In a world where 3 pound lightweight notebooks command a premium price and 2 pound notebooks cost even more, Asus has produced an interesting alternative. I've been using an X series IBM Thinkpad for years and have been satisfied with it's performance. But at around 3.5 pounds, in the back of my mind, there's always been a longing for something even more lightweight. Don't get me wrong, as far as notebooks go, my Thinkpads x21, and x60 have served me well. They provide a good balance of size, weight, and performance. Nowadays, the 3 pound 12.1 " notebooks cost significantly more than their 14", 15.4", and 17" counterparts. Integrating all the components into a small form factor apparently is expensive. You also end up giving up certain features like extra usb ports, expansion slots, CPU speed, and 3D graphics performance. Once you move down to the 2 lbs. "ultraportable" category, you give up even more in terms of performance and pay even more of a premium in price.
Recently, Asus has produced a line of 2 pound ultraportable notebooks, and the general consensus seems to be quite positive. This notebook has already stirred up quite a following as you can see from this site dedicated to it. At EeeUser.com there's a very active community forum discussing everything about this computer - from where to buy it, to troubleshooting, to how to hack it. Laptop Magazine calls it "Pound for pound, the best value-priced notebook on the planet." BrightHand.com also has a detailed review on this notebook and says that it's the "...single most impressive notebook I've seen priced below $400." What makes this notebook so special? Well, let's take a look.
Currently NewEgg is selling the "4G version" for $399. Here are the specs:
CPU: Intel Celeron M ULV 900 MHz
Memory: 512 MB
Hard Drive: 4 GB of Flash-based storage (Solid State Disk)
Operating System: Linux (Xandros)
Screen: 7" at 800 x 480
Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA, Audio IN, Audio OUT
Card Reader: SD (SDHC compatible),
Network: Ethernet 10/100
WLAN: 802.11b/g Atheros
Camera: Webcam (0.3 MP)
Battery: 4-cell 5200 mAh (rated at 3.5 hours)
Weight: 2 lbs. (0.92 kg)
A couple of things worth mentioning about this notebook are its hard disk, and operating system. As you can see, it's running a customized version of Linux instead of Windows XP. Also, the hard disk is not actually a "disk". It's using a newer flash memory based technology as a disk drive. The obvious thing to notice is it's small storage capacity at 4 gigabytes. Compared to 60 or 80 gigabytes of hard drive space typically offered on other notebooks, this is very small. Solid State Disks are much more expensive to manufacture, but the benefits are lower power consumption, and no moving parts. In my experience laptop hard drives have a high failure rate. They are very delicate and I've had several of them fail on me (4 in the past 3 years). Theoretically SSD drives should be able to handle a fall much better than a conventional hard disk. Asus will be offering a Windows XP model in the future, and people have already successfully been able to load XP themselves with a little bit of effort. I think this computer would be ideal as a secondary computer. One that you could take with you more often because of it's small size. I've often been in the situation where I didn't want to lug around my Thinkpad because it was a just a little bit too heavy to justify carrying it around with me all day. I think the Asus Eee is a good solution to these situations. But I wouldn't make it my primary computer.
One of the common complaints among the reviewers and the message boards is that the keyboard is a little small and takes some getting used to. That's to be expected on a such a small computer. I'd also worry about running out of disk space. If you keep Linux on it, and use it for web browsing, word processing, and watching a few videos, then everything should be fine. But once you load Windows XP, it's going to get cramped. Of course one option is to buy a portable hard drive that plugs into the usb port. Another option is to use the Secure Digital slot to increase storage space. It's definitely doable but I think some tweaking and compromise would be involved. The other thing you'd be sacrificing is CPU power. An Intel ULV Celeron M running at 900mhz is used which by today's standards is a bit on the slow side. Again, it's good enough for most of the things people will be running on this computer, but you're not going to be editing movies or playing 3D games with this. All in all, I'm seriously considering purchasing one of these as a secondary computer, for use on vacations or even carrying it around daily with me wherever I go. At 2 pounds the size is right and at $399 the price is definitely right. With a 3 1/2 hour battery life, wireless networking, and a quick boot up time of about 20 seconds, this might be the perfect solution for those times when you just need a lightweight computer for your lightweight computing needs.
Some links to read detailed reviews and learn more about the Asus Eee notebook computer:
Official Asus Eee Homepage:
Review at Laptop Magazine
Review at CNET.co.uk
Review at Brighthand
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