The $300 laptop... actually worth it or just a hobby machine?

[beren]

I know there are a lot of fans of the $300 Asus EEE laptop:



I love the fact that the machine has a solid-state flash drive, which means less heat, noise, and chances for things to break. But you can't really do much with a 2GB hard drive and half a gig of ram.

On the other hand, it sure would be nice to have a laptop that I could take anywhere without constantly being worried about breaking a $2000 machine.

Are there any Asus fans here?

[starshard0]

Alright, let's break it down piece by piece:

Internal memory: 2 GB solid state disk
If you don't plan on storing much, the OS will probably take up a decent chunk itself, then this seems pretty reasonable. Keep in mind that for less that a hundred dollars you can get a decent external hard drive.

Memory expansion: slot for MMC/SD(SDHC) cards
RAM: 512 MB DDR2
512 MB is fine for what you'll be using the computer itself for

Processor: 800 MHz Intel Mobile CPU
Almost overkill for word-processing and web-surfing

Operating system: Linux (supports Windows XP)
Open-source? Sounds great!

LCD: 7 inches, 800 x 480 pixels
A little small for my taste, but what good is a 19' screen anyways?

Networking: 54g Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), 10/100 Fast Ethernet
No problems here.

Peripheral connectivity: three USB 2.0
You can always expand this if you need to.

External video: one VGA

External audio: one headphone and one microphone port

Webcamera: no

Battery: 4400 mAh

Battery life: up to 2.8 hours
Pretty decent, unless you plan on being away from an outlet for longer that this (obviously).

Weight: 2 pounds (32 ounces)
Wow!

Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches

Seems like a pretty rockin' machine. Not quite my tastes (I'm a gamer, 'nuff said), but for the average Joe, this seems like a pretty wondereful device. I might have to look into it.

[wwstewart]

I think it would be a killer machine for a blogger or coder (of course an external hard drive would help). I wonder which version of Linux it has?

[purplefdu]

I've thought of purchasing one of these to replace my laptop that died, but am not sure I want to bother with Linux (its been awhile since I used it last). I think if I had the cash I would, and maybe it would make a great second machine one day. I've seen some pretty decent reviews of them.

[beren]

Networking: 54g Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), 10/100 Fast Ethernet
No problems here.

I don't know a lot about networking, so it is good to know that someone who knows computers consider this a good spec. Thanks!

I wonder which version of Linux it has?

I believe it comes with Xandros, but on the next generation they are going to offer mostly Windows XP (for better or for worse).

not sure I want to bother with Linux (its been awhile since I used it last).

If you limit yourself to mostly using Firefox, Open Office, and Skype, it shouldn't make too much of a difference.

[jkuo13]

I've been thinking about getting one of these sometime in the future (maybe over the summer sometime). I think it's best use is for someone who's on the go a lot and does mostly coding / writing / typing sort of tasks with some surfing in between. The Asus EEE is a sub-notebook, so I wouldn't consider it a replacement for my normal laptop. It would be something I could tote around easily while I'm commuting or traveling.

Buying an external drive for it gives you more storage space, but sort of detracts from the overall portability (you gotta worry about lugging the drive around and not losing it). I'd probably just stick an SD card into the SD card reader to expand the storage.

[rstlne]

I'm waiting for the 8G model to come down in price. That's currently around $500. I figure I'd run out of space on the 2G model fairly quickly, not because of documents that I write but because of the software that I'd add to it.

[wwstewart]

That would be my concern, not enough space to do what I need it to.

And Windows = for worse...heh.

[purplefdu]

Originally Posted by beren

If you limit yourself to mostly using Firefox, Open Office, and Skype, it shouldn't make too much of a difference.

firefox-check
open office-don't currently use much of the office stuff I have now so I could live without it (notepad is the only thing I use to type on lately)
skype-never touched the stuff

I'm more concerned about my graphics and editing programs. I use Studio MX and CS2 pretty heavy at times and not only would they likely max out the memory I've just never tried to use them on Linux....

[beren]

Originally Posted by purplefdu

I'm more concerned about my graphics and editing programs. I use Studio MX and CS2 pretty heavy at times and not only would they likely max out the memory I've just never tried to use them on Linux....

That might be too much for the Asus.

You might be perfect for the Mini-Note, though.