View Full Version : Asus EEE reviewed by C|Net
C|Net UK has just done a mini-review of the Linux-based EEE. It's priced significantly lower than the upcoming N810, and comes with a solid-state drive. No Bluetooth, though, and much lower screen DPI:
C|Net review (http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39030093,49293507,00.htm)
Looks quite interesting. If I had to choose, I'd probably take this over the N800 (sacrificing built-in Bluetooth in favour of a USB dongle), but buy the N810 on account of built-in GPS and Bluetooth.
Milhouse
2007-10-25, 17:54
8.6/10 for the EEE - better than the 7.0/10 they gave the N800 back in February (http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/handhelds/0,39030065,49287413,00.htm). I hope they review N810 for comparison, and that it fairs better than 7.0/10 as the firmware should now be more stable and refined, also bonus points for the GPS, keyboard and improved hardware design (subjective - I think it looks better than the N800, but still not jaw dropping).
maxinflixion
2007-10-25, 18:11
I had one of these on pre-order but cancelled it when the n800 price drop hit. I kind of figured that when I needed a laptop, I'd use my ACTUAL LAPTOP (even though my laptop weighs 8 lbs., I can handle it).
The portability and handholdability of the n800 had me won over (at a lower price point too).
Now, if I was someone who did not own a laptop, this EEE would be very intriguing and could possibly win my $$$.
I had one of these on pre-order but cancelled it when the n800 price drop hit. I kind of figured that when I needed a laptop, I'd use my ACTUAL LAPTOP (even though my laptop weighs 8 lbs., I can handle it).
The portability and handholdability of the n800 had me won over (at a lower price point too).
Now, if I was someone who did not own a laptop, this EEE would be very intriguing and could possibly win my $$$.
I'd like to have a play with an Eee to see how it feels. On paper it looks like they've done a great job. That thing has more USB ports than my MacBook! AND it includes a VGA out ... unlike my MacBook.
At the end of the day, however, I've got to say I like how my 770 and bluetooth keyboard fit in my jeans pocket, and are almost negligible weight. I can work while out and about without carrying a backpack. Not a mobile phone but an entire computer in my pocket. Kinda reminds me of the old days of computing when Texas Instruments produced pocketable BASIC computers.
This is such a small point that it's easy to underestimate it, but it's a big selling point for me.
Maybe this product is why Palm bailed on the Folio...
Either way, I'm increasingly impressed by Asus. I use their motherboards almost exclusively when building my PCs at home (3 at the moment with ASUS MBs). I'm sure they brought the same quality and attention to detail to these mini laptops.
Milhouse
2007-10-25, 19:52
For just over £200 it's definately worth a punt...
The triple-E's three USB2 ports are also a big selling point for me - in addition to being able to easily add the lacking bluetooth and GPS hardware, you can plug in a pocket HDD with hundreds of GB! Not to mention, the EEE also has a builtin SD slot, so it can use every card that the 770 and N800 can, which the N810 cannot.
revwillie
2007-10-25, 21:04
Well, I'm wondering if it's an sdhc compliant card slot because the first accessory I'd want would be an 8 or 16GB SDHC card.
Me too! I think that most SD slots actually are, as long as the OS has support for it.
Milhouse
2007-10-26, 09:55
As long as it's running a fairly recent Linux kernel it should have full SDHC support.
As long as it's running a fairly recent Linux kernel it should have full SDHC support.
Unless it is connected via USB internally which means it has its own firmware (like any other external usb card reader).
Which is indeed this case
http://unicap-imaging.org/unicap_eeepc.htm lspci and lsusb output
http://www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/info-controller.html
ENE Technology, Inc. [VID 0CF2]
UB6225 [PID 6225] - USB 2.0 SD Card Reader Controller
So let's hope its firmware is capable of reading SDHC.
So let's hope its firmware is capable of reading SDHC.
and the anwer is yes, nothing here
http://www.ene.com.tw/english/productlist.asp?product_level2_id=27
but something here http://www.twinmos.com/flash/download/compatibility/compatibility_sdhc_oct06.pdf
Maybe this product is why Palm bailed on the Folio...
Either way, I'm increasingly impressed by Asus. I use their motherboards almost exclusively when building my PCs at home (3 at the moment with ASUS MBs). I'm sure they brought the same quality and attention to detail to these mini laptops.
I bought my father one of their Celeron-based laptops last year and it was extremely poor quality. The main issues were performance, which was abysmal despite a relatively good spec, and fan noise -- it was as loud as a desktop PC.
Milhouse
2007-10-26, 10:31
Which is indeed this case
http://unicap-imaging.org/unicap_eeepc.htm lspci and lsusb output
http://www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/info-controller.html
ENE Technology, Inc. [VID 0CF2]
UB6225 [PID 6225] - USB 2.0 SD Card Reader Controller
So let's hope its firmware is capable of reading SDHC.
I guess that's a fairly cheap (and nasty?) solution... one would have thought that most card readers would be getting on the SDHC bandwagon by now - I've had a SanDisk mini SDHC card reader for almost 9 months! :)
It would have been very silly of Asus to have released this without SDHC support, or at least the ability to update it in future - good to see that it appears to be SDHC compatible out of the box! :)
It has been verified that it does. There are even speed comparisons available between Class 2 and Class 6 4GB and 8GB cards.
As long as it's running a fairly recent Linux kernel it should have full SDHC support.
...especially now that folks here helped solve certain problems... ;)
I had one of these on pre-order but cancelled it when the n800 price drop hit. .
Funny, I had just about persuaded myself to buy an n800 now that the price has dropped, but I think I will stick with my 770 and look out for an EEE.
The 770 makes a great ebook reader, but I am less happy with its performance on other applications.
The EEE's clamshell format makes will make it less usable as an ebook reader, but the other apps look good. The notion that you can plug in a real monitor, keyboard and mouse when you want is very attractive.
If (when?) they had made this into a tablet format then I think that Nokia would be in big trouble.
The Eee is tiny. I didn't realise how small it was until I saw the pictures at this site: http://www.eeeuser.com/
Grab a standard DVD movie case. The Eee is just a little bit bigger than that when closed. It really is very small. It's not just a small notebook. It's in a new category of its own. Too large for the pocket (unless you wear cargo pants) but it'll just slip into any bag. Even a handbag, if you're a lady.
My concerns relate to that screen. It's 800x480, the same as the N tablets, but it's physically larger and I'm not sure any attempt has been made in the apps to cater for the small screen. In other words, you'll still see toolbars hogging the screen.
That said, it's effectively just another x86 hardware device, so you can do what you damn well please with it when it comes to software. If I bought one, I'd be keeping a close eye on the Ubuntu Mobile project.
This is one area where it wins over the more esoteric hardware of the N tablets.
My concerns relate to that screen. It's 800x480, the same as the N tablets, but it's physically larger and I'm not sure any attempt has been made in the apps to cater for the small screen. In other words, you'll still see toolbars hogging the screen.
True, but I find that most of the time I use 150% magnification on my 770 and I suspect that with a physically bigger screen this might not be necessary.
If you go through the achingly slow Flash demo at:
http://eeepc.asus.com/en/guide.htm
and choose 'work' then you will see EE using openoffice complete with toolbars. On my monitor it shows in an approx. 7" diagonal window. I think I can live with that on the road - especially as I can plug in a bigger monitor at home.
Here is another detailed review:
http://www.laptopmag.com/Review/Exclusive-First-Review-Asus-Eee-PC-701.htm
True, but I find that most of the time I use 150% magnification on my 770 and I suspect that with a physically bigger screen this might not be necessary.
If you go through the achingly slow Flash demo at:
http://eeepc.asus.com/en/guide.htm
and choose 'work' then you will see EE using openoffice complete with toolbars. On my monitor it shows in an approx. 7" diagonal window. I think I can live with that on the road - especially as I can plug in a bigger monitor at home.
Here is another detailed review:
http://www.laptopmag.com/Review/Exclusive-First-Review-Asus-Eee-PC-701.htm
Yes, that's a pretty awful Flash demo. I particularly enjoyed the messily looped guitar music :rolleyes:
But it was interesting because I realised the Eee is a Linux computer. It's Linux as we know it on the desktop, complete with imperfections and annoyances.
In contrast, Linux on the N tablets is a new operating system (just like OS X is effectively BSD, but is its own operating system). If I hadn't been told that the N tablets run Linux, I wouldn't be aware. OS2006/7/8 has been tailored for mobile Internet use and the general user, whereas this can't be said of the Eee.
So the N series wins on this score, if nothing else.
But it was interesting because I realised the Eee is a Linux computer. It's Linux as we know it on the desktop, complete with imperfections and annoyances.
In contrast, Linux on the N tablets is a new operating system (just like OS X is effectively BSD, but is its own operating system). If I hadn't been told that the N tablets run Linux, I wouldn't be aware. OS2006/7/8 has been tailored for mobile Internet use and the general user, whereas this can't be said of the Eee.
So the N series wins on this score, if nothing else.
Hmmm... not sure I am with you on this one. Being a new OS means that existing apps have to be ported. And I could argue that Nokia have two incompatible family of OS's OS2005/6 and OS2007/8.
Anyway, I guess you won't want Ubuntu on an EEE either:
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10006278o-2000331777b,00.htm
Hmmm... not sure I am with you on this one. Being a new OS means that existing apps have to be ported. And I could argue that Nokia have two incompatible family of OS's OS2005/6 and OS2007/8.
Anyway, I guess you won't want Ubuntu on an EEE either:
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10006278o-2000331777b,00.htm
My point is that some people are scared of Linux. Nokia managed to produce a non-Linux version of Linux. With OS2008, it sounds like they've moved even further away from traditional Linux desktops.
I still find it surprising and not entirely accurate when I read that the N tablets run a "distro of Linux". Technically this is true, but it's not practically true. I guess we're back to the age-old debate about whether the operating system should be called Linux, or just the kernel. I've always believed the latter is the case but went with the former simply because everybody else did :o
Incidentally, look how small the Eee is in Rupert Goodwins' hands. He's a big fella (I used to work with him) but that's definitely a small computer.
Karel Jansens
2007-10-26, 17:01
My point is that some people are scared of Linux. Nokia managed to produce a non-Linux version of Linux. With OS2008, it sounds like they've moved even further away from traditional Linux desktops.
I still find it surprising and not entirely accurate when I read that the N tablets run a "distro of Linux". Technically this is true, but it's not practically true.
The ITs run almost vanilla Debian, with Nokia's own window manager on top. I don't see how more "practical" you wanna get.
My point is that some people are scared of Linux. Nokia managed to produce a non-Linux version of Linux. With OS2008, it sounds like they've moved even further away from traditional Linux desktops.
I suspect that many folks who bought a 770 or n800 bought it partly because it was a Linux tablet. I don't think Nokia has yet figured out a way to sell these tablets as, well simple IT tablets for consumer use.
I am curious about what they are going to do about the n810. Right now in-car GPS units are selling like crazy for about the same money as the n810. I am sure the price will come down, but they look like this year's Christmas present for Dads. A friend just bought a Garmin unit and is very happy with it. I showed him my 770 which he liked but would not buy just as an Internet Tablet - even for $150.00. I asked him that if it was sold primarily as a GPS unit that could also double as an IT , read email, play movies, etc... Would he have bought it for $400-500? Yes, in a heartbeat. Then he looked sad when he realized that he had already bought a GPS unit. Then he asked if the n810 could make phone calls ...
Anyway, back to the EEE. All of the screen shots that I have seen show about 1" of black frame around the actual display. I wonder why?
I think that ASUS could fit a much larger display into the same form factor. I read somewhere that a version 2 will be out next year that will be based on a Merom chip. A bigger display would be real nice too. Put a swiveling tablet display on it with a touchscreen, and... No never mind.
Anyway, back to the EEE. All of the screen shots that I have seen show about 1" of black frame around the actual display. I wonder why?
I think that ASUS could fit a much larger display into the same form factor.
Man, I gotta stop playing on this innertube thingy.
Anyway, there are some nice videos here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=182147
Which show, among many things:
There is space for a bigger screen in the form factor - maybe 9"?
You can hook up a 1280 x 1024 external monitor.
It plays Youtube with no problem.
It has built-in simple voice recog. and response.
You can plug in an iPod and have it recognized by the EEE and play iPod playlists on the EEE.
Karel Jansens
2007-10-26, 19:29
Anyway, back to the EEE. All of the screen shots that I have seen show about 1" of black frame around the actual display. I wonder why?
1. Because the screen is 7.1", but the case is bigger.
2. The speakers are left and right of the screen.
1. Because the screen is 7.1", but the case is bigger.
2. The speakers are left and right of the screen.
You can also buy a model with a higher resolution display that is larger and fills-out more of the bezel. Something like 1280x800 resolution, IIRC. It's only the base model that comes with the mini screen.
Karel Jansens
2007-10-27, 18:07
You can also buy a model with a higher resolution display that is larger and fills-out more of the bezel. Something like 1280x800 resolution, IIRC. It's only the base model that comes with the mini screen.
No, you can't. Asus claims it might bring out such a model, but given how many times they changed the specs on the original Eee, I wouldn't hold my breath.
maxinflixion
2007-10-27, 19:26
Incidentally, look how small the Eee is in Rupert Goodwins' hands. He's a big fella (I used to work with him) but that's definitely a small computer.
It's so tiny!
That picture also shows how impractical it can be running a full OS on such a small screen.
The Tablet OS is made for a small screen. I know the OS Asus is shipping with is NOT Ubuntu. Is their OS more tailored for the small screen?
I always hated going back to an older laptop w/ lower resolution (I used to buy "broken" lappys and fix them up for re-sale w/ Linux installed) even for a day or two. Makes me feel like some part of me is out of proportion and uncomfortable.
It's so tiny!
That picture also shows how impractical it can be running a full OS on such a small screen.
The Tablet OS is made for a small screen. I know the OS Asus is shipping with is NOT Ubuntu. Is their OS more tailored for the small screen?
I always hated going back to an older laptop w/ lower resolution (I used to buy "broken" lappys and fix them up for re-sale w/ Linux installed) even for a day or two. Makes me feel like some part of me is out of proportion and uncomfortable.
The Asus OS is Xandros with a new desktop manager/launcher. If you look at screenshots and videos, everything is effectively KDE (which is what Xandros is based on).
Xandros claim that their remix of KDE is indistinguishable from Windows XP. In fact, their CEO once claimed some clients swapped Xandros for Windows and the users were totally unaware. :rolleyes:
You can also buy a model with a higher resolution display that is larger and fills-out more of the bezel. Something like 1280x800 resolution, IIRC. It's only the base model that comes with the mini screen.
I think that this would be the EEE 1001 which had a 10" display in a slightly larger case. Apparently ASUS withdrew this model as it would eat into their lappy sales.
Whatever, the next couple of years in this market are going to be interesting.
It's so tiny!
That picture also shows how impractical it can be running a full OS on such a small screen.
The Tablet OS is made for a small screen.
Impractical in what way?
Apart from having a menu bar instead of a drop-down and skinny scroll bars why is Hildon such an improvement?
What it does mean is that the source for every application running under Hildon has to be modified. The result is that we have relatively few FOSS apps available for the n8xx. At least on the EEE you can run Open Office even if you lose some real-estate to a menu bar and big scroll-bars. Users will not have to offer a bounty to get an office suite on the EEE.
I don't understand why these things (the menu bar and scroll bars) cannot be 'auto-Hildonised' by the window manager without having to modify the source of the underlying applications. I think that Hildon should be a theme, not a new completely new UI.
Impractical in what way?
I think that Hildon should be a theme, not a new completely new UI.
That's because you don't understand what goes into ITOS to make it run quickly and conserve battery life on the small hardware of the tablets.
barry99705
2007-10-28, 05:44
That's because you don't understand what goes into ITOS to make it run quickly and conserve battery life on the small hardware of the tablets.
They make a ITOS that runs quickly??
That's because you don't understand what goes into ITOS to make it run quickly and conserve battery life on the small hardware of the tablets.
I do. And I still think the additional overhead of Nokia maintaining a Gtk+ fork to auto-Hildonise menus etc. is a better investment in the platform than many more developers maintaining forked versions of their software. 1 < n.
Yes, thought needs to be given at the high-resolution, small-size screen that we've got; but things like the menu positioning and window border would be much better implemented in Hildon, rather than exposed as Hildon-specific Gtk+ widgets.
The patches could even be submitted upstream: Gtk+ could allow for a MenuFactory for a window(s) which would control how the menubar appears; by default, it'd put it in the window. Hildon's plugin would put it hidden off the top of the screen. The Mac OS X-style hacks would put it on the top of the screen. A RISC OS-style plugin would put it on a popup based off a window click.
Applications would still require a recompile, battery-level optimisations and UxD, but the barrier to entry to getting an integrated application would be that much lower.
Cheers,
Andrew
I do. And I still think the additional overhead of Nokia maintaining a Gtk+ fork to auto-Hildonise menus etc. is a better investment in the platform than many more developers maintaining forked versions of their software. 1 < n.
<stuff deleted...>
Applications would still require a recompile, battery-level optimisations and UxD, but the barrier to entry to getting an integrated application would be that much lower.
Thanks for confirming this.
What kind of battery-level optimizations do Hildon app.s typically make?
Make sure you stop updating the screen when you're not in the foreground, or the screen is dimmed
Save state when receiving "shutdown due to power loss" DBUS messages.
Don't send packets to the network when idle, as this keeps the radios on/prevents the timeouts kicking in.
...
Much more listed in the developers' documentation at maemo.org.
Just as important to the end-user is rethinking interfaces to fit on such a small screen with high pixel density; an emphasis on finger control rather than stylus, for example.
If this mini eee pc had a citrix client, it would be great for an overnight (or maybe more) business trip.
I continue to think that Nokia should be paying Citrix to make a client for the n8*0 tablet.
I don't understand why these things (the menu bar and scroll bars) cannot be 'auto-Hildonised' by the window manager without having to modify the source of the underlying applications. I think that Hildon should be a theme, not a new completely new UI.
And I don't see why a small tablet should be burdened with a desktop OS. In fact, I'm with those thinking Hildon should go even farther toward being unique.
And I don't see why a small tablet should be burdened with a desktop OS. In fact, I'm with those thinking Hildon should go even farther toward being unique.
What would be gained by that? Presumably you mean getting away from GTK+.. (or if not, then I didn't understand what you meant.. which is a fair possibility). I don't see why replacing GTK+ with something else would gain us much. It looks like qt-embedded may require less memory (but I'm only guessing, based on the fact that my old Zaurus have only 32MB RAM available). Replacing GTK+ with some type of embedded UI library would simply mean that less applications would become available. I'm currently working on a sat tracking program, for example, and I wouldn't do that if I couldn't do the main development on a standard Linux box. And I target it at OS2008, because the hildon/gtk+ APIs/libs have been more merged.
In fact the poster 'dont' had a good point: Even if it's true that Hildon can't be just a theme, it could presumably have been done on the library level instead of at the API level: The GTK+ runtime library could have been a Hildonized version, where the standard GTK+ window would be what is today (or rather for OS2008) a Hildon.Window function. And so on (at some point this wouldn't necessarily be able to continue because of missing one-to-one matches. That could be fixed too.)
I have a 770, and have been considering to go for the 800...
But i guess i'm switching.I think the price nokia is selling the 810 is too high for what it is.The good points for the 810 are the form factor, gps and bluetooth...But also has many bad points.
In fact, those good points makes the n7xx/n8xx functionality be reduced to PMP's with GPS, as it has only the benefits of those kind of devices.And that kind of functionality is more or less present on the 770.
Anyway, i think it's a really baaad move from nokia increasing the price on the 810.
About Hildon and so...really, in two years (being VERY pessimistic), we'll be running full-blown linuxes on this kind of devices (the eeePc is just one)...And all the developers have learned about Hildon will be of little or no use, after having suffered a few API changes and all.
Really, making those battery-life-benefits and screen-state benefits transparent to the developer, (in fact , the whole framework) will make the developer base feel better with the platform, instead using their time for more standard devices.
I've just ordered one of the 4GB 512MB Eees, and have been told it will arrive next Tuesday. Considering the state of the rs-px household finances this wasn't a good idea, but I'll post a mini-review here when it lands, looking specifically at N800/Eee comparisons.
Here's a pretty cool guide to tweaking the Eee:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsid=4062
Installing WinXP is easy provided you have an external DVD drive (apparently some essential apps are on a supplied Asus DVD). It boots pretty damn quick too, as you can see from the video on the page. Memory expansion is also cheap and easy, although the solid state storage device is soldered to the motherboard.
The Eee really does seem to hit all the right buttons. Apparently they're selling six every second over in China.
vBulletin® v3.8.8, Copyright ©2000-2025, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.