Asus Eee PC First Thoughts

i still want it and also i think that the EEE will deliver. I think that the XG Station was cool in theory but it was doomed to fail because it cannot work that way. The express card slot on a laptop is a 1x.

 

Damn, that disappoints me... I would love to see the 10" come out at that time though!(Like that'll happen, haha!)

I checked out the Asus F8S/V2S group buy thread, and I am wondering if an Asus EEE group buy would be helpful? Would it be possible for a large sum of us interested to get guaranteed availability of the first shipments if we were to start organizing our order.. now?

 

A group buy for the Asus EEE would be interesting, just to see what kind of discount we would be getting. However, we don't know exact details such as who would be carrying this subnotebook, let alone pricing, so such plans are little pre-mature.

 

I'd be in, that's at least 2 that are coming to MI.

 

ok sure but what kind of discount could you get on a $250 item?

 

not much but there probably will be a discount if bought in a large amount since it is a 250$ msrp price.

 

Probably enough for a decent sized meal....

...from McDonalds dollar menu, for sure.

 

If you are lucky, $10 tops. Probably less.

Asus is making like paper-thin margins on this, I mean, they are selling a notebook for the price of an iPod, which is pretty remarkable in and of itself, but then making a profit on it is something else entirely.

 

wow dude this will be GREAT for emulation goodbye psp gp2x zodiac etc

 

I'd be ok with one, i've used UPs before and my hands are small enough for the keyboards they have. The only bugbear for me would be the 7" screen. What's the res of that thing anyway, 800*600?? I'd wait for the 10" machine. This could make an excellent notebook to replace my Toshiba.

Cnet says a price of £200 in the UK with the 16GB flash HDD and 10" screen costing more. That concerns me as one can buy a brand new Lenovo for £300 right now. I hope it comes in well under new traditional laptops in the UK or it's market here will be somewhat pointless. I myself would probably look at 16GB and 10".

 

At $250-$300, I may just get a 7" this fall and upgrade to the 10" in the spring when it's available! A few months shouldn't prevent me from selling the first EEE on ebay or something, either--so it should be an OK plan.

 

id rather get a used IBM T-series (like a T30 with 1ghz P3/P-M) for about $300

 

I would be interested in a group buy also, especially for the 8GB version...

 

Thanks, Jerry. So SSD doesn't use SATA then? How do companies offer SSD with a SATA option then?

And the external enclosure idea is good, of course.

 

I believe the SSD on the EEE is soldered directly on board... it doesnt come like a normal 2.5" HDD size... for those, they will use the SATA.. i think.

 

From EeeUser.com:

 

I know that the larger 10in version is out next year, does anybody know around what time? I'm actually really interested in it.

 

I wonder when Canada will be able to get Asus EEE? I like the specs and it's small and light enough to carry to campus everyday. I hope it won't be in a year because I would like to get a new laptop within the next few days-3 months. I'm used to working off of my Palm Zire 72 w/keyboard so something small isn't that bad.

 

http://www.eeeuser.com/2007/08/21/ncix-preorder-specs-and-prices-on-eee-pc-eta-september/

 

This laptop would be perfect as a bring-along on a vacation or business trip where the only thing you need is light processing, e-mail and internet access. From what I've read, the SSD is not implemented as a removable device (although there is a slot available for a removable flash card) but rather hard-wired to the motherboard. Does anyone foresee hitting the write endurance limit (erase cycle) on the flash memory? I think the upper bound is somewhere around 100,000 erase cycles. Because the memory is soldered onto the motherboard, what happens when the flash starts faltering? It's not like you can swap out a HDD.

 

Traditionally, Asus has been pretty good about making their laptop parts available for regular purchase.

www.estore.asus.com

But considering that Asus intends to ship 2 million of these things by the end of the year and if they manage to hit somewhere within their original price range, the EEE should just be a use and toss affair.

 

the last rumor was they were canceling the 10inch model because it would have too much competition from other lightweight laptops in the 12-13 inch range. Of course this might not be true, they might change their mind, or maybe they're just saying it so people won't hold off buying the 7inch model. there is the rumor of an 8.9 inch screen later, but that probably could change as well.

 

Do You have any news when this will be available in Europe?

Thanks,
Peter

 

I've heard 2 different things--1) that it will be out around christmas time, and 2) it will release next spring.


Here is a new hands-on review of a pre-production Eee PC--good details on the hardware!!
http://unicap-imaging.org/unicap_eeepc.htm

 

any us stores that have this for preorder?

 

U.S. preorders now being accepted at AllAsus. Info from here: http://www.pocketables.net/2007/08/asus-eee-pc-ava.html

 

My review about ASUS EEE PC: ( I really own one.)



I became one of very few privileged consumers in Canada to own the Asus EEE PC model 701 version with 4 GB drive. This is a *** pre-production *** model and I bought it from a company that did an online review for Asus. I LOVE THIS MACHINE. Overall look - it looks sexy, tiny, light, plesant to hold.

SYSTEM INFO:
Bios version 0155
Bios date: 09/10/2007 (this is after I flashed Bios today. Flashing Bios on EEE Pc is easy).

Software version: EEE PC 1.0
Build info: 2007-09-20 06:00. That means this EEE PC was built like 8 days ago.
CPU Type: Intel Mobile
Memory: 512 MB
Mother Board verion x.xx

Screnn - it is matt and looks and feels like a laptop screen when you bought a laptop 3 years ago.

Wherever I go peoples eyes are glaring. I better watch or it gets lost;-)

It boots fast. YES. The boot time when I received it new was something like 20 seconds. The EEE has special verison of Linux (made by Xandros).

.. You might remember Xandros signed a strategic aggreement with Windows. So no wonder that this laptop can run Windows as well as Linux.

The desktop (GUI) linux comes in two flavors. One is simplified (with big icons for email, gmail, gaim, firefox, Open office, player etc... It is very easy to understand. This desktop is for kids, and new computer users. The other flavor is Normal (full) desktop mode. This mode is like any other Windows mode or KDE. It is actually based on KDE and looks like any other Linux.

Switching between both modes is easy. But it requires restart (20 seconds ordeal).

I didn't test the battery yet (I just got the PC today). It is little bit warm. Not hot, but the tiny fan is running. The screen resolution is OK, the colors are OK. Don't expect high definition. This is a small device and a relatively low priced subnotebook. OK, what else, camera is so-so. The sound is perhaps some complain. Even using Headphones, the sound level is low. But this might be application dependend. So for example listening to anything in Firefox - the sound level was too low. Playing some games installed - the sound was OK.

A bug:

I discovered already a bug in EEE. If I wan to use external mouse (USB) and plug in and then plug out at some point, the touch pad and keyboard stops working. If I plug in the mouse again, it works, but the touchpad and keyboard don't. To get both working again, I have to shut down the EEE, take out the battery for a few seconds and then restart (to be honest, this is not a nightmare, it only takes like 20 seconds ;-)

Not sure why this behavior.

The EEE color (white) is nice.

Another thing - If you shut down the eee into stand-by mode, the laptop will still remain hot. Not quite sure why. I thought the system sleeps. But this laptop keeps relatively warm in stand by mode. Which is OK in winter, when it's freezing.

The screen doesn't tilt to 180 degrees (flat). Why? Because it is heavier than the keyboard. So limiting the tilt angle you prevent it from flipping over;-)

The button (which is actually a double button) on the touchpad is little bit tricky. Not easy to handle. Also, it is pretty loud. Oh my... It pretty much sucks... It is noisy. Click Click Click....

The touchpad itself is great.

EEE has 3 USB ports. Not 4. I don't know who saw EEE with 4 ports but this one has 3.

Multicard reader is great. I plugged in my SD card from my Nokia phone. EEE didn't recognize it however. I guess because it is not formatted properly. More testing needed for this.

Microphone is underneath the touchpad from the bottom. There might be another one besides the camera. I am not sure about this.

The hinge - perfect. Perfectly tight. Closes good and easy. Good job ASUS.

Bottom - there is a cover. Under the cover there is 1 DDR II 512 MB memory. This seems to be a standard laptop memory that you can replace. (Correct me if I am wrong) .. I believe Max is 1 GB. Besides memory there is Express card slot. This could be used for anything, like a GSM or 3G card or even a memory module. I read a post that said there are already 32 GB express cards coming on the market.

By the way, it is very easy to set up a 3G or HSDPA connection when you have the card. This can be setup in control panel.

The keyboard. The keyboard looks like a sugar candy. I'd like to eat it. Not that I would have masochistic desires, but the keboard really look like made out of sugar. Typing - well - some nightmare. But probably I need to get used to this. My fingers are like XXXL size, so you might find typing OK. One very negative thing about this keyboard is that is relatively noisy. So if you are in a quiet room or university lecture, you might be annoying when tying on this keyboard.

There are 3 USB ports, so you might consider plugging in another full size keyboard, if needed. I didn't try that though. There are many functional keys. The keyboard I have comes with English and small Chinese letters.

The Back-Space button should have been much bigger. Perhaps bigger than the Enter. Because you will make lots of typos on this keyboard. Other than that - the keyboard is a little bit swimming. So it's not that feel like keyboard is firm in place. But what can you expect for 300 dollar machine??

Application-wise - I didn't have much time to discover this but couple of intersting things:

Software update - it's easy. There is a utility that you can start and update your software. So far, there is not much to update, just the BIOS.

Skype. Hmmm. I wonder how will be the quality. Need to test this as well.

Games - nice set of sweet games.

Media Player - SMPlayer comes preinstalled.

There are other typical KDE applications.

Comes with an antivirus (from Xandros, the maker of this Linux distro)

The software takes lots of space. There is only like 1.3 GB left out of 4 GB for my files. Of course I can use SD or MMC cards or express canrd but.. anyway. There might be a way to put it on a diet by uninstalling some applications? Not sure I didn't try that yet.

Also I am not clear about how to the complete system backup of this laptop.

The EEE I have has a Webcam. I attempted to start the Web Cam application that came with the machine, but it doesn't start. Not sure why.

The carger. It looks nice (like some LG and Samsung laptop chargers). The power cord is long enough (thanks ASUS).

The power cord plugs from the back of the EEE. ..Which I don't like, but this is a matter of preference. I think it can break easily and it would be better if it is on the side. But this is a matter of preference, I guess.

And that's probably all I have to say. I think many people will love EEE PC and some of them will find that after intial excitement this PC is simply too small and thus a useless gadget that due to low price became a staple and thus a must-have shelf sitter.

If you need extreem mobility and always access to your stuff, work, school, internet, WIFI, movies on subway, then you are going to like EEE PC.

Hope this helps and good luck to buy yours soon. I hope Asus is not going to postpone the release date until after xmas.

Greetings from Canada.

Polocanada

 

When is this coming out now in the usa? Please reply!

 

I laughed my ass off reading this review. Awesome! You got me dude, I`m gonna buy one as soon as it comes oud
Great job Polocanada ... =))

 

Great reviews in this thread, really good info on what looks to be a great little notebook. If it is available before the end of the year I'll probably get one for my granddaughter for Christmas. Last year I got her a "toy" notebook, but this year she wants a real one just like grandpa. At this price it's hard to say no.

 

Here is a link to part 3 of a review at blogeee.net

French to English Translation

http://www.google.com/translate?u=http://www.blogeee.net/?p=156&langpair=fr|en&hl=en&ie=UTF8

 

Looks awesome, definitely a good way to splurge

I'm pretty interested in getting one but unfortunately, I don't got much sources anymore

Well, until it comes out, I'll be looking out for it

 

And why's that?

 

Any new info on the 10in screen model??

 

the 10inch version has been killed.

it won't be released.

 

Where did you hear this? Did Asus announce it?

 

Info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC#Eee_PC_1001

Rumor says it was too close to other ultraportable laptops (12-13 inch versions) available from competitors. Of course, this may just be the Asus marketing department trying to protect sales of the 700/701, as some people said they would wait for the 10inch version. That's up to you to decide, but if it is coming out I think it's definitely not in 2007.

 

A ten inch would have been sweet, but I would like a 7 inch one to replace my Palm.

Hopefully the Asus EEE will be released really soon rather than late October/early November or even worse, push the date even further.

 

wish it had more GB's of space though

 

Proof of 801 model?

Second Generation http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20070904PD215.html:

"The company plans to introduce second-generation Eee PCs in April 2008 which will feature Intel's Merom processors. The power consumption of the next-generation notebooks will reduce to 7W TDP, down from 11W TDP, said the company, adding that it may remove the fan to save more power and reduce noise."




http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10005916o-2000331761b,00.htm:

The lowdown on Asus' Eee PC
Posted by David Meyer

I must admit I got rather excited when Asus announced it was making a super-portable, low cost notebook, the Eee PC (stupid name, but there you go). As a reporter, it seems just the ticket for running around expos and such without shoulder cramp.

And now I can reveal some more details about it, such as price and UK availability! The full specs etc will come out early next week (don't worry, we're on it), but it seems certain that you'll be able to buy one from the middle of October, at the price of £199 for a 10GB-solid-state-drive-sporting model.

Just to recap, the LED-backlit screen measures 7", it has Wi-Fi and a webcam, it runs Linux (a special version worked out between Asus and Intel, no less), it comes with OpenOffice, FireFox and other open-saucy goodness preinstalled, and it also lets the user choose between skins that oddly enough resemble Windows XP, OSX and so on. Startup time is about 5 seconds and - get this - the battery life is a whopping 10 hours.

Asus' rep has told me the Eee has no direct target market as such, but is sort of the "consumer version" of Intel's fabled $100 laptop-for-developing-countries project thingy. The way I look at it, we're talking a piece of kit that can be marketed to the iPod crowd, and after its initial white-only launch we may very well be looking at multicoloured flavours. There are also whispers of a future version with built-in 3G!

 

What to do???

But the Eee with Linux when it comes out on november or wait and get one with Windows in december?

Will Eee PC with windows OS be more expensive than the Linux one??

 

how long is the battery life (sorry if someone asked this before)? I am really tempted to buy this to type notes in lectures (my toshiba is not holding up too well).
If its >3 hours I will buy this for sure.

 

Does anyone know when the 10" is coming out?

 

New versions with larger screens an Menlow will be coming in April.