Eee-ed up. Hooked up (has to be as battery power is a no go!)

I blog about my Eee PC all the time.  Most of my posts consist of me berating the bloody useless 900 model I have and it's...

• Poor battery life
• Poor battery life
• Poor battery life (sorry, I just can't stress it enough!)
• Unresponsiveness
• Unresponsiveness (sorry, I'm used to typing things more than worse as it lags all the time!)
• Complete and utterly frustrating keyboard

Just in case you've not seen my previous posts about my Eee, let me just go into a tad more detail... The battery takes a couple of hours to charge and only lasts one hour (if I'm lucky!).  Having just a few tabs open in Firefox causes the laptop to hang, this happens even on the most basic of web pages. Finally, the bloody keyboard - I don't have the usual 'small keyboard' issue (I can cope with that).  Nope, I have an issue of it not registering my key presses or it typing the wrong letter.

Anyway, looks like ASUS want to hear from some bloggers as they're running a competition where competing bloggers will be er, competing for an Eee PC 901.  What do they have to do to win?  They have to get the most hits.

Here's the deets... The Blog Herald: Asus competition to Brits: blog about our computers and Mobile Computer

My Eee PC 900 is quite frankly crapEee, crudEee, rubbishEee.  It's not fit for even the odd spot of web browsing.  It was always poor but it just seems to get worse and worse.  On top of that my home PC decided to give up the ghost.  So I have no real computer anymore and have basically commandeered my folk's Toshiba Satellite which is a mighty fine machine but not mine!  Even if it was, it's a bit too big (on the physical side) for what I need.

Anyway, I quite like the look of the Acer Aspire 2930.  Nice size, nice specs, nice reviews* and nice price.  Just a shame that even at that price I can't afford it at the moment.  But I need a PC, and it makes sense to get a laptop as it's more flexible.  What's a boy to do?  Well a good start would be to sell my Eee 900 but I'm a nice guy and wouldn't want to wish that on anyone!  Not that'd I get much for that dire piece of crap.  But still, even if someone gave me a tenner for it I'd feel guilty, it really is that bad!

Acer Aspire 2930

Now I'm trying to figure out how to get my hands on one legally (ish) considering my current financial difficulties... I can't busk as I have no vocal talent nor can I play any instrument (just ask anyone that's had to endure my SingStar or Guitar Hero performances, although I kick ass at Samba de Amigo!)  I have no offspring to sell in to slavery (there's not much call for chimney sweeps these days anyway) nor a kidney worth giving away.  Becoming a male escort probably isn't such a good idea either.  So, I'm all out of ideas!

Anyone?  Maybe someone at Acer's PR could at least loan me one for a couple of weeks so that I can see for myself whether it's worth selling my body and/or it's parts for.

*Okay, that's more of a preview than a review!  But Google is your friend!

ASUS (or Asus, or ASUStek, or whatever..) have joined forces with the well known GPS brand Garmin to launch the Nuvifone G60.  If the two ASUS made devices I was using extensively yesterday are anything to go by, I wouldn't like one's chances of getting much useful use out of this new handset.  Why..?

Err PC

Well if you've never been to my blog before you've never heard my trials and tribulations of using my Eee PC.  My biggest gripe being the 1 hour battery life (if I'm lucky).  On top of that I'm using the Xda Zest from O2 (which is also made by ASUS) and that has been constantly bugging me about one or other of it's onboard batteries dying.  This after just having charged the bloody thing!

Xda Zest and citrus zest Diet Coke!

I'm sure O2's other Xda devices aren't quite the lemon that the Zest is!  At least I hope so!

Linky dink: Engadget

I'm going to try an eperiment. I'm going to continue to type this post of mine and I'm going t leave in any errors my Eee PC makes. I'll corret only thos that I feel wre definitely mine.

I'm really beginning to loathe this Eee PC 900 I have perched on my knee right now.  I'd forgotten quite how rubbish it was.  It is so under-powered that it all but renders the thing impossible to use.  I can handle the small screen, I cn handle the small keyboard but I can't handle the sluggishness, how unresponsive it is and it missing the letters I'm typing.

I'm even setting aside the absolutely useless battery as I've only been using this indoors, at home today.

I will be contacting Asus about it and I'll see what they cn do.  Unlike my niece, who had to do without her's for a couple of months, I on't be too distraught for it to be out of my hands that long.  I just want a usable, ultra portable laptop and this quite clearly isn't it.

I'm being a tad unfair there, it's been just over a month - not five... yet.  But one needs to add on at least another week before anything gets done.

What's the problem and why is it taking so long?

About six weeks ago my niece informed me that her Eee PC no longer worked.  It had worked on battery power (but not for long) and then nada, nothing.  It was dead to the world.  I then spent any spare time in the next two weeks looking for the receipt.  I was buggered if I could find it and, um, buggered if I could not.

So, instead of heading to our local Toys R Us (which is where we purchased it from) I chose the manufacturers warranty route.  Bad mistake as it would turn out.

I was foolishly optimistic about ASUS's returns procedure.  I'd dealt with Sling Media just before then and they were amazing in that aspect.  They sent me out a replacement (and we're talking the product itself, not some AC adapter) within days.  Once I received it, and only then, did they want the faulty item back.  Not so with ASUS...

ASUS haven't managed to send me the labels for me to put on the packaging that I'll be sending back.  They've promised time and time again, they've claimed to time and time again. So, nearly four weeks later I haven't even been able to send the adapter back and without them receiving it I will not get a replacement.

Yesterday they told me they'd send the labels by email instead of courier/post.  Over 24 hours later and I still haven't received them.  Just off the phone and apparently the RMA department haven't checked their emails yet and so, I'm told by Dick, that's why I haven't received my email labels.  Um, great!  I tell Dick that I'm not happy with ASUS's returns procedure and wish to make a complaint.  Unfortunately he's not allowed to pass me on to anyone else or give out numbers or email addresses.  But I can email him and he promises to pass it along...

I give him the benefit of the doubt on that one but I'm gonna have to decline.  Believe me I want to complain and get this resolved but emails-by-proxy is obviously not going to achieve anything and, if anything will draw this whole stupid process out even further.

ASUS, you've lost any goodwill I had left for you.  My niece's goodwill has too, now vanished.  Anyone we meet that ever mentions your company, your Eee PC or any related products will be subject to our rather negative opinions and will be advised to stear well clear of your products.  Seeing as both myself and my niece have grown custom to having people ask us questions about our Eee PCs and many have then gone on to buy themselves one, I should imagine we'll soon tire of having to tell our tails of woe.

...oh, and top of it all, that 8 minute call I just had with them was on a premium rate 0870 number (cheeky bar stewards!)

The Eee PC 900 continues to plummet in price.  Now it can be yours for a little over £200.  Are ASUS and the retailers desperate to get shot of it?  The original Eee PC 701 stayed at the £220  in the UK for quite a few months and was difficult to get hold of.  Whereas the 900 is easy to get hold of and now it's dirt cheap.

If you've never read my blog before and haven't gone to the likes of Eeeuser, be aware that the battery life on the 900 is pitifully poor.  Don't expect any more than an hour of use untethered!  You also have to remember to take the battery out when using the mains or whilst carrying (it feasts on battery juice even when switched off!)

Even at a smidge over £200 is the Eee 900 worth it?

Tried this at the weekend, Eee PC 900 hooked up to my mixer and Technics.  It worked but it was weird.  How so?  I only have the trackpad or a USB mouse to use on my Eee and cueing up records that way is bloody difficult compared to a record!

I believe there's ways to use the mouse on a "spare" turntable (ie whichever one isn't playing a record at the time!).  The optical mouse tracks either a dummy piece of vinyl or a slipmat.  That's something I need to look into.

Asus' Eee PC 900 has left me disillusioned, to say the least.  I've moaned and whined on here about it and I've done the same offline too.  I still get as many people commenting on the diminutive laptop lil'-laptop-that-could whenever I'm able to use it in public.  I say 'able' as the bloody thing lasts less than an hour on full charge!

Word-of-mouth marketing is all well and good, but it works both ways.  I paid for my Eee PC 900.  It's mine, not a review unit, nor a trial unit, nor a loaner.  I was replacing a lost Eee PC 701 and it seemed like a good choice.  I was happy with the original Eee, read the reviews for the 900 and decided to go for it.  Seemed like a no-brainer.  Now I feel like a no-brainer for buying it.  The only thing that delights me now is venting my spleen* to those people asking me questions about it.  I tell them to avoid the Eee PCs at all costs and that there are plenty of other mini laptops (or subnotebooks, or UMPCs, or whatever-you-want-to-call-them) on the market now, with many offering far better value for money and a battery that'll last longer than typing this post out.

How much goodwill have Asus lost from the likes of me?  How many people have been put off buying one after hearing about the problems?  Looking at how easy it is to now find an Eee in stock might be an indicator.  Or, perhaps, they're just churning out more?

Such a shame as I loved my 701 - it was probably my single most favourite gadget ever.  Sure it took work to get it to do what you wanted - but the battery, although still not that great, lasted at least the length of an average movie.

Oh crap, I didn't mean to type this much - I was really just going to summarise my thoughts and provide a link to Improbulus' post about it on her blog - A Consuming Experience.  The post is here.  If you were considering buying one, I recommend you go read that before stumping up the readies.

My battery devouring Eee PC 900

*interesting fact about me... I don't actually have a spleen, so what I'm venting I don't know!

You're on the train home, you have your laptop out and you feel the urge to post!

I'm on my Eee PC 900 (I'm no longer a happy bun-Eee but that's a whole other post!) and typing away with barely any battery left (see previous typing inside brackets!)

I'm using the Huawei E220 and my new mobile broadband contract.  It gives a new lease of life to my Eee (but don't get me started on the battery... see other brackets!)

I've also got my trial Nokia 6220 Classic with me and it's holding up well.  Shame I had no luck in syncing my calender with it... I tried my best but clearly my best wasn't enough!