BEWARE OF THE SPACEBAR DEFECT | Asus Eee PC 4G Surf (7" Screen, 800 MHz Intel Celeron Processor, 512 MB...

Ideal combination | Asus Eee PC 4G Surf (7" Screen, 800 MHz Intel Celeron Processor, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB Hard Drive, Linux ...

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	• Asus Eee PC 4G Surf (7" Screen, 800 MHz Intel Celeron Processor, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB Hard Drive, Linux ... Asus Asus average customer review:based on 138 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

ASUS does it again.

Small, fast and easy. The EEE PC has a lot going for it. Out of the box you wonder how something this small can work. But after the 15 second boot, you know you have something cool.
While the installed Linux Xandros Distro is effective and easy to navigate, I found myself wanting a little more. So, I installed Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. [...].
Battery power is about what you'd expect from one so small. I seem to average slightly less than 2 hours.
The RAM is adequate at 512 MB but for @ $40 I upgraded to 2 GB.
The SSD is small, there's no getting around that. But, if you don't load a bunch of apps and keep all your docs on SDHC cards, you'll be fine.
If you weigh the disadvantages against the obvious advantages of the size, you'll see the EEE PC fills a valuable niche in the portable computer field.

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BEWARE OF THE SPACEBAR DEFECT

The product is good, handy and very portable. I like Linux and enables me to work on the go.

I don't want to give 5 stars because of a poor battery life and heating up.

I gave only 3 stars because this product has a spacebar defect which just upset me. Google for the spacebar defect. The key doesn't get pressed with the thumb, because it is slightly tilted on one side.

It is very disturbing when you open the case to see a defective product that you paid for. The flaw looks ugly as well from a visual perspective.

Ideal combination

Circa-1992ish, I bought a Smith Corona laptop word processor, which was about twice a big, weighed twice as much and cost double what I paid for the 4G Surf. I loved that (comparatively) stupid machine -- no frills but useful as hell. My wife and I used it hard for about three years until it died.

Comparing an old word processor to the Asus eeePC series may seem derogatory, but let me assure you otherwise: this new sub-notebook a great tool, and to my mind, the 4G Surf version makes the best balance of available features and price.

Right from the box, IT IS THE KILLER PORTABLE WORD PROCESSOR!

I can carry the thing inside the memory foam sleeve Amazon sells while bicycling (fits in my fanny pack) and trek out for a quiet place to write. Battery life is adequate (I bought a new OEM spare on eBay for $45, but I've yet to need it); keyboard size is a perfect compromise -- I can touch-type with it, but any smaller and my mits wouldn't fit. The 7" screen is no hardship for typing text, even with my aging eyes. The lean Linux OS opens and closes fast when you punch the power button. And at $350 delivered, I can risk destroying my 4G Surf on the road because the cost of a replacement won't kill me.

If you think writing is just about using your thumbs on a phone, this may not seem so impressive, but I thank Asus for producing exactly what I've been waiting the last 15 years for.

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A brilliant little computer!

I'm a businessman on a mission: I need to travel, present and work (which in my case means ready access to the internet), but I don't care to lug my whole office along with me to do it.

So for years, starting with the combination Handspring Prism paired with a Sprint plug-in card (what I'd come to call the Handspring "Pre-o"), I've been experimenting with the latest mobile technologies that let me stay connected and get work done.

In recent months, these technologies have taken a big leap forward with Nokia's N800 and N810 Portable Internet Tablets, sporting in-pocket convenience and standards-compatible web browsers. Plus, when Bluetooth-paired with my Sprint Treo 755p, these handy little devices get me on the Internet in seconds from anywhere I have cell service. Truly, these are completely portable and discreet ways for me to check and manage projects, handle email, address financial concerns, and manage contacts ... in addition to anything else I need to keep abreast of my business interests. In fact, I rely so heavily on my N800 that I would have a tough time managing for even one day without it.

But these devices lack speed, and if you need to do a lot of typing, you still need a flat surface and some sort of keyboard, like the Think Outside Stowaway Universal Bluetooth Keyboard (which I also own). Moreover, there's no on-board or reliable third-party application support with these devices for reading and editing Microsoft Office documents (you'll need to use Google Docs for that). They also have no facility to connect to a projector for presentations.

With all that said, this is where the Asus Eee PC fills a very useful niche. Smaller and lighter than Apple's MacBook Air, it's also one-fifth the cost and does all the things the Nokia devices don't. With a full-throttle Intel Celeron processor, and Linux pre-installed it starts from full-off to desktop, in less than a minute, and wakes from sleep mode in under 5 seconds.

Moreover, with a full-version of Firefox on-board, it blazes through AJAX-heavy web pages and web apps (like Gmail, Google Docs and Google Calendar) with all the speed of a desktop computer. Likewise, the integrated keyboard, though smaller than a full-size keyboard, is a huge convenience; plus, you can actually use it on your lap. The integrated OpenOffice suite makes editing Microsoft Office documents a breeze. Best of all, when connected to a projector the on-board 800 x 480 pixel graphics hardware expands and projects a full 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768 presentation on any wall or projection screen. Combine this with the Mitsubishi PK20 PocketProjector and you're ready to present to a room full of people with less then 7lbs of gear that fits neatly into any briefcase and costs under $1,000 total. (It's worth noting that because of the extreme portability this presentation solution offers, most of my accounts and prospects at first assume that I've spent much more than I have for such convenience. They're shocked when they learn how inexpensive it is.)

If you're willing to spend a little more and sacrifice some portability to get an even better presentation, the Hitachi CP X300 LCD projector is another exceptional projector, that never needs bulb changes.

Need Internet access? Just camp on to your nearest open WiFi hotspot and you're good to go!

Truly, this is a great little system and for what I use it for, I wouldn't trade it. But as with all great bits of technology it also has a few shortcomings.

Firstly, the 800-pixel screen size is narrower than the 1024-pixels that many web designers (and their sites) accept as the current standard, and the sites my firm creates are no exception to that standard. Consequently, there will be some horizontal scrolling or occasional distortion of many of the websites you visit.

Secondly, the integrated WiFi and connection interface doesn't begin to approach the ease or seamlessness of the Nokia products. Saved WiFi profiles often mysteriously stop working, and though the Eee PC always senses when wireless networks are in range, it frequently takes a tap of the "Refresh" button to see and connect to the closest (and therefore strongest) ones.

Also irksome is the complete absence of Bluetooth integration. Even after purchasing the Cirago BTA-3210 MICRO Bluetooth USB Adapter, I was utterly unable to get our Sprint Palm Centro to connect for Bluetooth dialup networking (or BT DUN), despite over 10 hours of research, experimentation and trial-and-error while mucking about in the Eee PC's Linux terminal mode. By comparison, the Nokia N800 and N810 paired-up and connected with the same Palm Centro (using MobleStream's USB Modem application) with under 10 minutes of setup; on successive occasions it takes just a simple tap of the Nokia's touch screen to get online.

In the end, we had to accept the Eee PC being tethered to the Centro through the USB port, using the same MobileStream application. However, this configuration works absolutely perfectly for "Internet anywhere" access. Better and more reliably in fact, than the on-board WiFi.

The final "shortcoming" is battery life, but I consider it more of a trade-off than a deficit. Since the Eee PC uses a desktop-level processor for better performance, you can expect between 3 and 4 hours of unplugged freedom before your little buddy demands an active power source.

Others might complain about the lack of disk support or CD/DVD drive. To that I say, "buy a regular notebook and accept the additional weight that comes with it, if that's what you want." For portable use, the integrated SD Card slot accepts up to 16GB High Capacity (SDHC) Cards and the sky is the limit with 3 USB ports, where you can have up to three 16GB USB Flash Drives at once.

In my final assessment, the portability, speed and cost factors far outweigh the shortcomings.

So, if you're like me and need (or love) to travel to see your accounts, but hate lugging around the gear to get your management tasks done, and/or make professional presentations from one case that weighs less than 7lbs projector and all, then this great little computer is the perfect device for the job.

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Neat little computer

I've had my ASUS Eee computer for about a month. So far I like it but it has some limitations that I expected. The keyboard is small so it takes some getting used to. I'm typing this on it so it does work. The screen is also small but usable.

It is great for what I bought if for, a small computer that is easy to travel with and keep up with e=mail. It works fine with my DSL internet connection (ATT) and I've used its wireless internet capability both at home and traveling and it works fine. Not much different from my much larger Dell laptop that I'm leaving home.

I added a small travel mouse since I don't like touchpads. I plugged it in to a USB port and it works.

I really like the fact that it doesn't weigh much and that the charger is more like for a celphone instead of one of those brick things. Much less weight and size to carry.

Over all I would recommend it as long as you need the virtues of being small and can deal with the shortcomings of being small

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