First a confession (if it's not already obvious): I like the idea of mobile computing way to much to be objective in thinking about all these crazy mobile gadgets. The six (five?) of you reading the this are all probably saying "duh!" right now, but anyway...
A while back I mentioned that I was trying to use a Nokia N800 Internet Tablet as something of a laptop replacement. My laptop needs are modest, as I have a computer at work and at home, and the MacBook I had was overkill. In a fit of insanity, I gave the MacBook away, and switched to the Nokia. I'll write more about life with the Nokia later, but that lifestyle change just didn't work for me.
So next in the never ending line of geek-products is an Asus Eee PC. This time I think we have a winner. The Eee PC isn't perfect, but it's amazingly inexpensive and gets nearly all of the trade-offs right. The keyboard is as small as it can be while still being touch-type friendly. The screen is as small as it can be while still being readable and useful for web pages. The CPU is as low-power as it can be while still being capable enough for all general-purpose tasks. And so on -- you get the idea.
You can't put the computer in any reasonable pocket -- but honestly I wasn't carrying the N800 around with me either. When I want to have something more than a phone with me, the Eee is just the right size. At $350 (for the model I have -- some are even cheaper) the Eee PC is a great deal.
There are a few problems with this first-generation product. I would make the trackpad larger, and less sunk into the case. I also think the quality of the keyboard could be greatly improved without effecting size and weight. (As an aside, I don't understand how a computer maker can spend the time to make a great machine then cripple it with junk keyboards and trackpads. The Dell M1330 has this problem -- it's a great computer in almost every way, but with a squishy keyboard and a tiny, shitty trackpad. These are two of the the three components that people use 100% of the time when at the computer -- they should be as high quality as possible). (Grrr!).
Back to the Eee PC. The microphone quality and placement are also crappy, though the speakers are fine. Finally, the trackpad buttons are poorly designed -- they take too much force to click. Then of course there are a bunch of improvements that *would* increase the cost -- such as a larger screen or integrated Bluetooth. I would certainly pay more for those, but I understand keeping the costs down.
All things considered, the Eee PC is very well done, and I enjoy using it.
A while back I mentioned that I was trying to use a Nokia N800 Internet Tablet as something of a laptop replacement. My laptop needs are modest, as I have a computer at work and at home, and the MacBook I had was overkill. In a fit of insanity, I gave the MacBook away, and switched to the Nokia. I'll write more about life with the Nokia later, but that lifestyle change just didn't work for me.
So next in the never ending line of geek-products is an Asus Eee PC. This time I think we have a winner. The Eee PC isn't perfect, but it's amazingly inexpensive and gets nearly all of the trade-offs right. The keyboard is as small as it can be while still being touch-type friendly. The screen is as small as it can be while still being readable and useful for web pages. The CPU is as low-power as it can be while still being capable enough for all general-purpose tasks. And so on -- you get the idea.You can't put the computer in any reasonable pocket -- but honestly I wasn't carrying the N800 around with me either. When I want to have something more than a phone with me, the Eee is just the right size. At $350 (for the model I have -- some are even cheaper) the Eee PC is a great deal.
There are a few problems with this first-generation product. I would make the trackpad larger, and less sunk into the case. I also think the quality of the keyboard could be greatly improved without effecting size and weight. (As an aside, I don't understand how a computer maker can spend the time to make a great machine then cripple it with junk keyboards and trackpads. The Dell M1330 has this problem -- it's a great computer in almost every way, but with a squishy keyboard and a tiny, shitty trackpad. These are two of the the three components that people use 100% of the time when at the computer -- they should be as high quality as possible). (Grrr!).
Back to the Eee PC. The microphone quality and placement are also crappy, though the speakers are fine. Finally, the trackpad buttons are poorly designed -- they take too much force to click. Then of course there are a bunch of improvements that *would* increase the cost -- such as a larger screen or integrated Bluetooth. I would certainly pay more for those, but I understand keeping the costs down.
All things considered, the Eee PC is very well done, and I enjoy using it.
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