Eee PC user review

Thanks for OBOW reader Flerdle for this fine, detailed look at the tiny Eee PC:

I tend to be the sort of person who travels at least as much
technology as clothes, so an upcoming work-and-play trip to Europe
over the summer and a growing interest in one bag travel prompted me
to get this little baby - the EeePC, from Asus.  I waited until the
8.9” version came out and got one yesterday. Here are some photos and
first impressions of use, of the EeePC 900, with Linux. Photos were
taken with my camera phone.

PARTS
All the bits you need are in the (small) box. The recovery disk needs
to be transferred to an external drive or flash disk for use,
obviously, as there is no dvd drive but 3 usb slots and an SD card
slot. There is an ethernet slot but no modem. The quick-start guide
and the user manual are easy to follow but fairly brief, so most
really useful information is probably best taken from the web.
Thankfully, it works straight out of the box and you will be online in
no time.

SIZE
Firstly, I have to say it’s small. Really, REALLY small. I have small
hands, so touch-typing is not too difficult, but if you have larger
hands - many men may fall into this category, unfortunately - you may
find you have to alter your typing style. It’s half the size of my 15”
macbook pro and only a little bigger than a large paperback, slightly
shorter than a hardback book. It really is just under 1kg. There is a
soft sleeve which is great for cushioning it in whatever (small)
daypack you choose but I can see it getting fairly dirty quickly.
Carrying around the power cord as well will need a slightly larger
bag. The power cord(s) comes with handy attached velcro strips to keep
it all neat. The cords weigh 240g or so, with a small “brick” and thin
cord to the computer, with the brick connecting to a plug cord with a
double-pin connector on the non-wall end. This part may be
interchangeable with that going to a camera charger, ipod charger plug
or small radio for further lightness. [I don’t know how to further
describe it. I can take a photo…]

BATTERY
Since we’re taking it on the road, issues about usage time are very important.

I didn’t check the initial battery charge-up time, but it would be
about an hour or two, much longer if you are using it at the time.
Battery life seems to be good (make sure you get the 5800mAh version -
UK buyers beware!). It seems to automatically swap to a more
power-saving mode (primarily cranking back the processor speed) when
the plug is pulled, but it seems not to suffer any performance issues
on simple use at least (web browsing, typing). The battery life
GREATLY depends on what you’re doing, how bright you have the screen,
and what peripherals you have plugged in.

I would expect 2 1/2 hours easily and up to 3 hours out of this on the
road, depending on what you’re doing. The battery meter is probably
fairly coarse and  unreliable, so getting a feel for how it works for
you is a good idea before you depart.

This is of course very rough, but a fairly real-world test of the
system “out of the box”: 45min typing indoors with wireless on
occasionally checking webpages, then 105 minutes streaming audio with a
little video before there was a (20%) low battery warning. I played
videos for another 15 minutes then reconnected the power.  This means
that 2 3/4 hours of mixed use is easily obtainable. It shuts down at
10% remaining, but this may be able to be altered in settings
somewhere (at least for XP) since reports are that you can safely get
an extra half an hour beyond that.

The newer 901 version should have better battery life as well as a few
other improvements.

SCREEN.
The screen is small but very clear. I think the 8.9” screen, 1024x600,
is sufficient for surfing and writing. Most web pages don’t need side
scrolling, and documents don’t either. I wouldn’t like it to be any
smaller - so if you are thinking of getting one of these, I think the
900 or 901 is about a perfect compromise between smallness and
usability. 7” I would find annoyingly small.

The over 40s and long-armed will need their glasses. Font size is
easily changed and the fonts and images are sharp.  I dropped the
screen brightness to 40%, as really that was all that was needed
indoors. Outdoors you will need to crank it back up.

USE
It takes about 15-20 seconds to fully boot. Shutdown is very fast.
The initial interface is the so-called “easy mode”, with tabs and big
icons for the various things you might like to do - internet, work,
play etc. You can change over to a more traditional advanced desktop
mode, which takes a few steps but is very well outlined in the eeepc
user wiki (http://wiki.eeeuser.com). This is more customizable and
offers access to more applications. The applications that are included
are basic but very usable - Firefox, Thunderbird, a multiple
messenger client, text editor, picture viewer, Open Office (word
processing, spreadsheet etc), games, etc. Adding software may prove to
be a little tricky, but getting tips is easy if you go to a user forum
such as the one at http://www.eeeuser.com . For most travel purposes -
keeping in touch, taking notes/writing, checking up on things - it
comes with all you need straight out of the box. The version of linux
they use is actually not scary, especially for new users, a far cry
from my first laptop installation of Linux back in 1995…

The system takes up about 65% of a 4GB internal SSD, with extra
storage on another internal 16GB SDD. Extra storage can be gained by
using either SD cards, flash memory sticks or external hard drives
which can be quite cheap and compact. 20GB might sound fairly small,
but going larger than that would require hard discs which draw more
power and may be more susceptible to motion damage.

1GB of RAM seems fine. You can upgrade to 2GB.

NETWORKING
Setting up the wireless access is very easy. It automatically detected
my mac-based home network (including the printer) and worked out what
sort of password key format was needed for the network security.
Printing over the network is quick and easy.  I have not taken it out
on the road yet, but the range of the wireless seems to be very good.

There is no bluetooth, so getting pictures from a camera phone will
need either a bluetooth adapter or a usb cord or removal of the card
from the camera and use of an adapter card or card reader. This is a
slight annoyance, which may be solved in the 901 if both versions get
bluetooth.

CONTROL
The keyboard is slightly springy, which can be a little disconcerting,
and possibly because of this some of the keys may have a tendency to
not strike if you are not spot-on — leading to missed characters if
you are typing fast. The number keys seem slightly further to the left
than usual, leading to some mis-strikes, particularly the - key. The
right shift key is very small, so you might find you hit the up key
accidentally a lot. There is also a tendency to hit the enter instead
of the ‘. Apart from that, it seems quite usable.

The trackpad is somewhat temperamental, taking a little concentration
to use with accuracy. Tap-clicking is good (sometimes it doesn’t seem
to detect?), double-finger scrolling and zoom are very nice touches,
and the single-looking touchpad button is actually a kind of rocker,
with right and left click sides.

MULTIMEDIA
The speaker is, weirdly, UNDER the trackpad. If it’s sitting on your
lap or on a desk it’s still happily audible but you might like to pack
the headphones.

The 1.3MP webcam is basic but ok - certainly no worse than the old
eyeball type I had a couple of years ago.

Youtube works well - there is some jumpiness but that might be the
videos themselves!  Streaming audio worked out of the box through
firefox choosing realmedia player (abc.net.au/rn). Trying to surf or
use filemanager or system preferences while listening seemed to mute
the player (speaker or headphones); other activities seemed ok. I will
have to investigate if there are other such clashes and see if there
are other workarounds. (no problem with youtube; might be a realaudio
problem). A downloaded .wmv video file played fine in the native media
player.

CONCLUSIONS
Even with an updated version coming soon (the 901) this is an
impressive little machine and I will be happy to take it with me.  I
have been waiting for this for some time now - the airport “laptop
shuffle” gets very tedious after a while. The EeePC 900t does
“compact”, “easy” and “useful” very, very well. As a roadwarrior it
and other upcoming very small laptops are ideal for the light
traveler.  If you need all your bells and whistles, take your usual
computer. If you need to take notes, get online, and one or two other
things, all at a very reasonable price, this is perfect for the
onebagger. I am very happy.

 

Update on July 3, 2008 by Frank@OBOW

I got it in Melbourne, Australia -  so cost is in AUD.

RRP does appear to be $549 or less.

Exact details will change, so i don’t think it is worth putting in the
article other than in a more condensed form:  Best price is $519 (PC
Case Gear, Oakleigh South or mailorder for about $10-$20 postage; but
they are actually out of stock until “end of June”). Next with more
central stores and actual availability - call first - are $535
(Computer Parts Land, West Melbourne), and $539 (MLN, North Melbourne
& Richmond); Others e.g. online should be near that to around $550 (eg
laptop.com.au) to $565 (i-tech.com.au). Then you get to Myer (large
department store) who has the XP version only for $549.  JB Hi-Fi and
Harvey Norman (discount electrical/misc stores) should be around the
same.  Other major cities should have similar cheap computer reseller
outlets with similar prices.

Price should probably drop over the next month; I would expect expect
$500 or less, depending on sales and how quickly the 901 comes out.
Availability of the 900 might increase OR become more patchy because
of this, depending on ASUS’s production.

I will get about $49 tax back under our duty-free/traveller gst rebate
scheme so felt ok about getting it a little earlier so i could
experiment with it.

Comments

[Buzz]

I also have one--the XP version--and love it for the size. I needed a machine to lug around that was lightweight but could do word processing, connect me to the internet and other basic functions.

I did buy a folding full size keyboard from Tablet kiosk and got a tiny USB mouse to make typing and "mousing' easier. I'm able to get the EEE, folding keyboard, mouse, power cord, car/airplane charger, USb cord to use my Treo as a modem, a few SD cards and USB flash drives into an Eagle Creek padded 1/2 cube. Total weight about 3 1/2 pounds.

[flerdle]

Update:
Just recently back from an interstate trip, where it passed all tests with flying colours. It is very easy to carry around all day if necessary, and no problem at airports and in the plane. Battery life was fine, wireless networking was fine too. I saw another (a 7") "in the wild" and had a few questions from intrigued people.