Netbooks Laptop

I love this computer...and it IS a computer. All it lacks is an optical drive but when you're on the road, you don't really need it. It has everything I need. I purchased an 8GB SDHC card to store my data. That gives me 12GB, more than enough room to store my photos when I'm on the road. My very first notebook about 10 years ago had a whopping (at the time) 4GB hard drive. Anyway, this is the notebook I'll take on the road with me. I recommend the EeePC to anyone. I use it daily and the more I use it, the more accustomed I become to its size. It boots up and shuts down very very quickly. The display is crisp and bright. I have no problem typing or viewing the display. The camera worked great right out of the box. I really do love this little computer. It's not only cute but highly functional and useful and portable as well. Well worth the price.

What I want to add is that I found the Perfect bag for my EeePC. It's actually a bag that I got with a 7" digital photo frame/DVD player and it fits the EeePC perfectly! Makes a great notebook bag: holds the EeePC securely, has room for the AC adapter, an external 2.5" hard disk, digital camera, and few other necessities. It's as though the bag was made for the EeePC. I ordered the bag from AvTechSolutions.com for about $25 because I want to keep the bag I already have for the photo frame & the accessories that came with it.

I was a bit apprehensive about the OS, since I have never had a linux machine, but it is super easy to use and very intuitive. Whew.

It took me a while to get used to the keyboard, but I have adapted quickly. I wouldn't use such a small keyboard for work, but for casual web surfing, reading docs, and editing/reviewing docs (my main uses of the machine) it is fine.

I downloaded several free ebooks and am using my Eee as a reader during my commute on the train every day. I had considered buying a dedicated reader, but decided on this instead so I could have a web surfing device in my purse, too.

I've had a laptop for years, and never take it anywhere. For work I insisted that I not have to haul a laptop back and forth every day, because they are such a pain, but this one is so small and light that I take it just about everywhere.

Last night I was waiting for someone, in my car, in a shopping center parking lot, and I took out the Eee and the wireless found several available signals at nearby coffee shops. The closest was about 100 ft away. Pretty good.

The wireless works great and connects fast. I love the fast boot time. I'm not thrilled with the touchpad, but then I've never seen one that I like, so take that for what it's worth.

Amazon told me that it would arrive after Xmas, but it arrived on Dec 4. (I ordered it on Nov 28.)

In short, I love this thing, because I can download forums, xwords, or articles to read on the train, and I don't have to carry around a big ole heavy laptop. Worth every penny.

Back story
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I'm a cautious consumer of electronics. Unfortunately, some items (like this one) were not in any physical stores near me, and I didn't know anyone who had one. So even though I really wanted to buy an Eee, I hesitated and read as many reviews as I could. I read all the Amazon reviews and all the NewEgg reviews. I watched YouTube videos about the Eee. I read professional reviews and blog entries.

One thing I always wonder when reading positive and negative reviews is how exaggerated the positives are and how much the negatives matter (are they deal-breakers?). Unfortunately, one can't know until one tries it.

Finally, I took the plunge, and I don't regret doing so.

There are cons (life is pain, Highness). Anyone who tells you differently is selling something.
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* The placement of the right Shift key and the numeral 1 key is non-standard relative to the other keys, and that takes getting used to. Even though it didn't take me hours to adjust to the small keyboard, even after hours of use, I still sometimes hit the Up arrow instead of the right Shift key.

* The screen dimmer (lower brightness) key is too close to the key that turns the wireless on and off.

* The Control key and the mouse buttons are hard to press... or, rather, you have to press down on them rather hard in order to get them to respond.

* The keys in general feel pretty cheapy-plasticy compared to the solid build of the rest of the Eee.

* Security is terrible. No matter what username you think you're picking, the OS understands it as "user," and you can assume administrative privileges (using sudo) without password authentication, which essentially means you're running as root, which every Linux user knows is a no-no.

* As others have noted, if you connect through Wireless Networks, you will have to enter your key every time you connect. The trick to automatically connecting is to connect through Networks. How anyone would know this intuitively is beyond me.

* Battery life isn't stellar, but it isn't pitiful either.

Those are the cons. The pros really outshine them.
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* It's visually wow-ing. Even though the mouse button was a turnoff to her, my wife (a Mac lover) loved the look of it at first glance. I did, too. No matter how many pictures you see of it next to Nestle bars, larger laptops, large hands, or other objects, you will still be surprised at just how small and cute it is once you see it in person. Some people have described it as being the size of a hardcover book, but if it is, it's the size of a small hardcover book. (Think Sarah Vowell instead of Stephen King.)

* It gets right down to business. Even though it comes with a manual, you don't have to read it. Just plug in the battery, and while charging, hit the power button, answer a few questions, and within seconds you'll be up and running. The simple default interface is very easy to get used to, whether your previous computer experience is with Mac, Windows, or Linux.

* 800x480 is actually usable. I thought I'd have to do a lot of side-scrolling and squinting, but all the webpages I've visited have fit on the screen just fine. No one is going to say, "Hey, that screen's huge!" but it was a genuine concern of mine that the screen size would be unusable, and it is quite usable.

* The sound isn't bad. I'm not an audiophile, but I can tell tinny laptop speakers when I hear them, and these are not tinny. To most normal people, the sound quality should suffice.

* Things just work. Maybe this isn't a big deal to you Windows and Mac users who have always bought preinstalled operating systems, but to a Linux user who has had to download, install, configure, and troubleshoot every Linux installation I've done over the past three years, just having all this ready to go without tweaking was an amazing experience. Webcam worked (didn't have to enable it in the BIOS - must have been a problem Asus fixed from earlier releases), wireless worked, Flash worked, suspend worked. It all worked. I'm still allowed to tweak as I see fit (such is the right of every Linux user).

* Despite Asus' public statements that the sticker's message wasn't their policy, previous versions of the 4 GB non-surf Eee apparently had some sticker over the RAM door saying that removing the sticker voided the warranty, but mine didn't have that sticker, so that issue seems to have been resolved, so I upgraded to 1 GB of RAM, and the upgrade process was very smooth.

Bottom line
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I got it for the portability of it and the functionality of it. If you need a large keyboard, a DVD burner, a large screen, a killer graphics card, and a fast processor, then you need a regular laptop. If you need a portable and cute web appliance, you need an Eee PC.