33 posts tagged “eee pc”

According to DigiTimes the latest Eee PC, the 901, will be coming out on the 3rd of June.  It'll be priced at $650 (£325) or below - but where?  I seriously doubt it'll be that price in the UK.  With the added features/benefits (including Atom processor and Bluetooth) I'd imagine a premium on the 900 (which retails at around £330 in the UK)

The DigiTimes article also mentions that the Linux version will have more software applications added to it.  Hopefully the likes of Miro and Google Earth as they are two of my favourites and really showcase how competent the previous Eees are.

Previously on Fresh Plastic... Anthony had an Eee PC 701, a USB digital TV receiver and posted an article showing the two working together.  Meanwhile the Eee PC decided to split, the USB dongle lay dorment and ultra tiny laptop TV seemed a long forgotten memory.

Well, those days are long gone and I now have an Eee PC 900 and she ain't going anywhere (fingers crossed).  She has a much bigger screen but housed in almost the same sized case (although she's a tad bit heavier, psst - don't tell her that!)  So I introduced her to the digital TV dongle and, after a lot of matchmaking, they got it together!

Getting them working together really was a hard task.  ASUS has made it even more difficult than before.  A lot of head scratching, a lot of Googling, a lot of reading and re-reading of the forum posts on eeeuser.com and a hell of a lot of trial and error.  Got there in the end though - check out the pics below...

No pictures at the moment, but I've got a really annoying dead pixel on my Eee PC 900.  Bright white and very noticeable.

Just a week earlier I chose a Toshiba satellite laptop for my parents and it too had a dead pixel, although that was right in the corner and far less noticeable - so we decided not to bother exchanging it.

So two laptops bought in just over a fortnight and both have dead pixels.  Don't the manufacturers check for these things?

Just back from a day in London.  Came back with a new bundle of joy and it was unplanned... the Eee PC 900!  £315 on Tottenham Court Road (it's the "electronics district").  There's loads available, by the way.

When asked whether I wanted the Linux or Windows XP version, I didn't hesitate - Linux!  Had to be Linux!

Why?  Well after a week with my parents new Vista laptop and nearly 5 years experience of my XP desktop, I wanted a laptop that didn't have constant security alerts, updates, patches and all that nonsense.   I didn't want hundreds of different ways to do the same thing.   I didn't want a whole bunch of crap preloaded.  I just wanted my old Eee PC experience back...

...Once it's charged up they'll be lots of work to be done as, although it may seem to go against what I've just said, I need to put it in "Advance Mode" and do a bunch of tweaking.  I'll also have to get my trial 3 Mobile Broadband dongle working which will probably mean a bit of Googling as Linux (in all it's flavours) isn't officially supported.

Another reason to go for the Linux version... way more storage built in for the same price.  Ironic really, as XP probably needs it more!

Looks like ASUS have been putting some of the money they've been making with their uber-successful Eee PC into their UK web presence.

Check out: EASY TO LEARN . EASY TO WORK . EASY TO PLAY . EASY TO WIN

Yes, that's right, easy-to-win!  But no more details other than a countdown timer.  The page title also includes "Easy to share" - they clearly haven't tried sending files from one Eee PC to another!  Click on the "about" and you're see that they're also bragging about it being easy to carry.

Hopefully I can win one as I'm jonesing for a laptop since my Eee left me...

Check out this earlier post, one that I made last night: HP as well. So they dont just make printers!  I joked about the reasons for why the folks at HP (and previous to that, Dell) were visiting my blog.  Maybe they're gonna launch a rival to the Eee I quipped.  Why did I come to that conclusion?  Simple, my blog rarely has any mention of anything "desktop" (or printer related!) but has a lot to do with the Eee or Nokia.

When I awoke this morning and checked Google News (in my best news announcer voice... More cheapskateians get their news from Google than from any other source*!) I was surprised to see a bundle of stories regarding HP's er, "Eee Killer", the Mini-Note.  I had no idea!  Really. I haven't been following any of the Eee's rivals that closely - other than the usual candidates (Classmate, OLPC, Elonex One etc.)  I've gotta whole bunch of news articles, press releases and blog posts to catch up with methinks!  It is kinda difficult now that I no longer have my Eee PC, so what d'ya say HP?  Fancy giving this blogger a unit to trial?  You know you'll get full warts and all from me but if the device is as good as what I've been reading so far today, then you have nothing to worry about!

Oh, and HP?  When I had my Eee PC and was using it in public I had a queue of people coming up to me and asking me about it.  All, and I mean ALL were impressed including one of the stewardesses, sorry, female flight attendants who already had a more fully featured, and expensive, Sony VAIO.  People of all ages, colours, geeks, non-geeks, they all wanted to know more.  I've never had so many complete strangers come up to me before in my life!  And you know what?  Most of them left me with the impression that they were gonna get themselves one ASAP (good luck, I told them!) and that was after me listing the negatives as well as the positives of the tiny wonder.  If the Mini-Note is really that much better I won't have much bad to say about it, will I?

For good measure I'll add that, not one person approached me regarding the Nokia N95 8GB I had.  I didn't even garner a sneaky glimpser!   And the Eee got way more attention than my sister's iPhone when we went brandishing that around town weeks before it was released in the UK.

Here's a round of the stories about the HP Mini-Note I've been reading today: IT Wire - 'Note to HP: The Mini-Note PC rocks!' / Reg Hardware - 'Asus avoids Atom to get next Eee PC out early?' / Reg Hardware - 'HP launches Linux-loaded Eee PC rival' / Mobile Computer - 'HP guns for the Eee PC with the ultra-stylish Mini-Note 2133' / AP - 'HP Unveils Small Laptop for Schoolkids' / InfoSync World - 'Hands-on with the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC' (as you can probably tell I'm really excited about the news and, maybe, when my insurance comes through I'll be going for the Mini-Note instead of a replacement Eee PC.

*I know it's an aggregator and not a source and yes, only Americans will get that reference but they do make up the majority of my readership!)

Tried to make a Skype videocall on Monday using the N800.  Most of you with an N800 will probably know how I fared!  It doesn't do Skype Video!  Argh!  that's no good.  One of the greatest things with the Eee PC was the videocalling.  It was simply, it worked, it worked well!

I should be receiving an N800 this week from the good people at WOM World.  I know, I should've asked about the N810!  Still, I like to see what affordable tech is out there and the N800 currently fits that bill as it's available at a penny under £150 (roughly $300) so it should be interesting finding out what that kinda money buys.

Will it help me cope without my Eee PC?  And for those that know anything about Nokia's tablets, what do I need to know to get the most out of one?