OT : Asus Eee 900s

Anyone got one? Reliable? Like? Not like?

I see there's lots on Ebay at the moment, but either from HK or asking
stupid prices.


Before someone says "you can get a real PC for that price", you can't
get a real PC that size for that price.

All it'll ever get used for is browsing, email, news reader, IM and
saving photos from D-SLR camera, and when its 20GB is full, transfering
them to an external 2.5" HDD.

I thought about getting a 4GB 701 instead, but by the time I buy a 16GB
USB stick or two, rip them to bits and solder inside a 701, the costs
aren't that different and I like the bigger screen of the 900.

And lastly, who the **** has them in stock?

 

You can (soon) get the HP 2133 mini notebook, 120GB HDD, and has a nice
alluminium body, not that white plastic Toys'r'us look.

http://h40059.www4.hp.com/hp2133/

Pre order at the moment.
http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=163945

 

I see there's the MSI Wind coming out next month too.

That looks more like it, cheaper than the HP, about same as the Eee 900
but with 80GB mini hdd and better keyboard.

Me thinks I'll wait a month and see what pops up.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

You're welcome. To be noticed, that MSI thingie will use an Intel Atom
processor different from the VIA used by Asus and HP, less battery demanding
and with 7 hours promised.

I feel like seating and waiting, and in the meantime use good shite olde
Dell Latitude which has a size not much larger than those toys. With 128MB
RAM it runs WindowsXP with a 48MB memory footprint, not bad for Officeing
and hanging around the Internet.

 

Some of us have had stock for a while now.

http://www.rm.com/he/products/Product.asp?cref=PD1164671

All you are paying for on the 2133 truthfully is the badge and the
case - on the road it offers nowt above and beyond the 900, and the
screen is crap to use (to high resolution for its size).

Some side by side shots on my desk:

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/brownie/asus_hp.jpg

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/brownie/asus_hp2.jpg

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/brownie/asus.jpg

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/brownie/hp.jpg

 

the screen on the HP looks totally shit.

 

I understand that's being rebadged by Medion, so watch out for it
in Aldi stores.

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KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

I think that was his point.
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Who do you recommend for purchasing a sony vaio, the 11.1" size??
Or possibly the new Dell M1330.

 

yes, and I was agreeing with him.

Sheesh.

 

I've got one - working a long way from home it's handy - nice and titchy
so easy to carry - no moving parts - hdd-wise anyway. Seems robust enough
and has travelled to and from Barnstaple a few times in the Panniers of
the Pan OK.

Have got an external 320 gig usb drive for pics from the cameras - and it
was the work of a few seconds to install the full linux desktop.

I'm sure there are better machines out there - and will be even more so as
time ges by, but I find it fine for email, newsgroups, web and a bit of
picture saving/editing (using Gimp) etc.

I like Open-Office (which I use at home anyway) and that runs fine on it.
I've got an 8gig SD card with xp on - just in case I fancy a change - but
linux is faster and does everything I need on a tiny laptop.

Battery ife is OK - about 2.5 hours with the standard battery - but you
can buy batteries at twice the capacity on T'internet.

If you want a fully featured laptop, don't get one. If you want a PDA
that is also a laptop, then it's boody ace.

I got this from www.microdirect.co.uk

 

This may be of use: (plus some manual checks)

http://eeestock.cpjackson.co.uk/

All the best ..

T i m

 

Very interesting. I wonder if they'll wait 6 months to let MSI sales
recoup the development costs or launch both in parallel?

 

Don't get the Dell.

We use Dell exclusively at work. We know the repair guy on a first name
basis.

2 out of 3 laptops have needed major repair (one has had everything
changed, twice, within a month, second went faulty within 3 months), my
PCs blown up Corsair memory twice, someone elses desktop has just eaten
its mobo.

Cheapest components they can get, discunted.

 

Websites dead?

 

Handy website, ta.

Annoying thing is that the ones on EBay all have decent batteries in
them (which leads me to believe they'll have US keyboards though, neg)

 

The 701s have that "tonka toy" feel about them, robust plastics that
you could just chuck in a top box unprotected and not worry about it.

This I think'll make me wait for the MSI Wind, the storage may be a
proper HDD so a lot more fragile, so pros and cons.

Care to expand a bit?

Yep, it seems perfect for doing that.

Got one. 17" Sony that weighs a ton.

 

AOL, though not for the same reasons. It's generally thought to be not
that great, especially compared to the M1210 that it replaced.

 

Guess what just landed on the desk this morning..... !

Review to follow when its charged.

 

I've got the 900 - more RAM and 20gig storage. Oddly they don't come with
Bluetooth installed - you need a usb BT stick if you want to use that, but
I opened mine up and soldered in the insides of a BT dongle...

I've got the USB HDD - just in case really. As I use 8gig CF cards in the
camera there can be a lot to download - but out and about Ijust tend to
read the card for any that I want straight away to put on Flickr etc.

With pleasure <fx eats large pie>

It somes with a specially designed destop - with tabs across the top for
different uses - work, settings, Tinternet etc...

I installed a proper KDE desktop as well - I now have the option of which
interface to use. The simple installed desktop is better when it's on
your lap out and about and the full desktop when it's on a desk indoors
somewhere.

It is - and good for Skyping out and about. I use it for all sorts - both
as a PC and as a PDA. I've even got used to the tiny keyboard very
quickly - it's better than the (very good for the time) one on the
Psion5's.

The way to look at it is as a modern Psion - It's a great toy and a useful
business tool, but a desktop with a 37" screen is always nicer to use full
time!

This is the only laptop I own (that is of a 'current' spec) - I didn't
want anything too large - this will slip easily into my camera bag and
nestle in there un-noticed. It's just useful to have - but not essential.