Asus eee micro laptop

[Octane]

hi all,

I've just bought the above for my girlfriend and have been trying it out for a couple of hours. Thought I'd pass on my impressions...
Well, now I don't want to give it to her! The thing is 900g, the size of hardback novel and is fast. No HD, 4G SSD and 512MB DDR2. Has 3 usb ports, wifi, cam and microphone. OS is linux and comes with skype, firefox and openoffice.
Its performance astonishes me, web surfing is rapid, skype works well, startup 30 seconds or so. The apps are good and keyboard quite ok considering it is so small.
My needs are basically internet access and report writing and since I travel a lot, lightweight. This machine fits the bill perfectly and I reckon cheap at A$480 (<200 quid?)
Now I've just got to convince the GF to swap...!
Cheers
Octane

[Mac the Knife]

Yep, played with one the other day and I'm hooked......

Shame the taxman just took a nasty bite out of me!

Next month...

:ok:

Mac

[bnt]

I've been considering one, but am in no rush, so I'll wait a bit. I'm reading reports that the next version will have a slightly bigger screen (8" or 10") , and may have a touchscreen: - yes please.

I used to have a HP Tablet PC, provided by my former employer and it was very nice in situations where opening a laptop to type would have been awkward (plane, meetings). It could be very useful now I'm at university, but Tablet PCs are generally very expensive, even on eBay.

[plinkton]

I would love one of these.

Running Linux and Openoffice though, would I have problems opening a word document or excel spreadsheet for example? What would I do with all my current documents in ms formats?

Apologies if this seems a stupid question but I have only ever used windows.

Is there anything I couldn't use it for with Linux?

[Spitoon]

Just saw one of these in a shop........and it looks very interesting. I didn't realise just how small it is - but it still seem practical. Think I'll go back and have a real play.

Plinkton, I'm no Linux expert but OpenOffice will have no probs opening MS Office files up to 2003 - not sure about 2007 though. From what I can see there are lots of open source applications that run under Linux, some as good as commercial Windows apps, others less so.

[hellsbrink]

Open Office has no real issues with M$ files, you can even select "save as" and save your OOffice docs as excel/doc/etc.

Using it on my XP machine and have been able to open any MS Office file I have so although there MIGHT be issues, I ain't found them yet....

[plinkton]

...Thanks

I'm warming to the idea. The Asus eee micro laptop seems to be right up my street.

[Saab Dastard]

PC World magazine currently has a good technical article about installing XP on the eee - including MS Office.

SD

[gibbo568]

Just my 2p worth;
I bought one the 4Gb versions, upgraded the RAM, because it's cheap at the moment.
For all 'normal' computing stuff it's great, web browsing, e-mails, Office etc, even watching videos! Don't try to do much image editing, or video encoding, thats not what it made for! If you use it within it's limitations it will be fine. I'm a Linux user, so I have no problems with the OS, but it will take WinXP, (I think it will be available in the near future pre-loaded), but as for Vista, forget it.

[bnt]

Seems to be quite a tough little beastie, too: Engadget has video (http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/24/asus-eee-pc-gets-torture-tested-on-video/) of a French guy doing various horrible things to it, such as dropping if from 1m while open and working: it doesn't blink. :ok:

[powerstall]

a friend of mine just got one of these and the only problem he had was the battery life.... 2+ hours.... :ok:

[plinkton]

gibbo568, When you say you 'upgraded the RAM' is that by putting a card thing in the side?, Also, is this how it works, the RAM is changeable?

On the laptopsdirect.co.uk (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk) site it shows this memory card (http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Kingston_1GB_SD_Card_SD-1GB/version.asp) as an extra for the ASUS EEE, Would I slot this in and thus the RAM would go from 512mb to 1GB? or am I barking up the wrong tree.

(I need a crash course in this!)

[gibbo568]

Hi, I upgraded the system Ram, by replacing the 512Mb SODIMM memory with a 2Gb version. The SD card upgrades the storage memory, just like putting a second or larger hard drive into your computer.

The system RAM is located behind the small removable panel under the computer, the one with the 'do not remove' sticker on it! Asus have however assured users that the RAM is upgradable by the user, and does not have to go to a dealer for that job.

Have a look at www.forum.eeeuser.com its a very useful website.

By the way, I bought my RAM from CCL in Bradford, but Crucial also have a service which guarantees compatibility.

Have Fun!

[Octane]

Plinkton,

Perhaps you are confusing memory with storage.
The memory or RAM is behind a panel held with 2 screws on the base of the machine and can be upgraded from 512 Mb to 1G whereas storage can be added by putting an SD card in the slot on the right hand side.
After playing with the machine for a few days now, I wouldn't bother upgrading the RAM since the machine is quite speedy anyway. Would be a different story if you decided to run Windows XP I guess....
So far I have no real complaints. Yes the keyboard is smallish, but then that's the whole point of the concept of the unit. Skype works very well and to my surprise people report that the inbuilt microphone gives high quality voice output.

Octane

[plinkton]

Thanks for that.

I have been to PC World tonight to have a look at one. One thing I noticed on the web was that the 2GB version was £50 cheaper, so if I slotted an extra storage card in, that would give me more than enough storage and as already said, and I noticed, it was fast enough.

They do seem to be quite well made and I think just the thing, especially as most of my computing is email and very basic stuff.

Thanks again

[gibbo568]

Hello again, Plinkton, yes you could save a few pounds buying the 2Gb version, and then adding a n SD card when fund allow. The SD card will probably be a little slower reading/writing, but it would still be OK.
As for your earlier questions, the Open Office on the Eee, it is very easy to set OO to save in MS Office format as default, so you will not have any problems with that. Don't worry about using Linux, you will not know that you are using it! it is all set up to be as easy to use as possible, the only way you will find out about the Linux side of thing is if you start to 'tinker'!
I'm very surprised that PCW have any of these on display, they certainly don't up here in the (very) North of England!

Keith.

[Saab Dastard]

One thing I noticed on the web was that the 2GB version was £50 cheaper, so if I slotted an extra storage card in, that would give me more than enough storage

Be careful how you use the additional SD storage card - you may need to remove it so that you can use other cards (perhaps with photos etc.) - so you really don't want to have applications installed on it!

SD

[NRU74]

This is probably more a Linux question than a EEE 701 question but...
I bought a EEE 701 approx 3 weeks ago and like most users am extremely pleased with both its operation and its value for money.
I managed to transfer 80 photos from my Pentax Optio S7 and have the photos stored under Play/Photomanager/ Pentax
What I can't do is split them up into different files or sub files -
Crtl /Left Clicking on several, then Right Click etc doesn't work
Any Linux aces able to give me the Noddy Guide ?
The manual is of no use.

[gibbo568]

As bought, the Eee is set up to be easy to use, but that does limit the amount of control the use has. It also limits the amount of damage that can be done!

But, if you reboot into 'Full Desktop', (use the option on the shut down screen,) you will have an XP-like desktop, with (almost) full authority. You will then be able to add/delete folders, and move files around as you want, using the file manager.

I don't know if you can reset the boot option to start in 'Full Desktop', I haven't looked into that yet, but info on how to do virtually anything with the EeePC can be found at

http://forum.eeeuser.com

Hopes this helps

Gibbo

(Edited to add):
Just had a play on the EeePC,
Start up an normal, ie Easy Mode, go to Settings>Personalization, and change the log in mode at the bottom of the box. Next start up will be in Full Desktop.
I thought it was a bit more involved than that!

[bnt]

The 9" eeePC is a go, and should be here by summer - see Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/hands-on-with-the-9-inch-eee-pc/) for news and pics. The whole system is fractionally bigger, with 8GB and 12GB SSD options, and a much-larger mousepad.

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/03/asus-eee-900-hands-017.jpg

No news about a touchscreen version, though there are 3rd-party hacks for the current eeePC already.

[hellsbrink]

For those who would like to have a "different" EEE,

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/05/ebay_asus_carbon_fibre_eee/