I took the plunge and purchased my first "ultra portable" laptop computer today. My Dell 1420 is my primary computer at home, pretty much leaving my desktop to the roll of backup machine and gaming machine. Still, the 1420 is about 6 lbs and does get a bit tiresome to haul around.
I like to have a computer with me when I am out and about. I keep a lot of information on my computers, and having access to it in a small package is important to me. I had very seriously considered purchasing an HTC Advantage. Very neat device that does a lot of things, but I just did not want to spend 800.00 or more for the device. I honestly didn’t think I would have much choice until I heard about the ASUS EEE PC. For $400.00 I could get a slightly less than 2lb, 7" screen laptop.
After much debate, review, consideration, reconsideration, I finally decided to grab one. My New Egg order is in and I should have the machine on Friday (possibly sooner). I am VERY excited. I purchased a 2GB DIMM to go with it, and plan to grab a small USB Bluetooth adapter (one of the really small micro sized ones). The machine ships with a version of Linux, which I plan to keep for at least a couple of days, but I will eventually put Windows XP on the machine. There are a few programs I REALLY like to use, and I am just more comfortable with Windows.
So what did I get for my $400.00? I get a black EEE PC 4g Surf. The machine comes with an 800mhz Intel processor, 512 GB of RAM, a 4GB SSD hard drive, a SD card slot, and a few USB slots. The EEE PC comes with wireless G and an wired Ethernet port. The screen is 7" and runs at 800×420 resolution. It is small, the resolution is a bit low, but it is a small lightweight. I am planning to make this a mobile Internet machine so large amounts of storage are not a requirement. I store my e-mail on g-mail, and the majority of my documents on either my 120GB Western Digital Passport portable drive (which already goes everywhere with me) or online either with Google or on Amazon’s S3.
I really think this is an amazing price point for what you get. The EEE PC seems to me to be a perfect gateway for me into the ultra portable world, and the computer will be a good one for Iain going forward.
So there it is, I am the proud owner of a new laptop…just awaiting delivery. I will post a review of the device once I have had a chance to play with it. I also grabbed a new Timbuk2 Metro bag to haul this think around in. I need another murse like I need another laptop, but I guess one goes with the other.
As with most other things I own, I am collecting links about the EEE PC on Ma.gnolia.