Asus Eee - first impressions
Yesterday, I picked up an Asus Eee, despite the news that the XO laptop will be crossing the border this weekend. So why did I get the Asus Eee anyway?
- I went to look at the Eee last weekend, and it’s much smaller than my Toshiba M300, which is about the same size as the XO.
- I’m sick and can’t sculpt, so this is a great time for me to play with computers instead
- I want to give myself time to become accustomed to the keyboard before next week, when I plan to take it with me when I go to Toronto for work later this month.
- I want to try manipulating, or at least neutralizing, Murphy’s Law on the delivery of my XO by buying an Eee.
- I want one!
The Asus Eee is tiny…about the size of a hardcover book or paper notebook (pictures below). It comes with a carrying sleeve into which it fits very snuggly, and an AC adapter which is about the size of a cell phone adapter (and even has folding prongs!). The startup and shutdown times are amazing. Including the time it takes me to input the BIOS password which I had set for it, I clocked the startup time to be 29 seconds. I didn’t even bother to clock the shutdown time, but I would say it took less than 5 seconds.
The keyboard is small, but manageable. Like any keyboard on a computer, it takes a while to get used to where the non-character keys have been placed. To conserve space, many of the keys serve dual purposes via the Fn key. I’m composing this post on the Eee and it took a while to become accustomed to how close the apostrophe is to the Enter key, and how hard I have to hit the period and “c” keys to get them to register.
Connecting to my wireless LAN was painless, and the Eee auto-detects the WEP type and saves the key (I can’t get OpenSUSE to remember the WEP key for my connection, so it’s a relief to not need to enter that every time for the Eee). The screen size is usable, but obviously no match for a full-sized laptop. Photos can be viewed easily in the Eee, but I wouldn’t bother trying to edit them on the Eee because of the screen size. There are also merely paint programs pre-loaded, and nothing like GIMP or Photoshop, although I’m sure I can install GIMP onto this if I cared to.
The Eee recognized my Logitech Revolution X-somethingorother immediately, and didn’t require me to configure it. The only downfall is not all of the buttons are usable. I couldn’t get them all to work in OpenSUSE either, so I don’t miss the non-standard ones. USB drives and SD cards took a moment longer on the Eee than on OpenSUSE to be recognized. Once recognized, I am presented with what now seems to be a standard window across several OSs which gives me different options for how I want to view the files.
The one thing which concerns me is the heat of the device. Many other users have reported that it becomes warmer than other laptops, and many of those reports came from bloggers who viewed the Eee in a showroom and assumed the temperature was a result of the computer being on all day. After about a half hour of use, the temperature became noticeably warm, although I have not heard of any overheating and/or exploding.
I have not yet tested the webcam feature, or had time to mess around with the OS very much. I’m too dazzled by how small it is and how well it performs regular functions.
There were two odd things I noticed. The first is the Eee does not have an external control for the speakers’ volume. Luckily, there is no startup chime. The other is the Eee comes with the standard port for laptop locks. I don’t know who would actually use it, because it would be much safer to take the laptop with you when you consider the size.
Now I’m going to work on a slightly crazy and what I think to be a very cool idea for a laptop case for the Eee.
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By Julianna Yau
On January 12, 2008
At 12:01 pm
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Hi Julianna!
Thanks for sharing your EEE PC experience. Where did you purchase it? I was looking at getting one myself, but haven’t found much info on where I could get my hands on one. I’m a G1G1D1H1 donor in Toronto, and I think they’ll be both useful to have.
Cheers!
P.S. Have you tried booting into a standard desktop yet?
Hi, Brian!
I got it from Canada Computers (the last 4GB one in Waterloo!). The Eee User forum has a list of some places in Ontario that sell it.
I haven’t tried the standard desktop yet. After applying a change for a direct shutdown, the common instructions for booting into advanced mode don’t work
Nevermind. The direct shutdown thing was easy enough to undo, and I’m now in Advanced Mode (i.e. KDE). Now it works like a real laptop!
Is it reversible? I’m dying to hear your take the desktop.
I’d like to wait for the 8″ or larger screen, but I really want one soon… (I’m such an impulse buyer lol). Thank you for the purchasing info, btw.
Can’t wait until we can all mesh on our XOs! We’ve waited sooo long!
Oops… Just saw your post. Cool! And KDE too! I love it!
I’m an impulse buyer too. I saw the news about the 8″, but decided I had to have one NOW
Yup…KDE! Now all I need to do is figure out how to store common user files like my Thunderbird and KOrganizer files on an SD card for both computers.
I’m actually quite ignorant on the differences between USB flash keys and SD cards. Besides the connectors, are they that different?
I think it’s cool that you sculpt, btw. My aunt and her daughter work in pottery, although there is a difference. But I love their work. What sort of sculptures/materials do you use?
The two are based on different memory formats. I’m not intimately familiar with the inner workings, so Wikipedia may be a better resource for that.
My sculptures are all in stone. I love it!
Oh, sure… work in the toughest material, why don’t you lol! Just kidding.
Reminds me of the story of the stone-cutter; one of my favourite tales.
Can you imagine how good the EEE PC would be if ASUS decided to license Mary Lou Jepsen’s display technology? Now, that would be cool!
Anyhoo, I just realized I’m distracting you from exploring your new notebook, and cluttering your blog, so I’ll quit bugging you.
Cheers, Julianna! I get well quick!
Hey Julianna, our XOs are tracking at Fedex Canada! Mines in Mississauga! Yippee!
hi! i want to know which OS is better for eeepc? windows or the default linux? i got mine a week ago and im having a hard time with the file system of linux.
There isn’t really a “better” OS for the EeePC. Although I’m a strong supporter of Linux and open source in general, the Windows vs Linux choice is a personal one. Have you tried getting help with the file system at the EeeUser Forum? Switching to “Advanced Mode” might also help.