[The_X]

The Eee PC is out, and the overwhelming feeling I get is this: Palm got ripped off hardcore by Asus.

When announced, Asus' price was $199 and everyone went wild because Palm wanted $500 for its Foleo. For the current price of $399 for the Eee, I think it looks like absolute garbage compared to the Palm. The Palm had a 10" screen, 5 hour real world battery life and a MUCH classier and more business-oriented design (you couldn't use an Eee in a professional environment). Palms generally have very usable and efficient applications as opposed to typically bloated and clumsy open-source software. Sure, you can run Windows on the Eee, but why would you want to with a 840x480 screen??? Dialog boxes and other OS functions would run off the screen all the time. A specialized OS with specialized applications is a far better choice.

I would have gladly shelled out $500 for the Foleo as opposed to the cheap-looking and compromised Asus with miniscule screen. Look at that horrendous black screen bezel! The Foleo could have been a great replacement for my aging 12" Powerbook which is my current class/study laptop. Asus seriously pulled a fast one on all of us, promising the world and not delivering anything revolutionary. The hype surrounding the Eee was, I think, a major reason behind Palm cancelling the Foleo because there's no way they could compete with $199.

I'm pissed. I want either Palm or some other company (Apple!?) to create a spiritual successor of the Foleo. Looks like the closest we can come right now is the Nokia N810 but thumb keyboards are impractical, only 4 hours battery life and a tiny screen.

 

[Aevum]

the thing is that ALOT of people think becuase a machine runs linux, it can do everything, the thing is that there are 2 classes of linux devices, theres the linux installed free roam install and run what you want devices, and then theres the shoe horn closed linux devices, which only hardcore coders know how to manipulate,

you have cellphones, PMP´s PDA´s all running linux, but that linux is specificy customized by the manufacturer for that machine, and keeps some of the binary drivers and units which were not open source to begin with closed off, so the manufacturer gets the kudos of using linux, but on the other hand keeps control over the software becuase its such a specialized version of linux, its hard to fiddle with it or run your own apps on it,

the foleo might have hada linux kernel under the hood, but it seemed alot like a closed palm plataforms, most reviewers were not impressed with it, the asus PC runs a more open linux, which you can replace if you want, or you can plug in a USB harddrive and install a copy of windows if you wish, becuase both the hardware and software plataform is open to manipulation, the foleo did NOT have that,

 

[Basil101]

There are several notebooks similar to the Foleo, the eeePC is one but the OLPC XO laptop ($399 inc a donation), Raon Everun and Via Nanobook are often ignored.
The nanobook is a great alternative to the Foleo/eeePC, lighter, smaller, 30gig HDD, 1.2GHz Via C7M, 1GB RAM and can run Vista or XP.
http://www.ultramobilelife.com/index...sk=view&id=342

 

[Trippytiger]

Yeah, I'm not thrilled about how the Eee PC turned out either. I was really looking forwards to it, but it's only worth about $200 to me, not $400.

Right now I'm just holding out hope that the lower-specced models will perform adequately and be priced a little more reasonably, because I sure would like to have such a tiny notebook. I just want to pay a tiny price, too!

 

[Aevum]

there is a 200 dollar version, it comes with 2gb of flash memory 256mb of ram,

the idea was a bare minimum office and web oriented laptop, and thats archived, it dosnt substitie a larger laptop with more horse power,

this isnt suppose to repalce your 2.0ghz core 2 duo laptop with a integrated Nforce 8600M and 2gb of ram,

this is supposed to give a laptop to poor students, emerging business, its just designed to let you surf the web, make simple documents and chat with your friends, and for 200-400 dollars, thats good enough,

i do admit that at $400, you can get a 2nd hand celeron, or some very simplistic laptop, but this is designed to be literaly a low maintenace, low moving parts, simple and easy to use, the only thing missing is WMP and Itunes integration, so kids could use their DAP or PMP as a harddrive for the computer,

 

[Wodgy]

I played around with an Eee PC for a few minutes on Friday night. It's small! I don't think the website adequately conveys how small it is. I don't think it's usable in a classroom environment for notetaking. The keyboard is just too small.

I agree with others, it would have been very compelling at $200, but at $400 it's sort of in a nowhere zone, since I'm skeptical it would be a great machine for anyone but young students due to the small size. Most students looking for an ultra-budget machine would probably be better served with something like a used ThinkPad X series off eBay.

 

[Aevum]

the keyboard requires some practice, and getting use to,

 

[Megalomaniac]

I'm running Windows XP on mine and I have 2gb of ram, it's a really great machine.

 

[Aevum]

on your EeePC ? you upgraded the sodimm and plugged in a hard drive i suppose, right ?

 

[450]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Megalomaniac /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm running Windows XP on mine and I have 2gb of ram, it's a really great machine.

Got any pics?

 

[trains are bad]

Any other ideas on sub 1000 very small, long battery and durable (but still typeable) notebooks for simply web browsing and office applications?

I just had an Acer 8104 stolen.

 

[Trippytiger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aevum /img/forum/go_quote.gif there is a 200 dollar version, it comes with 2gb of flash memory 256mb of ram,

That last I heard is that the low-end model was to be priced at $260 for retail. More than I was looking forward to paying, especially for a less powerful machine.

But, I guess we'll see what happens come the end of November. I might just break down and buy one. It would be nice to be able to take something so small on vacation instead of my ThinkPad.

 

[450]

When is it 10" version getting here? If that was $600 I'd want it as a second notebook. Higher rez like 1280 x 800 would be nice. Even 1024 x 600 or something. 848 x 480 is crazy small nowadays.

 

[Aevum]

sorry, mistake by my part, 200 euro, not $200

 

[Trippytiger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 450 /img/forum/go_quote.gif When is it 10" version getting here? If that was $600 I'd want it as a second notebook. Higher rez like 1280 x 800 would be nice. Even 1024 x 600 or something. 848 x 480 is crazy small nowadays.

I think the 10" version is supposed to be coming with the second revision of the Eee, which, from what I have read, should be happening in early 2008. And given that timeline predictions like that are almost never met, I wouldn't expect it to be out before next summer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aevum /img/forum/go_quote.gif sorry, mistake by my part, 200 euro, not $200

Ah, gotcha. That sounds about right.