I’ve had some time to play with the eee pc. I’ll blog various bits about it as I have time, but here’s the bottom line: while far from perfect, this is the first 4P computer that (with a few caveats) seems really useful and usable for me. If you are looking for a 4P solution, I strongly suggest checking the eee out… just be sure to get the 4G version or higher. Not just because of the extra solid state drive space, but because the 2G is not expandable the way all the other models are!
Right out of the box the eee works flawlessly with open and secured wireless and has enough applications pre-installed to be productive. The simple desktop (more on that and the advanced options later) means that the fact that it is Linux-based is relatively unimportant. You can run XP on even the 2G, but for performance reasons I wouldn’t recommend it unless there is some application you have to have. For myself, the built-in apps were fine and on a device like this I spend most of my time using web apps in full-screen browser mode.
I’m a bit excited about this device in part because of my disappointment in others. A device that:
- I can type relatively quickly on
- boots up in 25 seconds
- runs all the web apps I commonly use (with a minimal amount of small-screen frustration)
- has adequate performance to actually use desktop applications
Goes a long way toward being the portable device I’ve been looking for… the one that I am confident in bringing in place of a laptop to couch, coffee shop, and airplane. I’m not completely sure that the eee will be enough to keep me from just moving to an ultralight laptop for some purposes, but it’s close.
More on these aspects later. For now, some notes on the form factor and design:
General Size
While considerably larger than large cell phone size devices like the Nokia tablets (which have the same screen resolution and which I would love to love, but just can’t yet):
the eee pc is still quite small:
It easily fits in my bag where a smallish hardback book would and weighs next to nothing.
Keyboard
I do a lot of typing for work, play, and art. Even when “passively” browsing I find that I am participating on sites in ways that demand more typing than I am happy or comfortable doing without some kind of real keyboard. The eee keyboard is quite good given it’s diminutive size. I can touch-type on it… if it were any smaller that would not be the case.
The biggest problem I have with the keyboard is the odd placement of the right-shift key. On a full size keyboard the right-shift key is on the far end of the row, but because there is room it is usually situated directly below the enter key:
On the eee it is just a bit too far to the right. The problem is that switching the shift key with the up-arrow key isn’t much better because then the shift-key is too far to the left. My baby bear fingers want it juuuust right. Also, the butterfly clips that hold the keys on are fitted very tightly… removing them runs the risk of breaking the pins, as I did (until I can get a new clip I have no down-arrow key) while switching the two keys to test whether it would be any better.
All that being said, I can type quite quickly, though I still have a hard time with that right shift, which is the only shift key I use…
Screen
The 7-inch eee screen is bright and readable, at 800×480 pixels. As you can see from the first picture, there is plenty of room in the chassis for an 8- or even a 9-inch screen (with judicious placement of the speakers)– and indeed, I saw just a few minutes ago that the eee 900, with an 8.9-inch 1024×600 screen has been released. However, the 7 is very functional with both web sites and applications as will see from these screenshots (you can click through to the full resolution images):
Touch Pad
The touch pad performs well with a single rocker-button for left/right click and a built-in vertical scrolling bar to the right. The touch pad setup has all the expected features, plus one incredibly useful setting I’d never seen called “circular scrolling.” Enabling circular scrolling allows you to scroll pages up and down by making clock- and counter-clock-wise circles on the touch pad as long as you start the circular motion from your chosen area(s).
USB Ports
The eee has three USB 2.0 ports, one on the left side of the unit, one on the right, and they are far enough from each other (and other ports and jacks) that they are all useful. I have only tested the ports with flash drives but they were recognized instantly. From what I have read, any device that has a Linux driver should work… which means pretty much everything but some Windows-specific devices.
Wired and Wireless Ethernet
As mentioned, the wireless has worked flawlessly on a number of different networks (802.11b and 802.11g), with and without logins, with and without WEP security. In only a few cases needing a manual refresh from the wireless menu to re-scan when moving into a new environment. The eee also has a standard 10/100 ethernet card and jack which also worked without any manual setup.
Other
I haven’t had a chance to really try out the headphone audio, audio recording or MMC/SD card slot yet. Audio through the built-in speakers is adequate for personal listening.