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Asus launches tiny PC | Reg Hardware

Asus UK, for instance, will be offering only the 4G, for £219 including VAT. It will also offer a version of the 4G with an internal 3G HSDPA card - however, the add-ins price has yet to be set.

The interesting news is that Asus have said that you can run Windows on the tiny machine, in fact they've put together all the drivers you need

While the Eee PCs are designed to run Linux, they will operate with Windows XP too, and Asus has already posted a stack of drivers necessary for folk who do want to use the Microsoft OS.

But frankly if the only UK version is the 4gb you're going to struggle to install a usable version of that favourite Microsoft OS.

I'd much prefer to pay a little more and get the 8gb version, but that would involve purchasing from abroad. It's also not clear at this stage if the UK 4gb version is the baby with or without the built in webcam, and what the memory option is - the standard ships with 512mb but the 8gb comes with 1gb DDR memory - a substantial increase.

I guess we'll know more when they hit the shops.

m

EDIT - Okay here are the UK spec machines you can buy right now

Asus Laptop - S6F-3029P, Leather Notebook -

They still appear to be on pre-order but they are UK spec - 4gb, with webcam and a choice between 512mb or 1gb RAM.

The Eee uses an SSD (solid state drive).

Im almost certain that these will be upgradeable on the small Asus.

They come in many sizes.

16gb are available for about £150.

Buy a Lexar 16GB Expresscard SSD Storage Card, #EX16GB-431 - eXpansys UK

Like all memory, these are getting cheaper and bigger all the time.

The problem is of course that the drives themselves are not accessible without breaking open the enclosure - which is of course difficult but not impossible, and will also negate your warranty - not to mention the fun you'll have working out which drives will be compatible with the motherboard... I may let others do that kind of experiment and let my warranty run out before I attempt it!

You sure the drive isnt accessible under a flap etc ??

I cant see the mobo not being compatible with standard SSD's. Its just solid memory.

Nope, the only accessible part of the machine is the RAM, you have to crack open the enclosure to get to the rest of the beast... makes a certain amount of sense, but still I'd rather be able to get in there. I'd be chuffed to bits if it's easy to swap them out though.

Asus EEE PC
 

OK, Mine was delivered on Thursday last week so I've played a bit.
This version (yes I'm on via WiFi) it's 4GB with 512 ram. 10/100 but no modem.
I did a trip on the Caledonian sleeper, traveled around London on the m/bike and tried out the WiFi in Free hotspots.
It worked well, including the webcam. And so did the USB mouse.
Issues, it is missing some of the OpenOffice packages, i.e.draw which I use a lot whilst traveling. I plugged in a DVD drive to no avail. I'm going to try a scanner and printers next.
It's a neat little package, and I could have sold six today, but I sold all my spare ones last week. I can see a lot of these moving for Xmas.
I'll put up another post when I learn a bit more about it.

Hi All, I work in education IT:( and i've had one in my hands to look at, very nice:thumbup1: well made easy to use, finding out more if i can....
TDMalcolm

EEE PC update
 

I tried to plug in all sorts of gadgets and none of them worked.
that's not quite right, the 17" LCD display (Bush) I plugged in and worked just fine. I emailed the makers for drivers of my gadgets to be told, no go. Which is annoying as everything is less than a year old.
I now have a list of compatible stuff, but that makes life complicated. I need my Flybook for work, as the software will not run on Linus (I asked).
It (the 3E) really is great, and the WiFi is very good, a lot more sensitive than my PDA surprisingly. My PDA picked up 3 networks, the 3E picked up 5 including the town connections (in Inverness & in Kirkwall).
I got onto yahoo IM with Pigin and did my email from all sorts of places, I haven't managed to import my address book from the Flybook into the PIM yet but it should be possible.
The paint program is OK but a bit primitive compared to my usual work stuff, but good enough for cleaning up a few pictures that were too dark.
Battery life worked out to be about 3 hours of continuous use with loads of writing documents and email. I could have made this longer by switching off the WiFi and dimming the screen but this was a real life test.
Everything was easy to set up, I loaned mine to an friend that is not gadget friendly and she found it easy to use and now wants one. Her comment was
"Straight out of the box and everything works. It took me a month of mucking about with the software to get my last PC working properly".
If it was just traveling and general use this would be the thing for me but for work it still is not quite there yet.
I hope this was useful to you in making the decision to buy one.
mine was supplied by Clove Technology at Clove Technology – Fujitsu Loox, HP IPAQ, GPS, Mio, Acer, Oregon Scientific, I-Mate, Palm, Psion
Please tell them I sent you. :o)

Word of advise for anyone considering one of these.. Linux is a fantastic operating system, but it can still be a bit picky about what hardware it will support (because manufacturers typically do not write Linux device drivers, and will not give the necessary hardware specs to the device driver hackers/coders).. soo.. if you're buying new hardware to work with a Linux box, go for decent hardware, and avoid unbranded stuff. If the packaging says that it supports Mac OSX, but does not mention Linux, there is still a decent chance that the device will work on the eeePC, as OSX is based on FreeBSD, which is extremely similar to Linux (both were originally Unix clones).
Also, a good place to check is the following: LinuxQuestions.org HCL - Main Index


I was tempted to go for one of these devices too, but I ended up going for the Nokia N800 (internet tablet), which is basically a handheld computer (not a phone!) which runs Linux. Its powerful enough to display videos (specially encoded using "transcode"), display my fiche images (saved as jpg), and fits up to 16GB of memory, via 2 SD cards. The software is all free, and the best part is that I picked up a new one for 170 GBP on ebay (compared to 250-300 on the high street), as the new N810 is just out, which most people are more interested in (but I'm not, cos it has one of those breakable pull-out keyboards which the N800 avoids). It also has a radio tuner, wifi, bluetooth, and an Opera-based browser (switchable to a Mozilla/Firefox based browser by upgrading the operating system to the 2008 version). Did I mention it also supports skype? :) It's cool, and a hell of an alternative to a laptop if you need your geeky toys on the road.

Good advice there.

BUT I've had to go back on my pledge to buy an Asus... it's not because it's not suitable - it's fantastic - we have one to play with in the office... however.... look what MAY be coming next year...

Mac Rumors: Apple Ultra-Portable MacBook Rumor Roundup

So I'll just have to wait and see because an Apple designed and built ultra portable with Flash memory is going to win hands down over the Asus.

m

Thanks for that tip, Matt. Being a Mac guy it's exactly the kind of macine I would buy for travelling. Having used Macs from the beginning, I'd wait 6-12 months of course and let others work out the bugs. Let's hope the rumors are true!

Yes I know what you mean... I've bought pretty much every first generation Apple product for the last 8 years and I've paid the price - having said that the software updates always work and the hardware never fails... so I may just take yet another leap of faith and await the stunning 12 inches I'm sure Mr Jobs will provide :eek3:

You can lead a horse to water...
 

But can you make him drink?
IBM Thinkpad X40 PM 1.7GHz<br>(2371-8EU) Grade B
ThinkPad X40
Shown on docking station but works fine without(no DVD). Comes with the docking station.
Click on photo to enlarge.
8x10x0.5 inches
Windows XP Pro
40 Gig HD
USB will power an external HD
Wireless
Phone Modem
Travel charger
2.5 lbs.(removes from docking station)
Fall protection on HD.
$370usd

Very nice to use.
Quality.
b.

Cracking kit - and of course I could happily instal a decent OS on it and it's very light - but I'm afraid it falls at the first hurdle having a standard HD rather than a flash based one.... which is one of the major things I'm looking for.

matt,
With memory limited to 8 gigs and no Windows, what's to want?
Gonna be an antique when you get it.
Flash memory is coming but it isn't here yet
What don't I understand?
At least the ThinkPad is aging gracefully.
Please explain.
b.