Eee laptop: why it sucks to own the ASUS EeePC
Let’s be clear, the Eee does look neat. It uses GNU/Linux, too (although Xandros). But let’s face it, it’s not that great. It’s more of a marketing thing, much like the gOS computers. And since many people are literally going crazy (thus annoying me in the process) and buying all those laptops, I want to, as a tech savvy person, explain a few things which people wanting to purchase one of them often forget.
I’ve just been in our local tech store, to check out a small black Asus Eee PC. After playing around with it for a little while I noticed the keyboard wasn’t configured correctly (a Slovenian keyboard has a very different layout), actually it wasn’t configured at all. It was really hard to find a friggin’ terminal, and when I finally found it, I successfully set up my new keyboard layout.
I cannot imagine how a non-nerd could possibly manage to do that. It’s not ready for prime time. That’s why I prefer the XO to the Eee. It’s a disgrace. I’d rather buy one with XP preinstalled.
Now secondly, the monitor is way too small. For the price of an EeePC, you can buy an iPhone. And what the hell are 512 megabytes of RAM doing there? You don’t need that much on Linux, plus what kind of powerhouse app are you going to run on a 7 inch screen? I hate the iPhone, but come on, compare them. The EeePC just isn’t your ultimate portable solution, it’s ‘the little portable device that could’.
What are your views on the subject?Â
isto so govorili za iphone, da suxa, zej ga majo pa že skoraj vsi. Ne vem, to je paÄ mnenje vsakega posameznika. Js sem si npr. Eeeja kupil zato, ker sem pretehtal možnosti zakaj ga rabim.
Ne rabim nekega uber hitrega prenosnika, ampak prenosnika, kar Eee je z 0,92 kg, saj je super lahek in popolnoma delujoÄ raÄunalnik. Laufam pa XPje itak.
Bom napisu post o vsem tem, kmalu.
[...] Eee laptop why it sucks to own the asus eeepcLetâ
The eee is amazing, how the hell can you complain about having too much ram? what is your problem? did a bunch off eee’s come and beat you up?
Sorry, sometimes people tend to share their views on their blogs
I agree with you about the 512MB RAM. I use my Eee PC for chatting, email, word processing and surfing the web. I could go for 256 easily.
It’s brilliant if it does what you want. For me, it connects to my mobile phone for internet and I use it for everything I want to do, including learning how to use the eclipse development environment and writing a book. But I agree that if you want it to do clever things, you have to be able to find out how to do it on the internet, and know your linux environment. Otherwise, a great piece of kit.
One keyboard error and suddenly it’s not ready for prime time?!
And WHY would you want one with XP preinstalled? XP is a horrible OS and you’d actually pay extra for it…
Although the pre-installed Xandros OS does have the necessities, it fails to deliver the real power of the linux os. You have to tinker a lot with it to get omething really useful, and I’m sure that many people switched distros, if they did’t go to XP.The tabbed interface is very unractical. With that much ram you could only expect someone to rune more than 2 apps at a time
The Asus EeePC is great for the price and does everything you could want a second ultra-portable to do. It is very easy to upgrade the RAM and there is 3 USB ports for connecting external devices – that’s more than my full size Toshiba notebook. Asus are bringing out new models later in 2008 with larger screens and Windows pre-installed.
hey i think that the eeepc is not bad because its what you expect from a REALLY portabele laptop
Well for one, I would like to see someone using the iphone for work!
The I-phone is a glorified MP3 player, not a computer. I would rather say, why pay so much for an I-phone, it should be free like any other subscription phone.
I am not saying the EEEPC is good, because I have not even been close to one, but I can see that it would be useful as a complement for a desktop, that’s the point of an ultra-portable. I fail to understand the attraction of a lap-top. I have one, I tried to have it on my ”lap”, and it fried my balls and was uncomfortable. I then lugged it around, taking extra care against theft and bumps; it is difficult to use on the move.
Another common argument in favour of the lap-top is that there are no cables. No cables???? When you lug around the charger, the peripherals, memory sticks, extra keyboards, mice etc, the lap-top looks like a server, with a mayhem of cables…
Which is why the EEEPC does fill in a lot of the criteria that people originally went for when buying lap-tops. REALLY small, long battery life (Don’t get me started on battery life on a standard laptop)and a NEW feature CHEAP!!! so no fear of seeing £800/15000 run away if stolen.
I think a ‘non-nerd’ would be able to pick their keyboard layout fairly easily during the initial EeePC setup wizard. It asks you about your keyboard layout at first boot – http://www.iceblue.co.za/setup-asus-eeepc-first-boot/ so it’s easy enough to pick your keyboard at this stage…Also, I would pick the EeePC over an iPhone anyday and I particularly like the linux flavour, but maybe that’s just me
Thanks for the post.
Is the Eee PC able to play any games?
Yep shineon – the EeePC ships with a few simple but rather addictive games – penguin racer, crack attack, bubble something? and solitaire just for good measure
to name a few. But there are a good number of awesome linux/open source games too – openarena is quite impressive and it runs on the EeePC, check it out here: http://www.iceblue.co.za/openarena-eeepc/
Hi Guys, Just thought I would give my opinion about the eeepc.
I have a 4g 701 and I love it.
The first thing I did was flick the xandros, If it was for a child I may leave it. Compared to the capabilities of XP it cannot compare.
Hardware wise the only change I have made is to upgrade ram from 512mb to 1gb, although yous say xandros doesnt need it, I know xp does and it runs smoother and faster because of it. The other change I made was to install a 4gb sdhc card in the slot.
The installation worked like a breeze.
The next thing I did was install all the applications I like for mobility. Office, acrobat, activesync, msn messenger, winzip, divx, power dvd, snag it screen capture, lock xp, limewire for downloads, Java from sun,Winrar.
Then I customized every setting of windows just how I like it. Customized all applications how like them.
Performed all maintenance tasks, clear browser history, defrag, error check, and all the space saving hints in the manual.
Of the 4gig solid state drive loaded with what I wanted it used 3.2 gbs. which leaves a balance of about 800mb.
Now I dont intend to store any data at all on the solid state drive, that just powers my pc and applications.
I moved my documents to the sdhc internal card slot including the page file.
The machine is running like a dream, the solid state drive must be the reason. Using a wireless mini mouse it does everything quickly.
The next thing I did was buy the smallest usb flash drive I could find, turned out to be the cheapest a soniq 2gb. Made that flash drive bootable then used norton ghost to create an image of the drive. It takes around 14 mins to create the image and ten mins to reload it.
This is realy great because I need no virus checker which uses system resources. Because if I got a virus, or crash the system or the system becomes unstable I just reload the image and its back to as new in 10 mins. The fact I do not store data on the drive means I can do this at anytime and not lose any data.
As for games, well different horses for different courses and I dont expect my eeepc to do that, but just to ensure I dont miss out, and some may laugh, I put 750 super nintendo games onto a flash drive with the snes emulator and voila instant game entertanment. I know its the latest in graphics but dont discount the fun factor of the period. The beauty about the game is they are only 2mb each in size and the emulator is only 500kb. So thats a lot of games for a little thumb drive. I dont move them to the machine all game saves, the games, and the emulator run perfect from the flash drive. Pull it out an put it away when im finished.
To work out where I fit into the tech scene Ill give you some info about me.
Firstly, I have a powerful desktop for gaming and intensive cpu work like making dvds or processing video and Im happy with that.
Then I also have a lightweight notebook which is still a great machine for nearly everything. Its the one I use as a portable machine for work.
Then now I have my ultra portable eeepc and will use that for travel and watching movies and work but not cpu intensive stuff. I have a jasjam on 3g network so wireless broadband means I can connect even in rural areas. The jasjam connects wireless via bluetooth to the eeepc I bought an ultra small dongle which can be left in one of the ports without anything sticking out much.
The next is my Jasjam, my telephony communications, emails on the fly, taking appointments in outlook and emergency internet access and also my multimedia uses for entertainment.
I also have qualifications in IT, it is also my hobby!
The eeepc is more than a welcome and needed addition to my pc family. I love it!
Ive considered moving up to the eeepc 1000H..but at 500grms heavier and close to my lightweight notebook, it kinda defeats the purpose.
To me mobility is everything!
Having a tiny notebook that I can work in office, browse the web, keep in contact with chat, deal with emails, listen to music, and movies is fantastic.
Ive owned many notebooks, and i tend to leave them at home because they are just too big and heavy to lug.
The only thing I take with me and the eeepc is the charger which is more like a phone charger in size and weight, me mini mouse and a few tiny usb flash drives. If I crash the system on a plane…im up again in 10 mins!
The bigger the better is just a fallacy in this world.
Smaller is better!!!
Must say I can’t help taking offense at your suggestion that Xandros is only good enough for children (@ Tim), you’ve clearly invested a lot of time in customising your EeePC to your liking, you can get a lot from Xandros by investing a little effort as well – but as you say, “different horses…”, anyway just thought I should mention, you shouldn’t defrag solid state drives – it shortens their life and because they have no moving parts, their seek time is already negligible in comparison with a conventional hard drive. i.e. solid state drives don’t actually need “defragging”, it’s just bad for them…
Hi Jack, Sorry for offending you, but what I mean’t to say was I feel Xandros would be a great operating system for kids 1)because its simple and 2)There is less that can go wrong. Its pretty much bullet proof.
Yes I hear what you saying about customizing it, but my whole family of pcs runs xp and having xandros would put one out the fold. I guess it good be customised and some solutions could be found that would enable me to sync with outlook using activesync equivalent. But this takes time and experimentation. For me it is simpler to just install xp.
As for defrag solid state drives, it appears its not necessary because it doesnt seem to fragment and if i run the defrag it finishes in a matter of seconds.
The only time it fragmented heavily was following enabling of drive compression. Ive since gone back to uncompressed for better performance and to remove the high fragmentation.
While we are on solid state drives, Ive read that they are more durable in fact then conventional drives. I know a lot of conventional 2.5 drives dont last very long, I feel the ssd will outlast and out perform conventional drives regardless what you throw at them. Just need to lift the capacities and Im sure they will gain in popularity. Some in fact exceed the MTBF rating of conventional drives, but I guess like everything you get what you pay for. Im certainly not going to molly coddle my sdd because it may wear out quicker. I will just put it into service and it will either last me as long as I need or it will fail. If it fails, then time for new computer! I dont really keep equipment long, a couple of years max. I hope it lasts til then.
Anyways thank you for your feed back
Well the defrag ‘myth’ is just something I have heard about. Pleasure though – Hope your EeePC lives long!
The 512 of ram is extremely useful and is there so that the user has a choice thats the whole point of it (DUH). Buy the linux eeepc and if you ever so desire for one reason or another you have the option to put on xp. You may need to upgrade the ram for this again though if doing slighlty heavier stuff on it. The eeepc is a beautiful little gadget and the user whinging here does not seem to have any understandign or is wanting to understand I believe. There are many reasons as to why you may need the 512 ram besides the reason I just mentioned.
I just wanted to chime in and add my own eeepc-related thoughts. I’ve had an eeepc for about 6 months now and I really like it, but I agree with the sentiment here which seems to be that all of the overwhelmingly positive attention is misleading.
The keyboard on the eeepc is horrible. I’ve read many times that one will “get used to it”. That is not true. Many times a key press will not register and it makes touch typing very tedious. I can get used to the small size, but I can’t get used to un-registered key presses.
Other than that, the only other difficulty that I’ve noticed is that the eeepc is not compatible with linux. It is compatible with the pre-installed version of linux that it comes with, I’ll give it that, but the pre-installed xandros is not adequate in my opinion (I did install another distribution and I do have everything working, but getting it that way required some non-standard patches and software)
I use my eeepc as a streaming music player and as a way of presenting my digital portfolio. The eeepc was a good investment for me and I’m happy with mine. For me, its like an ipod, but it has more features and it can run linux.
You seem to be basing your views on the device without actually looking at what and who it was originally intended for.
The device is perfect for use in schools. It allows internet access, ability to print, word process etc… You don’t need, or want, any of the more complex GUI features that normal linux OSs have.
A non-nerd would follow the instructions on start up, and use it how it is intended. A nerd would spend their time tinkering with it, setting it up how they want (like they do with every other type of device).
So, you seem to be missing the point really.
eee pc sux sux
asus sux
Yes, people share their views on their blogs, but when they are ill informed, they should expect people to put them right in their comments…
EEE was built as a laptop should be- a easy, highly portable, long lasting, portable computer- it is elegant and yet classy so it suits a wide variety of people, It is way better than a Major Brand due to the reliability of the Hardware and warrantys therien though I get mine for real not off New-Egg. So I do not see the complaint at all I feel if you are bothered by the eee go to best buy grab an HP wait 14 months and watch the mother board go out, yes I see a lot of them, oh and also, they dont support it after that period so much for extended warrantys, so if you dont like asus how do you game…. They are the best boards, Intel atom I prefer AMD but they are getting stomped atm, we shall see when the new stuff comes out…..
My HP dv 9000 motherboard went out after 5 years. I am considering EEE laptop. Thank you all for your input. I think i will get one now for the price.
On the HP thing it is the newer ones. The older Models are great now they are more focused on numbers than quality of product xD GL and Fly Free
You’re comepletely right! I have a HP 2133 mini-note, and that is WAY more better than the Eee, because:
1. The HP has larger screen (8,9″)
2. The HP has more ram (2 GB)
3. The HP has more Hard Disk (120 GB)
4. The HP has a 92% full-size key-board.
5. And lastly, Eee Sucks!
Planning to buy one Eee,can any one tell me its maximum capabilities,and how much can i buff my ram,can i change the graphic card etc.
Thanks in advance!