ASUS eeePC torture test

**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

**Che Roriniho** · 07-17-2008, 22:58

I reccomend everyone get's the eeePC 1000H. Bluetooth, 80GB HDD, WinXP, 1GB RAM, 102 screen, £364. What's not to love?
*clue- not a lot*

**Mailman653** · 07-20-2008, 20:39

I'v been using a eee pc 4g Linux for about two months now. I really have no complaints, its super portable, with a little know how which you can aquire from various websites you can custimize things even further from the default settings.

**Lemur** · 07-20-2008, 21:23

Mailman, how's life with the screen size? Does web browsing mean a lot of extra scrolling, or do most sites scale down enough?

I ask because one of the big selling points of the new one is the enlarged screen ...

**Beirut** · 07-21-2008, 00:13

Gah! My computer dude wanted $300 for a his used eeePC 701. What a shmoo. They're only a few bucks more new. And the new micro laptops coming out are much cheaper with better specs. I don't know what he was thinking.

**Xiahou** · 07-21-2008, 00:24

Originally Posted by Beirut

And the new micro laptops coming out are much cheaper with better specs.

Yeah, but I'd think twice about getting one with a traditional hard drive.

**Mailman653** · 07-21-2008, 18:54

Originally Posted by Lemur

Mailman, how's life with the screen size? Does web browsing mean a lot of extra scrolling, or do most sites scale down enough?

I ask because one of the big selling points of the new one is the enlarged screen ...

The screen size does get annoying sometimes. More often than not I press f11 to enlarge the screen to squeeze in a little more viewing room. But many sites do fit into the screen just fine without pressing f11, including this one