ASUS $199 Eee PC laptop

[Soulkeeper]

the 2g versions just popped up on newegg tonight for 299
has different color versions, but 2GB is much too low imo.

i'm holding out for the cloudbook or 8g black personally

 

[frostedflakes]

Very nice, now just have to wait for somebody to sell theirs on eBay for $200-250 and I'll be all over this...

It's nice they decided to do 512MB on the 2G instead of 256MB, especially since the RAM is non-upgradable. 2GB definitely isn't a deal killer for me as SDHC offers great capacity for a small price. 4GB+ is definitely useful if installing WinXP and a bunch of apps on it, but if you plan to stick w/the default OS and just need space for media an SD should work great.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
Directron has the $299 2G Surf listed on their site now, should be in stock soon.

http://www.directron.com/eeepc2gsurfb.html

i've ordered the 2G from newegg for 310 shipped.

also justy wanted to add the touchscreen mod to this thread.
http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/...el-to-asus-eee-pc.html

considering a kit (touchscreen+controller) cost about 100 this could be a nice way to make a cheap touchscreen laptop.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
the 2g versions just popped up on newegg tonight for 299
has different color versions, but 2GB is much too low imo.

i'm holding out for the cloudbook or 8g black personally

2g isn't low when 8gb sd cards are 60 bucks. no point in getting the 4G

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: lousydood
Why do you fools have such a hard-on for Windows? You'll need to buy two of the machines to run it: one for Windows and one for other stuff. If you want to waste your money on Windows then buy a beefy machine with specs to spare.

I'm including the Anandtech reviewers in this rant. You're so accustomed to horribly designed, slow, memory leaking disasters for applications that you want it more? Pearls before swine...

(not that I'm a fan of OpenOffice, the first thing I'd do is install TeXlive. WYSIWYG word processors all suck, but that's another rant for another time)

For me I can't do any real work on Linux...because I have specialty software that's exclusively Windows/Mac. And don't give me the whole "just use the alternative free version stuff it's almost the same" crap argument. I'm a grad student who isn't paid enough to spare additional time to learn how to use a new software that has reduced functionality and awkward/different syntaices.

Sure, OpenOffice is good, but I'm not going to run it when I can get Microsoft Office for free or a reduced cost (legitimately); there must be free linux versions of MATLAB-like programs (yes, I know MATLAB is available on Linux) but why bother when the department pays for it for me to run a Windows version? ASPEN Plus, FEMLAB/COMSOL, SuperPro Designer, etc? Not going to bother with alternatives when they're essential for me.

Edit: nevertheless, the ultimate argument/reasoning is this: it's my computer, and I'm free to do whatever seemingly destructive tasks to it as I see fit, as long as I don't violate the warranty agreements with the manufacturer.

 

[Jschmuck2]

Why aren't there more threads about this all over AT?

 

[aidanjm]

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2
Why aren't there more threads about this all over AT?

anandtech demographics seem to be mainly gamers and windows users, so maybe those people won't see the advantages of a device like the eee pc. anandtech also did a fairly unflattering review of the device.

 

[Don66]

Having owned one for the past week and 1/2, I can say it's very compact and portable.

Upgrades include 2GB ddr2 an 8GB SDHC card Windows XP.

Not really for gamming, but that's what my desktop is for.

 

[43st]

I got one for my wife for Christmas... she hasn't left it alone yet. She uses it on the couch, while cooking, on the bike trainer, on the train during her commute (not so much here though, as no internet).

 

[BladeVenom]

Anandtech's review of the 2G is now up.

 

[RaptureMe]

I think I am going to get one soon as they boost up the SSD from 4GB to 16GB or 32GB and make the screen atleast 10" or 12" with a max resolution of 1024x768 instead of that 800x600 crap..
I dont mind dropping a cool 4 - 600 for something like this for these minor upgrades.
I watched the video and they said that a new version with the mentioned upgrade that are above will come out this year of 2008 so anyone know when or about what month they are due to hit the shelves??

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: RaptureMe
I think I am going to get one soon as they boost up the SSD from 4GB to 16GB or 32GB and make the screen atleast 10" or 12" with a max resolution of 1024x768 instead of that 800x600 crap..
I dont mind dropping a cool 4 - 600 for something like this for these minor upgrades.
I watched the video and they said that a new version with the mentioned upgrade that are above will come out this year of 2008 so anyone know when or about what month they are due to hit the shelves??

according to this april 2008

but here is a more recent article Text so it looks like its probably going to be a little later. also the new one will have a 8.9" display with a 1024x600 screen resolution

 

[Parasitic]

Edit: nm, out of stock.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i just purchased a 4G galaxy black at the local "pc club" less than an hour ago
got it charging now,
i'll let you know how it goes

i couldn't do the responsible thing and wait for the cloudbook to come out in like 2 weeks....
ohh well

 

[narreth]

hmmm do you guys think this could run counter strike 1.6?
im sure it can run starcraft and warcraft

 

[Parasitic]

So when the OOS was just a fluke - ordered a 4GB from Newegg. Decided against getting the extra stuff for now (budget a bit tight).
Hopefully it arrives in one piece with no dead pixels.

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: narreth
hmmm do you guys think this could run counter strike 1.6?
im sure it can run starcraft and warcraft

http://youtube.com/watch?v=detIWUCiDXY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fBV40RXYGok

 

[aceO07]

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
Directron has the $299 2G Surf listed on their site now, should be in stock soon.

http://www.directron.com/eeepc2gsurfb.html

i've ordered the 2G from newegg for 310 shipped.

also justy wanted to add the touchscreen mod to this thread.
http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/...el-to-asus-eee-pc.html

considering a kit (touchscreen+controller) cost about 100 this could be a nice way to make a cheap touchscreen laptop.

OMG. Sweet!

 

[Parasitic]

Looks like most of the eeePC buyers are from the mod community than other sectors.

 

[aidanjm]

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
i just purchased a 4G galaxy black at the local "pc club" less than an hour ago
got it charging now,
i'll let you know how it goes

what are your impressions so far?

 

[RaptureMe]

Um ok strange question here..
Can you just open up the laptop and upgrade the SSD myself from 2gb to 16 or 32GB??
Or is it part of the mobo permanently?
It may be worth it to get it then if you can do this.
Oh and how the heck can this thing play CS with out a GFX card it is just using open GL??

 

[Soulkeeper]

Originally posted by: aidanjm

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
i just purchased a 4G galaxy black at the local "pc club" less than an hour ago
got it charging now,
i'll let you know how it goes

what are your impressions so far?

I'm impressed.
can't beat it for 400 bucks i suppose

i picked up two 4GB USB flash sticks
the internal harddrive is only getting about 2.25MB/s read speeds btw ....
these SSD drives are pathetic

also i installed slackware on mine, because i wasn't too hip on the hand holding xandros, it was too much like windows, and downloading the source from asus's website was nearly impossible:
it came in a single 1.8GB file with a download of maybe 20KB/s

any linux distro is better than windows, i just prefer slackware

 

[IlllI]

prototype pics of the new 8inch model

 

[Parasitic]

Got mine today along with the 4GB SDHC and 2GB of memory I ordered. Installing Windows now.

 

[aceO07]

Originally posted by: clandren
prototype pics of the new 8inch model

The bigger screen makes it look better overall. Unfortunately it's the same resolution as the 7". I hope it gets upgraded in the next release.