ASUS's Eee PC at Myer

[stmok]

This one's for Ralph. Because he feels sad and lonely when nothing happens in Techwatch forums.

Went to Myer (Sydney city branch) today, and got to try the Eee PC 701 (512MB RAM, 4GB diskspace model).
Its finally here on retail shelves! Linux on a PC! In Australia!

Listed as AUD$499

Pros
* Small and light (cute to some?)
* Runs Linux (Xandros based with custom GUI)
* Boots up, shuts down, resumes pretty quickly.
* Very easy to use GUI. Simple and straight to the point. (I see all kinds of folks using it without issue...From kids to 50yrs+ old).

Cons
* Screen is too small. (Father, mother, and sister complained about that! 7 inch is ridiculously small when you try it out in real life...Especially with Firefox and OpenOffice. These apps are there by default.)
* Keyboard has non-standard layout. (may take a little getting used to. Also has Chinese/Japanese symbols on it)
* Keyboard feels "cheap and nasty" in quality. (no where like the ThinkPad or MacBook)
* Keys maybe too small for "non-Asian hands" (My skinny Chinese fingers fit perfectly with it, but I noticed people with thicker fingers and larger hands were not liking it that much. They were struggling a bit).
* On the underside, the lower left part gets REALLY HOT! I'm talking to the point of almost getting a burning sensation! (Now I know why they downclocked the CPU from 900Mhz to 630Mhz!)
* How do you get to the command line interface (CLI) with this thing? (I wanted to do a dmesg to see all the hardware details.)
* Touchpad is too small and a little odd...Single button? Huh?
* 4GB storage space...Over 1.3GB is occupied by the OS installation and apps!

ASUS also had a few reps there to answer questions. NONE of them knew the key combo to bring up the CLI...To tell you the truth, they didn't know all too much about Linux either! (Only one rep had a good idea what I was asking, but then he was talking nonsense about how OpenOffice is a cut down version of MS Office...That ain't good).

Conclusion? You can feel the "first generation-ness" to this solution. They rushed it and cut corners where they can.
(1) Keyboard quality is cheap. Doesn't feel like its gonna last long. They need to improve it!
(2) Gets hot...For prolong use, put it on a table, not on your lap. (underclocked for a reason!)
(3) They rushed out the source code and violated the GPL! (corrected later when they released modified ACPI and driver related source code.)
(4) Needs to be a bit bigger, then it'll be awesome. Wait for 10 inch version?
(5) Lengthen the touchpad (sideways) and have two buttons.
(6) Either have more diskspace OR develop "lean and mean" applications.
(7) ASUS sales reps don't know crap...Someone should seriously address this.

On a side note: While its great to see a Linux based solution hit Australian retail shelves, there are many folks who still want Windows. Mainly out of habit (because they had no clue what Linux was!) OR because of applications they use. Windows applications is actually a key concern for the "Linux desktop" in general...I believe this is the biggest barrier for the majority of those considering Linux. Once you knock this down, with "direct 1-to-1 opensource replacements", a tide will turn. Until then, you still need Windows. (This is why I'm learning C/C++ and borrowing books on secure coding practices, etc. I do NOT want to repeat the mess that MS gained a reputation for. Regular PC users deserve better than that!)

For most people with general computing needs, Linux largely fits them. Of course, it helps if they actually know about it to begin with! 2007 is NOT the "Year of the Linux Desktop". It is the first step...To a long journey. ASUS's Eee PC is leading the way.

[Klamath v3.0]

F'seriously, I have big hands and the keyboard is cool WITH THE EXCEPTION OF the position of the right shift and the "up" button, which can be swapped. Screen is fiiiine once you get used to it. And it only gets "hot" when it is plugged in. OMG KLAMATH V3.0.

[manwe]

I'm certainly interested, the only thing that puts me off is the screen. Wish is was 1024 wide so it would be easier to view web pages which these days are normally made for 1024 wide screens.

[stmok]

Screen is fiiiine once you get used to it.

You do NOT bend to technology or else you will forever be a slave to it.
Technology should bend to you and your needs...Especially when it comes to your eyes!

If the screen is "fiiine", why then, are there rumours of 2nd generation EeePCs with larger screens under development?

Touch panel component makers sampling for future Eee PCs
http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20080117PD214.html

Susie Pan, Taipei; Esther Lam, DIGITIMES [Friday 18 January 2008]

Sources at touch panel and related component makers have revealed that companies are currently having their products undergo sampling with Asustek Computer in bids to win orders for next-generation Eee PCs which are set to launch later this year.

The second-generation of Eee PCs will support panel sizes of 8-, 9- and 10-inch, the sources said, of which, the 9-inch panel versions will feature a touch panel.

The 9-inch touch panel-equipped Eee PCs will adopt four-wire resistive touch screen technology. The expected bill of materials (BOM) to add touch panel functions is under US$15 , the sources said.

Although the list of panel partners for the new-generation of Eee PCs has not been finalized, the sources said Asustek will give preference to Taiwan-based vendors. Some industry players estimate that shipments of touch screen Eee PCs will only reach several hundred thousand units in 2008. They noted that if shipments for a specific configuration are too low, not only will the benefits from production scale be limited, but also yields will be affected.

Industry players estimate that Asustek shipped a total of 300,000-400,000 Eee PCs in its first quarter of sales. They project Asustek will ship a total of 4-5 million units in 2008.

On a side note: ASUS has made a prototype of the 10-inch model alongside the current 7-inch one, called EeePC 1001. This was never put into production for reasons unknown.

[Ralph]

I was looking over on youtube and some of the mods thats can be done are amazing, even running of games such as counterstrike.
The only drawback with these is the limited drive space lets only hope they fix this with the next gen.

[Globetrotting Aussie]

Hi - at NEWS.com.au, we decided to test this tiny laptop to see if it's as convenient as it looks?

Here's what we found:
Crash Test of the Asus Eee laptop

Enjoy and have a great day

[Wolfy]

Ahhh shit. You need to update to phpBB 3.0.5 which has better bot scanning.