ASUS eeePC torture test

**Whacker** · 07-10-2008, 13:07

All hail our Lord Prosimian, may his reign last a thousand years minus how long it's been since I've started spouting this line.

Originally Posted by Beirut

Fine, my thread is boring. Don't post a response. Treat me like the shmoo that I am.

OK, schmoo!

Originally Posted by Xiahou

I'd say the answer is a definite "probably".

Really, I don't think there'd be any problem playing your basic mp3s or opening .doc files on the eeePC. There's certainly no reason you can't under Linux.

Seconded. My guess is that it probably comes with a version of OpenOffice, which can handle .doc files and the like. Linux has a few mp3 player options, don't remember what they are at this point.

Originally Posted by Xiahou

Yeah, I'd be surprised if it didn't work.

Seconded again. Lunix can/does support all modern filesystems and gets along cheerful with USB and Firewire.

Lastly if you do decide to take the plunge, I'd be most curious to hear your personal assessment of the aforementioned gadget. Some kind of after-action report perhaps, if you will.

**Beirut** · 07-10-2008, 18:57

Originally Posted by Whacker

OK, schmoo!

But you still don't know what a shmoo is and I might not tell you.

Originally Posted by Whacker

Lastly if you do decide to take the plunge, I'd be most curious to hear your personal assessment of the aforementioned gadget. Some kind of after-action report perhaps, if you will.

Count on it. But it could well be a week or two.

**Beirut** · 07-11-2008, 13:51

Seems everyone is putting out a micro-laptop now.

This Acer model looks good and it's almost $200 cheaper than the new eeePC. Nifty specs! Not out for a month, though.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...nufacture=Acer

Hmmmm...

**Lemur** · 07-11-2008, 14:06

Poking around the internets, looking at various previews of the Acer machine, it sure looks as though it will have exactly half as much battery as the Asus version. Although you may be able to order a bigger battery, hard to say from the pressers ...

**CBR** · 07-11-2008, 14:17

Yeah the EeePC seems to have started a trend. I got a 700 early this year (had to send it back as it kept locking up after 20-30 min use) and liked the small size and low weight. The 800x480 resolution was too small for my taste but I'm sure the 8.9 inch screen would be much better.

IIRC it had no problems connecting with my external HDD's (either USB or WiFi): worked fine with pics and vids although it seemed it had to copy the whole video before watching it...maybe a linux thing?

CBR

**Beirut** · 07-11-2008, 20:02

I called my computer guy and he said he might get rid of his own eeePC 701 because he wants an eeePC 1000. I'll know Monday if he's selling his 701 (not sure which config). If he doesn't want too much I'm going to grab it. I'm not going to get the EEEPC900 until I see more about the other new machines coming out. Especially with the prices going south of $400. Eez gud.
Thanks for the info, mes freres.

(For now I'll make do with my Win98 IBM PIII 500Mhz Thinkpad. Less RAM than a goldfish and a battery that lasts about as long as a good pee. But it's built like a brick and the keyboard has a clickably wondrous touch.)

**Xiahou** · 07-11-2008, 20:21

Originally Posted by Lemur

Poking around the internets, looking at various previews of the Acer machine, it sure looks as though it will have exactly half as much battery as the Asus version. Although you may be able to order a bigger battery, hard to say from the pressers ...

I'm guessing it must have a traditional hard drive- that would account for a drop in battery life, and probably a cheaper price as well. Too bad the solid state drive is one of the best features of the eeePC...

**Lemur** · 07-11-2008, 23:56

Stephen Fry, of all people, has a column about the eeePC. Go figure.

I am writing this article on a kind of mini John the Baptist, a system that prepares the way of the software saviour whose coming will deliver the 90% of world computer users who suffer under Windows from the expensive, clumsy, costly, ugly, pricey toils of Microsoft.

The Asus EEE PC perched on my knee combines GNU software with a Linux kernel powered by an Intel Celeron Mobile Processor to produce a very extraordinary little laptop. It weighs less than a kilogram, starts up from cold in about 12 seconds and shuts down in five. It has no internal hard disk and no CD drive.

Well, skimming over it, clearly he's talking about the previous iteration of the eeePC, but it's still a great read. What's not to love about a column that describes a laptop as John the Baptist?

-edit-

I see there's another Dork Talk column on the most recent version of the eeePC.

**AlJabberwock** · 07-12-2008, 08:39

HEH! LOL.

That video made me crack up... Specifically it was some of the soft and only partially successfully stifled chuckling in the background (as the guy drops it on the blue tile floor by the desk) that led me to start thinking this guy was forced by his BOSS to use his BOSS' machine for the weekend to work on a project he didn't sign up for... So he decided to conduct scientific experimentation on the side - a sort of Einsteinian laptop user. No WONDER we never see a face or identifier of any kind! Hmmmmm! Lol. If you buy that Asus Liliputian, don't lend it to any associates who speak French!

I Read the Dork Talk because it was amusing... I would also advise he is right regarding the probable transitory nature of the eeepc... as with all technology I suppose till the Rapture. Yet, I think getting a used one cheap is best... A year from now infinitely more capable machines in the microscopic line are likely as there are some recent developments in battery tech that have to very much effect this type of device. Like getting the newest 'cutting edge' vid card, if you wait long enough, you'll be dead!

I have no experience with Linux so I hope the more experienced types above are right! Suppose I could have written that first and saved you all that reading, but The Prophet teaches us all to be mysterious! :-)

AlJabberwock