Asus Eee PC

Mycroft2152

Senior Member
My wife bought herself an ASUS Eee PC last weekend. They were on sale at TARGET FOR $300.

I was pretty impressed with it. The screen size good and the readablity is great. At 2 lbs, it is very portable and the small footprint makes it great for the electronic bench.

It is actually more powerful than my first IBM Thinkpad laptop - at one-tenth the price.

Once I can pry it from her hands, I'll try it out with the PE.

Myc
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
They do look nice. Two useful things for yourself and other Eee users to mention when discussing these, especially as the range has grown massively recently : which model and what OS.
 

Mycroft2152

Senior Member
They do look nice. Two useful things for yourself and other Eee users to mention when discussing these, especially as the range has grown massively recently : which model and what OS.
TARGET is selling the ASUS Eee PC model 900 with Linux for $300. (My wife wanted a Linux machine).

It has a 4 gig solid state hard drive and 256 meg RAM. 3 USB ports, WIFI and blutetooth. There is also a SD card slot for more memory and for photos and music. It comes loaded with a lot of software included Open Office which will read Microsoft Office files. Note; there is no CD drive.

I was really most impressed with the 10" screen. I had though that the small size would be problematic, but it is very clear and readable especially with documents.

Myc
Myc
 

eclectic

Moderator
Myc and Hippy.

Coincidence.
I bought one two weeks ago.
Unfortunately, £300 with 24 hour delivery!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BK007X-Netbook-Windows-Preloaded-Black/dp/B001C9SXKC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1225388175&sr=8-2

Works fine with the AXE027.
(XP loaded)

But...
Entering long programs would be pain, due to the keyboard size.
A small mouse is a great benefit.

There again, its primary purpose is not for programming,
but fieldwork photo viewing and as a mapping monitor for a handheld Garmin.
Easily fits into a rucksack (or my anorak!!!).

An excellent, if expensive little toy!

E
 

manuka

Senior Member
Given they only rolled out a year back, there's now a near bewildering range of Asus "netbooks",with several 2007 models already obsolete. The choice depends on your needs, but IMHO the 10" 1000H is presently the best offering overall. You can adapt to many netbook "features",but a larger screen size is usually extremely welcome. Almost every other laptop maker now has netbook models too, most using the esteemed Intel "Atom" CPU, with the Acer One very popular here in NZ.
 
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Mycroft2152

Senior Member
Stan.

Once you get into the $500 rqange there are many to choose from , this was only $300.

You can buy standard laptops for that price.

You can use an USB thumb drive for extra storage.

Myc
 

Technical

Technical Support
Staff member
The Programming editor is Windows software so won't work with Linux. But if you look at the 'compilers' forum, you can download linux PICAXE compilers and instructions on how to use them under Linux (e.g. using Kate editor) with the AXE027 USB download cable.

http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=9855

We use the eeePC as our main test machine for Linux, so these instructions have all been tested on the eeePC, and we like them too (10" screen is recommended for older eyes, but youngsters get on fine with the smaller 7" screen)!

They are also becoming very popular in UK education as they are sold by RM (biggest schools IT provider) rebranded as the 'RM miniBook'.
 

retepsnikrep

Senior Member
The Programming editor is Windows software so won't work with Linux.

The asus eepc are also becoming very popular in UK education as they are sold by RM (biggest schools IT provider) rebranded as the 'RM miniBook'.
If they are becoming very popular in UK education isn't that your target market? Will you adapt the editor for linux in future as it appears to be a growing area?
 

demonicpicaxeguy

Senior Member
before you go and look at the eepc have a squiz at the "acer aspire one"
it's got a higher resolution screen 120gb hdd, and for a laptop the same size as the eepc it's not a slow machine either,

the battery for it is rated at 3 hours but i think acer have been modest since mine will go for up to 4 depending on what i'm doing on it
 

Technical

Technical Support
Staff member
One of the main educational selling points of the smaller eeepc models is that it is a solid state flash hard drive, hence much more robust when knocked about in a school bag than normal hard drives. 4GB may not sound much compared to a '160GB hdd' but the linux eeepc already also includes most day-to-day software that you will need from scratch, such as internet browsers/email and the open office equivalents of word, excel etc.

And yes, we are looking into more Linux software for the PICAXE.
 

steliosm

Senior Member
The eeePC it's a wonderful little gadget. I have the 701 version. I got the 4GB SSD HD and added another 16GB SD card to store my files, music, photos, etc. Even the PicAxe compilers are installed on the SD card :)

Since RevEd released the compilers for the linux OS I became an ever happier eeePC user :)
 

stocky

Senior Member
I have an MSI U100 "Wind" netbook - FANTASTIC!
I looked at EEEPC and rejected it for the better keyboard on the "Wind"

Street price for the windows version is around $600-700 in Oz
 

Mycroft2152

Senior Member
Easy guys,

My purpose in posting about the ASUS Eee PC was to acknowledge that these mini - "netbooks" were a useful laptop at a very good price ~$300US.

Not to start a war about which is the "best" one. There are many different ones on the the market. You can get what you want and pay for it.

IMHO, once you have broken the $500 US price point, you are better off with regular laptop.

Check them out and choose the one that is best for you.

Myc
 

evanh

Senior Member
The reason why I liked it was the longest battery I've found so far. I want to use it for browsing while on the beach. So, the requirements are:

- No power plug for hours on end. (Comes close I hope)
- Direct sunlight reading. (Might need some shade :( )
- No fragile HDD.
- Hopefully reasonably sand-proof.
- WiFi obviously is needed.

And small is good for this application. But not so small that I have to use a single finger for typing.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
There are three things which appeal to me about these UMPC's - The overt appeals are low entry cost and the Ultra-Mobile aspect. As cost rises in the range the issue of portability versus extra performance of a laptop will be a matter of personal choice and prmary usage.

The covert appeal is the standardisation of ubiquitous Linux platforms which I think is going to help the Linux market and users, especially Linux novices like myself. There's nothing better than having lots of people around using the exact same software, OS and hardware when a problem arises, a simple question gets a simple answer, "do this", not a list of possibilities which depend on exactly which Linux or version is installed none of which does the job on the configuration you have :-(

So, depending on skill level and prior Linux experience, "what it runs", "who else is using it" and "who can help solve my problems" are factors in choosing a UMPC along with price and capability.

Added : And then I read this ...

Buy your 7in and 8.9in Eee PCs while you can - Asus is going to phase them out next year, company chief Jerry Shen has revealed ... the 'standard' netbook next year will be a 10in model with a hard drive and running XP

The good news is that prices will plunge. Shen said he expects the company to launch a $200 (£123/€156) Eee PC next year.


http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/10/31/asus_eee_focus_10in/
 
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papaof2

Senior Member
For an inexpensive laptop, today's special at Woot http://www.woot.com/ is the Acer Aspire One for $289US plus $5US shipping (sorry, US only).

Model AOA110-1955, 1.6Ghz, 8GB SSD, 512MB, Webcam, 802.11b/g, Linux, OpenOffice
8.9” CrystalBrite LCD with 1024×600 resolution and LED backlight

Woot does one item, one day, sales so when this block of PCs is gone, the sale is over.

John
 

Mycroft2152

Senior Member
The good news is that prices will plunge. Shen said he expects the company to launch a $200 (£123/€156) Eee PC next year.[/i]
QUOTE]

I really love this kind of logic. I can wait a year and save $100.

That would mean I could have saved $6000 of I had waited 10 years to buy my first PC. Oh Joy!

Of course the price will come down as sales increase and manufacturing costs go down.

If you really need to rationalize buying one now. consider the difference the cost of a cup a coffee a week for the next year. Six months if you buy your coffee at Starbucks.

Myc
 

Tom Rose

New Member
My wife bought herself an ASUS Eee PC last weekend. They were on sale at TARGET FOR $300.
I got one three weeks ago for a dive trip to honduras. It now resides beside my programing and drilling computer in the basement. It could not have worked much better for transfer of uw pics from the camera sd card to the jump drive....and to connect to the high speed internet access at the resort.

I also used it to write but not check programs for the picaxe in the evenings.

Next step to make it work for field programing for picaxe imbedded projects.
 

manuka

Senior Member
IMHO, although 2008 models are indeed truely gorgeous, present netbook offerings are still "bleeding edge". Thus- unless you REALLY have to have one right now - factor in that early 2009 prices WILL be much lower, and that enhanced features WILL be offered with larger screens. For starters Asus (for all their bewildering array) look to be concentrating on 10" offerings, at prices ~US$200-$300.

I'm personally still running normal 3-5 yo. Toshiba laptops to great effect,& aside from compactness (suiting field use & travellers), see no real personal productivity benefits at present netbook prices. I'd a good workout with an ACER "One" recently, but found I craved the big (>15") screen & regular keyboard of my Toshibas faithfuls when doing anything even semi-serious. Stan
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
I'd agree with Manuka; UMPC's won't (yet) replace laptops and I personally don't think laptops replace desktops ( except when thrown under desk and connected to CRT/LCD and keyboard as per desktop ), but they certainly have a market and student use I would guess is top of the list, portable / travel / holiday use next.

£100/$200US is the 'commodity price' sweet spot and Asus have been criticised for moving away from that but as the support industry ( LCD and SSD manufacturers particularly ) match pace prices should fall back. It's also a very emerging market since OLPC planted the flag to aim for.

My prediction is that 2009/2010 will have Asus and competitors producing some very capable UMPC's at low cost and there will be a cheaper clone market start-up as with laptops.

It's going to be interesting to see which OS becomes dominant in the UMPC market. Asus et al have done well to push Linux wider but it is obvious that the larger market still craves Microsoft. To get round Vista being too bloated for UMPC I expect Windows 7 will come in UMPC, laptop and desktop flavours. Linux can still be installed but I think 'forced into Linux' adoption will be lost.
 

Dippy

Moderator
Here we go... Linux vs Windows.

Welcome to Asuscott OS Racing. Racing today will be very-soft to not-very-good.
Today's favourite , "Mumma's Nerd" ridden by William Gates at 2/1, is wearing the Red Anorak with yellow stripes.
They're at the Starting Gate..... and they're off.
 

evanh

Senior Member
They're certainly not a laptop replacement. Laptop's are mostly purchased as a status symbol desktop replacement. Their batteries go flat in an instant.
 

evanh

Senior Member
I do have a complaint with the OLPC - I can't buy one without going to some risky overpriced EBay auction.
 

papaof2

Senior Member
How long is an instant?

Laptop's are mostly purchased as a status symbol desktop replacement. Their batteries go flat in an instant.
A laptop may be a status symbol for personal use, but in the working world they're a staple of consultants and others whose work location isn't fixed and who need to take all their data to the next meeting - whether it's a start-up firm on the other side of town or a government project 600 miles away (been there, done both).

My Dell Vostro is good for about 3 hours continuous use (i.e., programming, demonstration machine, etc) with Wi-Fi on, plus at least another 30 minutes with Wi-Fi off. If your use isn't continuous, setting the screen and hard drive idle-turn-off times to one minute for the screen and 5 minutes for the drive will extend battery life much longer.

I sometimes miss the 17" screen of my desktop, but the 15" LCD on the Vostro is very good. 17" laptops are just too big for travel use.

John
 

Mookitty

New Member
I've had an eeepc (701 4G) for almost a year now. I didn't pay an early adopter tax, but I did miss out on the bigger screens. I really like the little guy, and since my desktop LCD started having issues (ie random intermittent transitory complete crapping out), I've been using it as my primary.

Some things I've learned in the last 11 months:
- Ubuntu-eee w/ the netbook remix interface really works well. I'm hoping they get the 8.10 version out soon.
- Get a 4Gb+ SDcard and make it a truecrypt volume, mount it to /home/<name>/docs/ and use it for *all* your files. Now, you seamlessly move all your docs to another comp (w/ sdcard to USB thingy), leaving all the SSD for system stuff. Truecrypt isn't necessary, but is peace of mind for a lost card. With your files on the card, you don't have to worry about competing for SSD space with the OS.
- I prefer the SSD because the little guy just begs to be toted around. And you will, it's small enough to change how I related to a laptop. It's tough enough to be tossed in my motorcycle's tank bag w/o worry, while in standby mode.

It's a fun lappy, and I've really enjoyed it. All in all, I'd have to say it's the best $400 I've ever spent on computer hardware.
 

manuka

Senior Member
I too take issue with that "instant", as most Intel Atom based netbooks recently trialled here in NZ have run for 4-6 hours. These times are far superior to those of the much hyped OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) "XO" that I've been working on (solar charging) in recent months- with "out of the box" use by typical kids these draw ~6 Watts & usually only give ~3 hours run time.

This OLPC is now idle by the way, & Kiwi's after a "look see" may care to borrow it from me.
 

evanh

Senior Member
Heh, I was trolling a little. That said, I wasn't comparing the OLPC to netbooks but rather netbooks with laptops.

Regarding the OLPC's three hour limit, what about without the backlight? That's not good if that result is already without the backlight.

I'm certainly interested in trialling the OLPC but not at the moment. I don't really trust some of my flatmates friends. I'll see how long I keep the 901 first.
 
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