Eee PC

Hi Scheherazade!

I have the EEE, and it's handy for many things, but not for writing. The built-in keyboard is too small, half the time you hit two keys at once (and I have slender fingers, believe me). You can hook up an external keyboard via USB, of course. But there's still the problem of the tiny screen, and if you're going to use an external monitor, you might as well get an ordinary-size laptop.

But that's just my experience.

Good luck,

Rye-Ting

This topic has come up before in the Tech Help forum.

I'll repeat what I've said there before, again.

I don't own an EeePC, but I've used one before. My mother has one, and it's perfect for her. EeePC's are small enough to fit in a purse or handbag, so that makes them pretty handy for writing on-the-go or just carrying anywhere you might need. They're hard drives are pretty small (about the size of an iPod Nano), though, so I don't consider them to be too good for anything much other than writing, browsing the internet, emailing, other light use, etc. They're pretty cheap, though, so that makes them pretty worthwhile. My biggest caution, however, would be the small size comes with a small keyboard. I'm sure after getting used to it, it's easier, but I had trouble typing on it. I think my hands would cramp up before I would even be able to finish a chapter. I can't imagine going a whole, long working session on one, really. Great for on-the-road writing, but I'd be hesitant to work on it for much longer periods of time. Good for a short scene or an article on-the-go, though.

As far as other subnotebooks, ultraportables, etc.? Like the MacBook Air or the Lenovo X series? Once you get into these, you're talking about spending a lot more money. These will be a bit bigger than an EeePC (usually about 11-13" screens and heavier) but they will also be a lot more powerful. Still much less computing power than an ordinary laptop, but you'll be able to do more than with an EeePC. Before thinking about one of these, definitely consider how much you'd use it on-the-road, what kind of computing power you'll need, how small/lightweight/thin you'd like your notebook, and whether it will be a primary computer for you, or just an accessory to another home computer. They're lightweight and expensive, and generally aimed at traveling businessmen. While you can get an EeePC for a few hundred dollars, it can't really replace a good primary computer, but if you want a lightweight ultraportable, expect to spend anywhere $2000-3000+ (though you can find some cheaper), but some can survive on one as a primary machine.

My husband used a pocket PC to take notes with in grad school. He had a wireless (tiny) keyboard with it, and it worked great on the miserable excuse of a desk they had at his university. I started to get writer's block on my desktop machine, and wanted to move to work on the couch instead. I tried the pocket PC, but it ultimately ended up being too small for my needs. The keyboard would work for typing for about an hour or so, but then my hands would start to cramp. Only being able to see about 10 lines of text on the screen at a time annoyed me as well.

I ended up buying an inexpensive laptop, and I love it. The biggest thing for me is the keyboard. I'm *so* picky. I seriously picked which laptop I was going to buy by going to each of the laptops in Best Buy and typing in notepad for a few minutes. I had the same paragraph of text that I typed in each. Some keyboards were just wrong for my fingers, and I was misspelling (rather, mis-hitting keys) seven out of ten words. So I'd definitely recommend that you test typing on the subnotebook before buying one.

For awhile I used my Palm 500, connected to a separate keyboard. Screen was just too small.

I've used the ASUS eee, and test driven the HP Mini and the Fujitsu mini tablet recently.

I'm thinking I'll go either with the ASUS or the HP Mini, with a USB roll up full size keyboard, as my writing package. Hard drive is big enough for that, battery life is 6-8 hours, and the price is around $500 (Linux OS) or around $7-800 for the Windows OS. I'll go Linux because the battery life is longer, and the price is cheaper.

I've had an eee since they came out last November, and I love mine. I use it pretty much every day for writing. I don't have a problem with the keyboard's size, although I know people who do and they bought those fold-up portable keyboards to go with theirs.

I can't recommend the eee enough. Get the Linux-based one if you get one.

Definitely go with the Linux OS. At the specs these little machines clock in at, Linux will fly compared to any Windows system.

Linux will fly compared to any Windows system.

Click to expand...

Yes, it does. Also, going Windows Vista required going with the hard drive, as opposed to solid state. Serious power and battery life sucker, and an added potential point of failure.

A friend of mine, who's also a writer, has one. He loves it, and does all of his writing on it.

You can't beat the price.

Mine is brilliant as an all-around lightweight internet and writing machine. However for long periods of writing on a portable machine I prefer to use my Alphasmart Neo, which has a fullsize keyboard (but you can't do anything but write on it!).

'small is beautiful'-the developing net-book & net-top market

Encountered this article today (24-7-08) on the developing net-book & net-top market, the same that gave us the $300 Asus Eee PC.

Fad or trend?? You decide...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/te...l?ref=business

Smaller PCs Cause Worry for Industry

SAN FRANCISCO — The personal computer industry is poised to sell tens of millions of small, energy-efficient Internet-centric devices. Curiously, some of the biggest companies in the business consider this bad news.

In a tale of sales success breeding resentment, computer companies are wary of the new breed of computers because their low price could threaten PC makers’ already thin profit margins.

The new computers, often called netbooks, have scant onboard memory. They use energy-sipping computer chips. They are intended largely for surfing Web sites and checking e-mail. The price is small too, with some selling for as little as $300.

The companies that pioneered the category were small too, like Asus and Everex, both of Taiwan.

Despite their wariness of these slim machines, Dell and Acer, two of the biggest PC manufacturers, are not about to let the upstarts have this market to themselves. Hewlett-Packard, the world’s biggest PC maker, recently sidled into the market with a hybrid of a notebook and netbook that it calls the Mini-Note.

Several makers are taking the low-powered PCs one step further. In the coming months, they are expected to introduce “net-tops,” low-cost versions of desktop computers intended for Internet access.

A Silicon Valley start-up called CherryPal says it will challenge the idea that big onboard power is required to allow basic computing functions in the Internet age. On Monday it plans to introduce a $300 desktop PC that is the size of a paperback and uses two watts of power compared with the 100 watts of some desktops.

It wants to take advantage of the trend toward “cloud computing,” in which data is managed and stored in distant servers, not on the actual machine.

Industry analysts say that the emergence of this new class of low-cost, cloud-centric machines could threaten titans like Microsoft and Intel, or even H.P. and Dell, because the giants have built their companies on the notion that consumers want more power and functions built into their next computer.

Some of the big computer companies put a positive spin on the low-cost machines, saying they welcome new categories. But they would just as soon this niche did not take off, given the relatively low profit margins.
“When I talk to PC vendors, the No. 1 question I get is, how do I compete with these netbooks when what we really want to do is sell PCs that cost a lot more money?” said J. P. Gownder, an analyst with Forrester Research.

Even as some PC vendors are jumping into the fray, others say they are resisting. Fujitsu, one of the world’s top 10 personal computer makers, said that it believes the low-cost netbook trend is a dangerous one for the bottom line.

“We’re sitting on the sidelines not because we’re lazy. We’re sitting on the sidelines because even if this category takes off, and we get our piece of the pie, it doesn’t add up,” said Paul Moore, senior director of mobile product management for Fujitsu. “It’s a product that essentially has no margin.”

Stan Glasgow, chief executive of Sony Electronics, said, “We are not looking at competing with Asus.” But he said the company is investigating what consumers want in a second PC.

It is a market that caught the major computer companies — both hardware and software — by surprise after Asus, entered the market last year with the $300 Eee PC. The company thought the device would essentially appeal to the education market, or as a starter laptop for adolescents, but the interest has turned out to be broader.

With an emphasis not in on-board applications (like word processing), but Internet-based ones like Google Docs, the Linux-based Eee PC sold out its 350,000 global inventory. It has been in short supply ever since, said Jackie Hsu, president of the American division of Asus. Everex has sold around 20,000 of its CloudBook, which sells for about $350.

The sales are a veritable drop in the bucket compared with the 271 million desktop and laptop PCs shipped globally last year. But there is an intensifying debate about how big the category can become, and what segment of the market finds these computers appealing. ..
[cont'd at link below]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/te...l?ref=business