|
I recommend this product, if you want a netbook where you can work in any place, this is your computer. It function perfectly with Ubuntu specially with Karmic. I have work with this computer for more than 6 hours with the battery.
I wouldn't recommend dropping it, but it isn't fragile. Let's see, where can I start off first. This netbook is very sturdy, light and good for school or work. One note about the hard drive, even though it is not that big you can manage your stuff better if you install programs to the 2nd partition. Now, I'm not sure if ASUS reads these user reviews but a few suggestions. You can also do this on the 60 minute drive to Austin (well if you're not the one driving, and as you are the passenger).
The shift key has bad placement. This shouldn't be a primary computer if you do insane resource intensive things. I haven't seen this on other laptops, but if this netbook is on standby mode, it will charge my cell phone. Usually only computers do this if they're awake. I dropped an external hard drive about a foot and now it doesn't work. Come to think of it, I don't know when's the last time that I seen the start up options as I always put my netbook into standby. This only happens in that view for some reason and I prefer that resolution so I use the bigger resolution which it another downfall. While on my flight, I plugged my laptop into the Duracell portable AC supply.
Also there is a glitch in Windows XP or maybe just the hardware but if I change to 1024x728 compress view, the cursor has this 1 inch by 1 inch box right next to it that looks like static and it follows the cursor around. For example, let's say I'm in the middle of the forest with my Palm Pre and my EEE PC, and I have a good data connection I can link my phone and my computer together and get on the internet on my LAPTOP (not the phone) at decent speeds. It is not in the usual place as it is to the right of the arrow keys. Also another benefit is the USB charging.
I think that's an excellent value for college kids trying to make ends meet. When typing passwords I sometimes hit CAP lock instead of shift and messes up my passwords. But it does do image capture from a camcorder (and conversion to avi or whatever). I was in dusty Iraq and tossed it around, had some excessive heat situations and no problems yet. I have the Palm Pre cell phone and you can hook up the cell phone to almost any laptop with wifi or USB and get on the internet anywhere you have a data connection (EVDO for sprint).
This kinda sucks if you're on a roll with a paper. I'm in the military and we spend a couple weeks out of every couple months playing army in the forest. Now onto the issue of portability. I hate cables and being able to do all this without cables is nice, just research it and I'm sure it's possible. I got about a 3 hr charge from the DURACELL supply and then another 6 on my EEE PC. If I'm typing in Microsoft word and my knuckle grazes the touchpad, my cursor jumps somewhere else and begins typing somewhere else. So I'm going to format it and start all over. You may ask, why would I want to get on the internet in the middle of the forest and the answer is.
So about 9 hours of typing and revising on a stuffy flight but I got a B on this term paper. This isn't limited to the forest as you can do this at Starbucks (instead of paying for the AT&T internet). I'm not sure if ASUS ran out of room, but I think they could have placed the shift key where it belongs and move the up arrow key to the right as people usually look at the arrow keys when using them compared to the shift key. I'm not sure if they charge like Omnipage does but yeah.Battery life is amazing considering it is not such a big computer and the only thing that spins is the fan and not the hard drive. All you need is a computer to be a print server and some sort of wireless access.
Plus bumps and shocks will not corrupt data. Another benefit is the wifi as most devices have this. You can get on the internet almost anywhere as long as you have the right tools and services on your cell phone. If you have any say in it, I suggest installing all your baseline stuff (like your OS, drivers, updates, etc) on the 8 gig part and all the programs (like office suites, documents, etc) on the 32 gig part.
I didn't read all the reviews of the ASUS EEE PC1000 right now so if I repeat some things, sorry. The point is that it did it with no dropped frames. This isn't new, but many people don't know about this, as I was asked where there is a wifi hotspot in the middle of the forest. As you can see, it's a small laptop and with some other tools you can make this a very good laptop. The price for this laptop when I bought it was $300. I overlooked this and now I'm running out of room on my 8 gig part and I have tons of space on my 32 gig part.
If I wanted to go back to the Linux side, I just install it from the CDs it came with.As someone said before, this isn't a gaming laptop. In other words, when typing, I don't have to look at the shift key on the normal keyboard but when using the arrow keys I do have to look at them as those arrow keys vary placement from keyboard to keyboard. Also a CAP lock and a NUM lock indicator. So if I had to use the right shift key, I would kit the up arrow and mess it up. When I was in Iraq, I was taking a speech college class over the internet and in order to do it, I had to upload my speeches over YouTube (you can search it by searching my username "mbenzp"). I set this computer up by being able to wirelessly print anywhere in my house.
So before my flight, I bought a Duracell portable AC output (about $150 at Best Buy). WinXP on here is pretty stable, not sure on how stable compared to the Linux that came with it. I did read that the 32 gig section is a bit slower but have not had a chance to test this (or know how), so thus you can't install a OS from the 32 gig part since its too slow. Plus you can save a lot of things on a thumbdrive now a days (which sucks in the military as DoD prohibits the use of thumbdrives on any DoD computer, after that nasty worm that ripped through our systems the winter of 08). I dimmed my laptop screen and started typing away at my research paper.
Back in Texas, it was tossed around in my trunk left in my car in the sun. But if you want to store an entire 20,000 song iTunes library, look elsewhere. So, in other words, this netbook is a live saver for work AND school. But that's what I've read somewhere and it might be false. Also you can probably give this laptop to a kid as it is not a big investment (as I see little kids with cell phones and computers now a days.). OS: Comes with some flavor of Linux but can install Windows XP (not Vista as it's fairly large)CPU: Intel Atom CPU270 1.60 and 1.60 GHz (yes it's a dual core, even verified in task manager)Ram: 2 gigs (I think it can be expanded as there is access underneath but can't verify)Hardware: 3 USB 2.0 ports, 1 Ethernet port, cable lock, VGA port, SD card reader, built in 1.3 megapixel webcam with built in microphone, AC input, headphone and mic jacks, keyboard, 1 power/standby button, 4 buttons (1 to turn off screen, 1 to change the resolution (which has a glitch for one as mentioned above) and 2 user customized ones (which I don't know how to customize), WiFi, Bluetooth (I think I seen it in the device manager but never used it); the one thing that it doesn't have is a CD ROM.Well all in all, this is a good laptop/netbook for its money.
So when at home, the only cable that is connected to this netbook is the power cable and I can access my internet, print, access files, stream music and video over the network and anything else that can be accessed over wireless. When I first got the netbook, it had Linux on it and I'm all for Linux (as I have it on my desktop, unused) but I'm in the military I need special software (PureEdge or Form Flow) to write some documents. Hope this review helps and your comments would be good to add to the discussion. If someone can confirm or deny this that would be fabulous.Now it is time to list the downfalls.
So my productivity increases as I don't have to drop my online college classes (but I do prefer traditional classroom ones). The touchpad is too sensitive sometimes. Ok as for customer service, I never needed it but they did post a 24/7 number right below the keyboard. I think the solid state drive that helps also.
I own this ASUS product and another ASUS GOVT50 gaming laptop which is good and let me tell you ASUS hooks you up. When I was on a 15 hour flight from Texas to Kuwait, I had to write my psychology term paper (yeah I procrastinated). I wouldn't call it bad placement as where else can you put a touchpad but yeah. After I bought this external drive, I found out you can boot from USB (I think I seen it in one of the startup options). For that much money, you get a small screen but with everything a laptop can do without a CD-Rom. There are good computer tech guys (sometimes referred to as geeks or hackers) that figure out how to do it and post the instructions online.
As there is no moving parts for the hard drive my windows XP will start up (from completely off, not standby) in less than 15 seconds. Paired up with a phone to get internet wherever you can get a signal and wireless access to your home network, this is a good device. The reason I had to use this netbook is because my camcorder software was ONLY for WinXP. I'm not sure if an update would fix that but it is annoying. So I bought an external CD ROM drive and installed WinXP Pro which works flawlessly (unlike vista). Now as I said before, this will not hold a lot of media stuff but I think there are netbooks with bigger hard drives but they won't be the solid state one on the EEE PC.
I'll give you a hint to start off; just Google "tether or tethering" along with your cell phone model. I will not go into detail but will repeat some things. Currently, there are 2 partitions (which means the hard drive is divided, not physically but "machine-codely"); One part is 8 gigs while the other part is 32 gigs so thus 40gigs. Their products are sturdy and they give you little bags, or pouches and recovery CDs etc. An indicator would be nice.The last thing I will go over is the specs from the Windows XP screens. I like typing in dim lighting when at home and that would help. Another benefit is the speed of the hard drive.
If you want portability for school and/or work, I highly sugguest this computer. So productivity outweighs the price in this situation. So case in point, you can do some intense resource things.As far as build, it's sturdy. This will not replace your primary computer but it can be a computer that goes in your backpack or stays in your car. I think any newer cell phone can do this internet broadcast thing to your laptop, all you have to do is do the research and take the time and patience out of your day to figure it out (if you're tech savvy, it would probably help too). Now I'm going to go over some benefits. A backlit keyboard where the user has the option of turning it on or off.
I think I gave a decent review of this product and focused on the goods and bads along with real life experiences.
Linux OS is more useful than Windows, but still very easy to use for beginner (my wife loves it).Keyboard Great (for a netbook). Good,This is the most convienent thing 'round. Doesnt' get hot and very quiet at all performance levels.Easy to 'restore' if you somehow 'bork' the OS.Bad:With Firefox browser, 'hiccups' occur when loading pages where the system seems to hang for 1-5 seconds after loading a page. Take it anywhere, it finds access points; and you are connected. Long Battery Life, very, very fast boot. Opera is better.Processor a bit underpowered, even after expanding to 2Gb. Recommended.
On this machine, it was fairly often the case that when I tried for enter, I got the up arrow and it threw me into a different part of the document. I had to return my ASUS to Amazon because of what I consider a fatal flaw in the keyboard design. This has been corrected in some other ASUS models, but this one still has a problem that I found horrible. It was unbearable. You'll notice that the up arrow key is just below theenter key. On most keyboards, the shift key is below the enter key so if you miss, nothing bad happens. If you want an ASUS, get one where the shift key is fully below the enter key. This problem can really drive a person bats.
It's almost as nice as my high-end Mitsubishi LCD HD television. I wanted the ability to either transfer funds; pay bills while away, communicate with friends and relatives via my email capability and store the many photographs I take along the road during my trips, without having to worry about carrying multiple cards for my digital camera.My biggest concern (or worry) was not having MS Windows and all of its attractive software to go along with me. It plays music and videos perfectly, even without Windows Media Player. So therefore, it actually scared me.
While camping at a KOA, I found over 20 stations that I liked, with three outstanding Country stations that I listened to with my head phones on while reading my email from friends. But being the daring individual I am, I bought it anyway.I am so happy with this little system, I will try my best to list the many features that makes me feel the way I do about the little Asus 1000. The very first thing I noticed about it, is how clear and bright the screen is. I bought this little Asus 1000 to carry with me on my many motorcycle adventure trips. I use the Word type program to write my emails, being able to use spell check, then simply copy and paste to my email for sending.Some other little things I really like:PROS:1)Very attractive case.2)Small and portable; easy to pack away.3)Super long battery life4)Bright, clear and HD like screen.5)Boots from startup in less than 20 seconds.6)Shuts down in about 10 seconds.7)Pretty much "Virus" un-impregnable. Wanting to test the wireless ability, I took it to my wife's place of employment where it captured 18 different WiFi signals, some as far away as 3-4 football fields.
Nothing special to do, just click on a video that was emailed to you and it plays instantly fast. I really like the internet radio system it comes with.
8)Case holds Net book, charger, cables, memory sticks and mini-mouse.9)Long range distance on the WiFi.10)Bluetooth enabled11)All programs very user friendly and upgradeable.12)3 USB ports13)Large keyboard for a net book.14)Easily added addition 1Gig of RAM, making it 2gig. I had never used Linux, nor did I know much about it.
Although it has not yet happened yet, the only problem I can foresee is if someone sends me an email with a.doc file attached, I will not be able to open or read it because I don't have MS Word loaded. Next, you can't help but notice how long the battery lasts.
Although I have not actually timed it, I know I watched two full movies with my wife while I played with the functions and surfed the internet and I still had about a third of its time left on the battery. But that is fine with me.
15)Great unbeatable price & very high quality.CONS:None
|
