Asus Eee PC - five reasons why you should buy one - and five reasons why you should think twice

The Asus Eee PC, a cheap PC that's as light as a feather and does just about everything you want from a laptop. Too good to be true? Well, after playing with one for the last few weeks, here's five reasons why you really should rush out and buy the hottest gadget around...and five reasons why you might want to think twice...

Reasons why you should buy one...

1. It's all about the looks:

It's small enough to fit in most bags, is as light as a feather and it looks like a miniaturised MacBook. Or in other words, it ticks all the style boxes.

2. It's got a long-life battery:

Wave goodbye to battery-draining laptops, this one will keep going for at least three hours. In fact, Asus has just introduced a new battery that lasts over six hours.  So you can leave that adapter at home.

3. The price:

The latest version of the Eee PC is available for just over £200. Yes that's right - just over £200. Who needs a £1,000 laptop?

4. Linux operating system:

No Windows here, this machine works on Linux, so less of a virus threat and you can impress your geek mates or the bloke from the IT department.

5. Plug and play - just charge it up:

No software to load here, just charge the battery, turn it on and you're away. All the software is pre-loaded and it's wireless-ready, so you can get online straight away.

Reasons why you should think twice...

1. Small keyboard:

A small laptop (just seven inches wide) means a small keyboard. It might take some time to get used to - them more time to get used to a 'normal' laptop again.

2. Lack of storage:

Forget the huge hard drives of your average laptop, there's not much here. The maximum right now is 4GB for everything (soon jumping to 8GB), although there are slots for storage cards. You'll need them too if you want to play your music collection on the go.

3. Linux operating system:

Some people will love it, others will hate it. And working with Linux to adapt your Eee is enough to send the  average inexperienced computer user running for a Sony in seconds. A Windows version is on the way, so you might want to wait if in doubt.

4. Free software isn't for everyone:

Yes, everything you need is here, but as it's all free (Firefox, Google Documents etc), so it might not be what you are used to - or what you want to work with. For business, maybe a standard notebook is more suited, even if it is dull, weighs a ton and has a battery life you can count in minutes.

5. DVD drive:

Want to watch a film? You'll have a job, as there's no DVD drive. You can hook up an external one, but do you really want to carry one around? Still, there's always YouTube when you're online or the BBC iPlayer (which now works with Linux).

Our Verdict:

This year's must have accessory. Expect more colours, more storage, more features, more accessories and more hype as 2008 progresses. Get one in your bag now - despite the downsides, it's a great little thing and superb if you need the net on the go.

Find out more at the Asus Eee PC website

Comments

[ern]

Well, the problem here is that there are already cheap laptops. I can get a cheap Dell for $500 that has a bigger keyboard, nicer screen, processor twice as fast, and ten times the disk space. The only things this Eee PC has going for it are the size (which is nice, I'll admit) and a very slightly smaller price tag.

Granted, there is the cool factor of having an SSD drive, but 4gb? Even the 8gb model is anemic--and the price starts climbing to match the Dell. As for free software, it's not like I can't get OpenOffice and Firefox for free for the Dell. So the only benefit there is that it's already loaded. Not a great deal, in my book.

A nice idea in theory, but until they can halve the price, you're still getting more for your money with a mainstream, inexpensive laptop from one of any number of other PC companies.

[David Walker]

I don't know - I think the small form factor and battery life are huge selling points, no matter if the specs are weak compared to low-end standard PCs.

The ability to slip one into any bag, pull it out and browse for a significant amount of time, answer your emails and do basic tasks is something that a cheap Dell cannot match, no matter how big the hard drive. I wouldn't want to carry one around all day! ;-)

[Charles]

This laptop wont replace your desktop computer thats for sure, but it's good for university students or people who go to meetings alot. However the downsides of this product can be resolved easily. The lack of storage space isn't a big one. You can just get an external hard-drive, or buy another 8GB SD card and put it in the built in sd card slot.
If you don't like the operating system it comes with, no problem. You can install Ubuntu 7.0 or Windows XP on this machine easily. Windows XP only takes up 1.5 Gb, so you would have enough space for work.
The lack of DVD drive? Who cares, theres plenty of websites that let you watch streaming movies online, or just copy your DVD onto a USB key and plug it into the laptop. USB key can hold alot more movies than DVD's can and they are much smaller.

[bigbluealien]

I agree with every thing here apart from think twice no. 3.
Agreed Linux isn't for everyone, but running Windows on the Eee's specs, that would be way too painful.

Also, anyone with basic electrical/computer/hacking skills can increase the size of the SSD drive and add other things such as bluetooth, but remember that opening the back voids the warranty.

[Aj]

Linux is the onlything why i would buy that thing.

[merlin]

My mate got one of these. I love the size, battery life and portability but what i saw of the linux os that came with it sucked. No desktop just a series of apps from menus and i couldn't find a shell app. I use Debian GNU/Linux as my No 1 OS but wasn't impressed with what this machine was shipped with. With an external CD rom however it is easy to install another OS. All the drivers are available for download from their website for linux and windows. My friend put XP on it (slimmed using nlite) and that ran OK. even ran world of warcraft (just!!). I would have put Ubuntu or pure Debian on it myself!!

[zeerk]

Shame they didn't spring for the $5 it would have cost to throw in a DVD drive.

[AngryGnome]

@merlin How exactly would you go about fitting a dvd drive into the eee while still maintaining it's size? Having opened up the eee myself... let me tell you... there is NO room for a dvd drive.

[NIck]

It definitely wins on the form factor, but I am actually trying to build something about twice as thick (only thickness) with a Via PX10000. It WILL have a dvd drive and a moderately faster processor and way more memory and hard drive space. Plus, the screen size is the biggest I can fit (8.4") with better resolution.

Plus, people should so use Gentoo or Debian instead of the crappy cut-down thing pre-installed. In fact, they should provide options for the installed distro so you don't need an external drive.

[merlin]

Wasn't me who mentioned the DVD drive. twas zeerk!! I don't think it needs an optical drive. How often do you actually use one? The idea is that its portable. You can always plug in an external if needed.
Another good thing about it is that even though the OS is a bit crap (see my post above) at least you aren't paying microsoft tax on it which keeps the cost down!!!