..

a 40GB or 60GB harddrive would seal the deal for me.

[ghosthunter]

I would get one... portable computer needs.

It runs either on Linux or Windows XP. But if you plan to use XP, best to get 1 or 2 gigs RAM.

[Jun aka Pekto]

I would get one... portable computer needs.

It runs either on Linux or Windows XP. But if you plan to use XP, best to get 1 or 2 gigs RAM.

I don't think it'll need that much. The most intensive tasks it'll see is mainly gaming. With a 900mhz Celeron, I'd say gaming will be limited to games made from the late 90's to say, 2001 plus any retro-gaming via DOSBox or ScummVM. I wouldn't go with anything more sophisticated than say, Quake 2. That game ran fine with 32mb ram and Win95/98SE. 512mb should be plenty with XP esp if used mainly for office work/web surfing/IM.

[wildthing]

nice...kailan kaya lalabas yan dito?

[musang]

You can't expect too much in terms of battery life either.

Celeron processor + 4 cell battery = 1 hour tops without internet use
15 minutes with internet using WiFi


I used to have an Acer Travelmate with Celeron and 6-cell battery. Battery life sucks big time.

[kinyo]

not having a hard disk is a substantial power-saving scheme ... it could add 1 or 2 more hours of use with internet

[Nautica]

Ang EeePC ay ang panapat ng Asus sa OLPC (One laptop per Children) ng MIT/Quanta. Ito ang mga bagon busisnes opportunity ng mga top NB manufacturer. Ang Intel ay meroon din version nito "Classmate PC" which cost around US$500.00.

Ang main purpose ng mga low end PC na ito ay "education through the net" at ang main target nila ay ang mga 3rd world country.

Ang OLPC "XO model" ay ang pinaka high-tech dahil may hand crank power supply support sya. Ang current CPU ng OLPC ay AMD but ongoing na ang bagong model which uses Intel CPU.

Ang mga bagong gadget na ito ay magandang pamasko sa kids ngayong Pasko. Kung may kakilala kayo sa Taiwan ay available na ang EeePC sa market in 4 version. Ang OLPC naman ay nagsimula ng mag mass production this month at available sa market by next month in time for Christmas.

[mr_incredible]

Unfortunately, Asus wasn't able to deliver on their promise of 199 for the 4GB version. It would have been competitive enough with the OLPC.

On the other hand, the OLPC is not being sold commercially, at least not single units. It was made to be sold to educational and government institutions in 3rd world countries. Last I heard, the only way normal consumers can avail of the OLPC is by their buy 2 take 1 deal, wherein you buy 2 for $400, one is given to you, the other one is donated to a child in a third world country.

When news of the EEEPC first came out, I was anxious to get hold of one. But with the increased price and toned down specs, I am torn between getting this or add $200 for a much better entry level laptop. The only thing enticing about this is the 7" screen and the fact that I could probably use it as an in-car PC.

[metatron]

^i guess in the flash memory? IMO 8gig is too small...that's if it relies solely on flash memory..

a 40GB or 60GB harddrive would seal the deal for me.

top of the line unit has 16gb of hd space and a gig of ram. unfortunately, the flash mem chips are soldered directly into the lappy's mobo. so no aftermarket slap-and-go upgrade option there. but the good thing is, the eeepc has a decent card reader which allows users to plug in a relatively high capacity CF storage card (16 or even 64gb maybe) and viola! instant mini media hub.

nice...kailan kaya lalabas yan dito?

lower end units are now available at pc corner and newegg. top of the line units by mid next month to early next year.

[mad_max168]

With a current price tag of 17k+, I might as well go with a real laptop with a price tag of 25k+. At least you can do more and play more faster with a real laptop. Also, you'd be better off with a Nokia N95 or iPhone, at least those can make calls and longer battery life. Or you can wait for a local brand laptop supplier to release their similar version with a price tag of around 12k+. IBM/Lenovo also has a similar one too...

[Asus700]

With a current price tag of 17k+, I might as well go with a real laptop with a price tag of 25k+. At least you can do more and play more faster with a real laptop. Also, you'd be better off with a Nokia N95 or iPhone, at least those can make calls and longer battery life. Or you can wait for a local brand laptop supplier to release their similar version with a price tag of around 12k+. IBM/Lenovo also has a similar one too...

+1

if its not lower than P12k, a lot of people will just buy a laptop. IMO

[BlueBimmer]

onga naman.. cheap 20k+ laptops are much better value...dapat half the price of cheap laptops lang yan

[Jun aka Pekto]

The thing has USB2 ports. So, external storage is still an option with low-priced external 2.5" or smaller hard drives. As a media player, it should be quite capable and as an internet gizmo, it should be better than say, the PSP or Archos since it's fully web-compliant and has a real keyboard.

Plus, most other laptops this size are in the $1500-$2000 price range.....

[Stoner]

I actually agree to the views about the price. It's quite the deal breaker for me as I was expecting it to be priced cheap, only to find out that they've increased the selling price by a relatively large margin.

Still, the value is there for the Eee PC even at its current price point. But me, Imma wait for a price drop (if ever it comes)...

Another question again, guys....

For curiosity's sake, if any of you will be buying an Eee PC, will you install/opt for the Windows XP or the Xandros Linux-based OS?

[mr_incredible]

But me, Imma wait for a price drop (if ever it comes)...

The same goes for me. I think it's possible since they're already in the process of designing its successor. And when that comes out, the price of this unit will surely drop. Plus, other manufacturers are in the works of creating their own versions of the common man's laptop.

For curiosity's sake, if any of you will be buying an Eee PC, will you install/opt for the Windows XP or the Xandros Linux-based OS?

I'm actually thinking about whether letting windows XP occupy a significant amount of flash disk space on this relatively low-spec'ed machine, not to mention the resources it would take up (windows has always been a resource hog), would be worth it.

It will run, yes, but is there really a lot of things that you need to do on this machine that can't be done using Linux? It's not like it's capable of running smoothly all the latest PC games and applications out there. If all I'll need it for is internet surfing, word processing, and probably a little multimedia functions, I certainly won't need windows for it. Some old games run on Cedega. Open Office is just like Microsoft Office. Codeweavers allow you to run some PC apps. On the other hand, I could probably just run Windows of a USB drive .

[Jun aka Pekto]

Another question again, guys....

For curiosity's sake, if any of you will be buying an Eee PC, will you install/opt for the Windows XP or the Xandros Linux-based OS?

Me if I was to buy one...... I'd go with XP. I've run XP on pc's as old as as a Celeron 400 and from my experiece with that, so long as the hard drive is sufficiently fast, XP ran fine.

I wouldn't go with Xandros because I would use the laptop to play back video files. Now, if Xandros is guaranteed to have the codecs I need, then I'm fine with it. But, my past experience with most flavors of Linux showed a frequent lack of required codecs. I found it much easier to deal with codec hunting under XP. Now, if all I'll do is surf and IM, Xandros should be fine.

For now, I'd go with XP Home.

[Jun aka Pekto]

It seems like some people already have a unit. From early reviews, it looks like the Xandros OS can handle most video file formats. So, I guess if I do buy one, I'd stick with the default Xandros OS install.

Here's the discussion of the ASUS Eee at Ars Technica:
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/...4001348831/p/1