I am typing this on a possibly cramped keyboard. It’s actually touch type capable after I made a little modification to the keyboard layout. By default it has an up arrow where your right shift could be and I was screwing up all over the place.
After a quick key swap and a key re-mapping, all is well in Lilliputian computing territory. The Asus EeePC is a diminutive Netbook, aka tiny laptop, that is currently all the rage in the market. After a seriously disappointing outing from a certain Cupertino company left me wanting, I took a different approach to what it was I wanted to accomplish. The new Macbook Pro is only marginally better than the one I currently own. I considered getting the Macbook to replace it but the lack of FireWire was a non-starter.
When I evaluated my options, I decided to keep my Macbook Pro and supplement it with a Netbook of some kind. After looking at some options, I came to the Asus Netbook 1000HD.
Clocking in with a 1.6Ghz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM and a 120GB Hard Disk, the EeePC comes with Windows XP and sports WiFi, Ethernet, three USB ports, VGA and a SD Card slot.
Not too shabby. The box itself measures 10.5"x7.5"x1.5" and weighs just a shade over 2lbs. I am honestly surprised at how snappy the little bugger is. It’s down right usable and I have already loaded Office 2007, Firefox 3, Live Writer, AVG Antivirus, Filezilla, Zune and several other apps on it. With Windows XP as your OS on something this small, 120GB feels down right cavernous.
I wouldn’t want to type on this thing for long periods of time, but for checking email, browsing the web, checking in on my web projects and chatting around, I think it’s just fine. The 1024×600 screen clips dialog bottoms here and there, but that’s to be expected.
When you compare the size to my 15.4" Macbook Pro, it’s easy to tell how small this thing really is. It reminds me more of a portable DVD player than a fully functional computer that has all the power many much larger notebooks.
The box says the battery will last about 4 hours, and we’ll put that to the test, but for now I have to say I am pretty impressed with the little guy. I picked up one for both Dawn and I because she really needed something to use around the house.
If you are in the market for a super cheap laptop ($379 @ Best Buy) or you need something tiny and portable to supplement a much larger one, I think the EeePC is a fantastic buy.
Tweet