ASUS $199 Eee PC laptop

[Parasitic]

Ok, so I got my eeePC to work under Windows XP. Disabled pagefile, and installed most of my applications (besides ZoneAlarm and Anti-Vir) on the SDHC card. Also paritioned a 384MB of my 2GB memory as ramdrive to store Windows temp files and IE/Firefox cache. Once I figure out a switch to move Firefox cookies onto the ramdrive I'll do it too.

The keys are really a bit too petite, but I'll probably get used to it. The battery life is amazing, especially if you turn the brightness down a bit via software. I didn't measure it but it must've been pretty spot-on with that 3.5 hour estimate ASUS gave.

The system does stutter a little when I run applications off the SD card though...but it's bearable.

 

[Parasitic]

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

On a sidenote Google translate is awesome!

 

[Parasitic]

By the way did I mention that in Windows (may be a driver issue) the Athero wireless adapter inside the eeePC is a little bit finicky when it comes to encryption. 64-bit WEP is a no-go - the card will see the network and refuse to connect with an "out of range" error. Had to switch my router to WPA to get it to connect.

 

[frostedflakes]

Thought this was kind of interesting, apparently a new driver allows you to run the EEE at resolutions above 800x480, which is then downscaled to the LCD's native res.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEUgXEbQie8

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: 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??

The integrated graphics chip on the EEE PC supports DirectX and OpenGL. May even be able to run CS:Source at low speeds/resolutions with everything turned down.
And for an old game like CS (the original), the processor should be fast enough to handle software rendering at low resolution/quality.

 

[Xanatos903]

This thing is actually very nice. My brother got one just a couple days ago, and has an external HD to use with it. When you have that, this thing is amazing. You can play movies (resolution is great for the size, and speakers are awesome), games, and even install XP on it if you want to, although XP is a tad bit bloated. If you have the 4gb version, you can actually upgrade the RAM very easily, the 8gb is already upgraded, and 2gb can't be upgraded.

 

[randomlinh]

Heh, I really want one of these now.. and for no real good reason. My max is $300 though, and I'd want something along 9-10" LCD, 1024x640, 3.5hr battery life, 4GB. It'd be nice to have something I could dump my raw+jpgs to and review quickly. Which then adds the requirement for a good jpeg viewer.

Originally posted by: Parasitic
By the way did I mention that in Windows (may be a driver issue) the Athero wireless adapter inside the eeePC is a little bit finicky when it comes to encryption. 64-bit WEP is a no-go - the card will see the network and refuse to connect with an "out of range" error. Had to switch my router to WPA to get it to connect.

Why in the world would you use 64bit WEP?

 

[LS21]

has anyone connected an ipod to the default linux os (not xp)? does it have native support for ipod , at the least, as a drive? thats all ill need it for -- transfer divx/dvd rips to ipod, connect ipod to eeePC and watch movies on travel

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
Heh, I really want one of these now.. and for no real good reason. My max is $300 though, and I'd want something along 9-10" LCD, 1024x640, 3.5hr battery life, 4GB. It'd be nice to have something I could dump my raw+jpgs to and review quickly. Which then adds the requirement for a good jpeg viewer.

Originally posted by: Parasitic
By the way did I mention that in Windows (may be a driver issue) the Athero wireless adapter inside the eeePC is a little bit finicky when it comes to encryption. 64-bit WEP is a no-go - the card will see the network and refuse to connect with an "out of range" error. Had to switch my router to WPA to get it to connect.

Why in the world would you use 64bit WEP?

Been running WEP ever since my first wireless router back years ago...kinda just got used to setting it up that way.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Parasitic
By the way did I mention that in Windows (may be a driver issue) the Athero wireless adapter inside the eeePC is a little bit finicky when it comes to encryption. 64-bit WEP is a no-go - the card will see the network and refuse to connect with an "out of range" error. Had to switch my router to WPA to get it to connect.

It actually did you a favor.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: randomlinh
Why in the world would you use 64bit WEP?

Simplicity and does its job? I used to use 64bit WEP. Pretty darn easy to remember a 5 letter word. Nothing to hide on my network, just don't want to share too much bandwidth. For the average person looking to borrow a connection, they'd be more likely to use the completely unprotected ones all around me.

 

[tatteredpotato]

So are there still any chances of seeing these models hit that $200 point? I guess there's a point where no matter how old the technology is inside the thing, the cost to build isn't going to go down.

 

[frostedflakes]

Probably not new, although I imagine once the 2nd gen EEE come out you'll be able to find the 1st gen on eBay pretty cheap. There's probably not much incentive for ASUS to lower the prices, they seem to be selling pretty well at $300-500.

If you're looking for a cheap internet browser maybe consider the Nokia N800, they can be had for a bit more than $200. But for only $100 more the EEE offers a lot more functionality, between the two I'd spend a bit extra to get the EEE PC.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: randomlinh
Why in the world would you use 64bit WEP?

Simplicity and does its job? I used to use 64bit WEP. Pretty darn easy to remember a 5 letter word. Nothing to hide on my network, just don't want to share too much bandwidth. For the average person looking to borrow a connection, they'd be more likely to use the completely unprotected ones all around me.

WPA is easier to remember imo. You can secure your network with real words, rather than a random string of numbers and letters.

 

[Ackmed]

So I came here to make a topic about this very laptop. And guess what, there was already one at the top.

Perhaps I can get some insight from people who have one, or people who know better. I am set to deploy again over seas, to Iraq in May. I would like to take a very portable laptop with me. I currently have a 15.4" model, but its much too big, and too heavy. Basically, all I want it for, is to view TV shows I have downloaded, and get online from time to time to keep in contact with my wife and kids. Make some simple edits of photos to send home as well. Thats about it.

Does this screen look decent enough to watch some videos? Im not going to be that picky, it is what it is. But is the resolution going to look bad, or good enough. Does the screen itself look good enough? Ive got over 33gigs of TV shows, to take with me, and will have much more before May. With no optical drive, and small HD space, I thought about getting a WD Passport HD, to keep my footprint small. Would it play them without skipping, or would I have to move one show/movie over to the HD at a time to watch them fluidly?

This PC has my interest because of the size mostly, the price is just a bonus. Is there word on the 8" price and expected street date? April is the best data we have right now? Any help would be great.

 

[Don66]

Originally posted by: Ackmed
So I came here to make a topic about this very laptop. And guess what, there was already one at the top.

Perhaps I can get some insight from people who have one, or people who know better. I am set to deploy again over seas, to Iraq in May. I would like to take a very portable laptop with me. I currently have a 15.4" model, but its much too big, and too heavy. Basically, all I want it for, is to view TV shows I have downloaded, and get online from time to time to keep in contact with my wife and kids. Make some simple edits of photos to send home as well. Thats about it.

Does this screen look decent enough to watch some videos? Im not going to be that picky, it is what it is. But is the resolution going to look bad, or good enough. Does the screen itself look good enough? Ive got over 33gigs of TV shows, to take with me, and will have much more before May. With no optical drive, and small HD space, I thought about getting a WD Passport HD, to keep my footprint small. Would it play them without skipping, or would I have to move one show/movie over to the HD at a time to watch them fluidly?

This PC has my interest because of the size mostly, the price is just a bonus. Is there word on the 8" price and expected street date? April is the best data we have right now? Any help would be great.

Look Here
The E @ about 2 pounds is very portable.
You can watch movies on it.
The screen is nice for the price.
Text is good, surfing is good too.
I like mine.:sun:

 

[Ackmed]

Holy smokes, forum just for it, heh. Thanks for the link, will check it out. Im curious as how XP runs on it, but I would have to get the 4gig version to run it. Or just run the installed OS with the 2gig version, and get a portable HD.. seems like a better option for me.

 

[Ackmed]

Whats everyones thoughts on this? http://www.reuters.com/article...9-Jan-2008+PRN20080109

1.2gig Via
gOS V2 Rocket Operating System
512ram
30gig HD 4200rpm
7" 800x480
2lbs.
$400
4-in-1 card reader
1.3mp webcam
DVI output
5 hours battery life

Supposed to be out Jan 25th, and for sale at Walmart. I know its not a Eee, hope its not too off topic. But it seems to be a direct competitor, and I have a few months before I need to buy one to take with me.

 

[frostedflakes]

The touchpad is weird as hell, you might want to check out some of the YouTube videos on it first. But other than that it looks good for the price. The battery life is definitely a big plus over the EEE, and the larger mechanical HDD may be a bonus to some as well.

 

[Aikouka]

Hmm I'm thinking of picking one of these up. I'm actually interested because my phone sucks for "on the fly" stuff. Like one night I was out and wanted to see what movies were playing. Well, this sucked on my phone to the point where I just gave up. I'm thinking about getting an Eee PC, switching it to Windows (required for this) and using my phone as a modem or something along those lines.

It'd also be nice to have a better Google Maps rather than trying to view streets on my GPS (a pain) that's in my car.

Still not sure if it'd really be worthwhile to have for some specific time when I want to use it when I already have two 15" laptops (of course not as portable).

 

[R3MF]

looking forward to the 1024x600 eeepc v2, provided they don't mandate winXP because of this wimax rubbish.

give me a linux eeepc with a decent screen and i shall be a happy man.

 

[LS21]

Originally posted by: Ackmed
Whats everyones thoughts on this? http://www.reuters.com/article...9-Jan-2008+PRN20080109

1.2gig Via
gOS V2 Rocket Operating System
512ram
30gig HD 4200rpm
7" 800x480
2lbs.
$400
4-in-1 card reader
1.3mp webcam
DVI output
5 hours battery life

Supposed to be out Jan 25th, and for sale at Walmart. I know its not a Eee, hope its not too off topic. But it seems to be a direct competitor, and I have a few months before I need to buy one to take with me.

i was very interested in both, but ended up with Asus, here are my takes on it

-asus is a very well-regarded, high quality brand
-everex is the new "e-machines"
-everex has more capacity yes, but disc drive = more battery usage, louder, heavier, less "bump" resistant than solid-state-drive (asus)
-supposedly, the via chip is poor, despite being 1.2ghz... chip in asus is faster AND is underclocked from factory (though i have yet to see concrete benchmarks)
-ergonomics is important... everex has trackpad on the top right of keyboard, and the associated mouse-buttons on top-left of keyboard; im not sure if this is actually bad or a good thing
-dvi output is very nice... id like to use this tiny machine to hook up to tv (stream via wireless), rather than hook up my desktop pc to the television... but since now i have netflix ill be watching dvds mostly

it was a bit of a close call, but since i could get ASUS right now instead of having to wait for everexx release, i went asus

 

[Ackmed]

I would rather have the Asus brand. I have had a ton of the gear over the years. Dont care about DVI. But this point of yours doesnt seem to hold water;
-everex has more capacity yes, but disc drive = more battery usage, louder, heavier, less "bump" resistant than solid-state-drive (asus)

They claim it has 1.5 hours more battery life, and its the same weight (2lbs). I dont need one till April, so I have plenty of time to let the better laptop emerge I guess.

 

[Delerious]

The specs on the everex certainly seem nicer. I don't mind a non SSD drive. It's a tough call.

 

[Soulkeeper]

the SSD drive only gets 2.25MB/s read speeds ...
it's latency and power saving vs. throughput and size/cost