Mailing List os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com Archived Message #116

From:	"Ed Durrant" <os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com>	Full Headers Undecoded message
Subject:	Re: [OS2Wireless] Subnotebooks
Date:	Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:16:50 +1100
To:	OS/2 Wireless Users Mailing List <os2-wireless_users@2rosenthals.com>

Hakan wrote: Does anyone have experience with one of the new subnotebooks? I understand that eCS can be booted on the Asus EEE PC which looks interesting although I have yet to see it in real life. Yes, the EeePC can run eCS 2.0 RC4 - video fine, audio fine, but we don't have networking (WiFi or cabled) working yet - which is crucial !! The EeePC is a "cute" baby but if you are looking for a notebook, think long about this - the current model has a 7.1" 800 x 480 screen, which means you always have to scroll web pages etc. The new model that has just been released has the same A5 sized case but an 8.9" screen with a 1024 x 800 (?) resolution - this is a widescreen device. The keyboard is small and the internal Solidstate disk which quiet and relatively quick is only 4GB (however upgrades up to 12GB or even 16 GB will be available). The touchpad, in my opinion is a pain in the a*** - it's too jumpy. My first upgrade was a $11 wireless mouse followed by a 2GB RAM replacement (the base PC701 model only comes with 512MB, the new PC900 model comes with 1GB as standard) and then a class 6 (6Mb/s) SD memory card to go in the built in card reader. I boot eCS from this card so that I can keep the standard custom-Xandros build on the system as well. Sigurd (another of our small group working on this) has installed to the internal SSD. The problem is that as it comes there are 4 primary partitions on the SSD so you cant squeeze and add eCS and boot manager - its am all or nothing approach. As I said think hard if you are looking for a notebook - the ASUS EeePC (if you can get one, they sell as soon as they arrive in stores) fits a new category, somewhere between a good PDA and an average laptop - it's very light and great for use when travelling but if you want to use it as a main system - that's not its role - you can attach external keyboard, screen and mouse but that's not really its function. If you still want one, wait a month or so and get the PC900 rather than the PC701 - it's about US$100 more but the larger screen and more RAM warrants the extra cost, if you can stretch to get one with an 8GB or larger SSD then its worth doing - but realise you will then be paying more for the EeePC than for base full sized laptops from Dell and HP (who have been forced to discount because of the EeePC). That said other UMPCs can be US$2500 or more - so the ASUS EeePC is a bargain - IF it's the device you want. Cheers/2 Ed.

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