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Electronics : ASUS - eee PC 701 4G black (UK version)
1 2
Rating: 
- Great, small, light, but keys are a showstopper
Hi,
there s a hype around these sub-notebooks. Asus was the first and to be fair got it right for many things.
I think, before buying the Aus 4g you should clear define what you want to do.
Pro:
*very very light (< 1kg)
*small, size of a A5 book
*fast (taken in account the processor), heavily optimized linux
*clear, non-glossy screen
* lots of help on the internet, easy to tweak and exchange the OS (google is your friend).
* can be used with 3g UMTS modems within 1 minute
Cons (some not the fault of Ausus, but due to the design specification)
*small storage space (4 Gbyte). Yes, I know you can add a SD/SDHC card, but installing programs on an external drive is not trivial
* linux (not a con, but this is not a modified distro)
*"relative" expensive for the type of hardware
And here the showstopper:
The keyboard. There are small and tiny due to the overall size of the computer. But also very flimsy. Even with the one-finger system many typos.
By the way, the bigger 900 has the same keyboard.
If you want just get e-mails, a phone or a blackberry might be better.
Consider the HP 2133 which has an excellent keyboard (the best I ever have used, but this machine has other problems).
Rating:
- Wireless Networking does not work
After reading magazine reviews decided to buy a 4G Linux Eee pc. I have spent the last five hours trying to connect with my Belkin Wireless Router with WPA Encryption. Eee pc finds my and all the other local networks but when I try to connect PC sits with "PENDING" displayed. I did a search and this appears to be a known problem, tried changing settings as advised by Forums and Asus FAQ withou success. I have PCs connected and got my Palm, Archos and PSP to connect in a couple of minutes. Have requested support from ASUS but they will take several days to reply
Rating: - Beware - flaky software
In some ways this is a nice little machine, but beware, the software is flaky. If like me, you are thinking of buying it to take it around with you and use it in a hotel or other public place, before you go any further, please Google: "EEEuser no DHCP offers received" and read the whole sheaf of complaints on the EEE official user group web page. It seems that typically, it will connect with the web at home, but when you try to use it in a hotel or other hotspot, it simply won't connect but gives this error message.
There are other problems too. For example, if you wish to install a memory card and then write to it you will get an error message, you do not have permission to write to the memory. There is a workaround for this by going into the console, but this is a problem that Asus should have fixed.
One might add that the battery life is a little disappointing for a machine with no hard drive and a very small screen. After about two hours, it shows half exhausted, but the remaining half seems to go in under an hour.
And the screen is a little small.
PS. Does the Windows version have the same problems?
Rating: - A Little Perspective....
This is a fun wee machine that looks like a toy but isn't, although there are important compromises to bear in mind.
You get portability and rugged reliability at the expense of
*Memory - only 512mb of RAM and 4gb of solid state storage (no hard drive), of which about half is used by the Linux installation.
* Minority OS - the installed Linux OS will be an utter mystery to most people.
* Speed - the 900mz processor combined with the solid state drive (based on Flash RAM) means that this isn't the fastest machine there is.
* Screen real estate - yes, the screen looks cute, but the native 800x640 resolution does cause problems, even though there is an 800x600 "point and push" option.
* Small keyboard - touch typists will hate it, the rest of us will adapt.
* No optical drive - making upgrading or changing the OS and installing software somewhat tricky.
The installed Linux Xandros OS is tab and icon based, keeping things simple for those who want a standalone solution on the move. But if you want to network this with your XP or Vista home PC to share files and printers you will need to change the OS, and for that you will need an external optical drive.
There is now a version available with XP pre-installed for about £30 extra. That version comes with a mouse, MS Works and MS Live.
I have two of these machines - one that came with Xandros, and one with XP. I installed XP on the Xandros machine without any real problems, but this does require that you have a legitimate copy of Service Pack 2 XP. There's a useful wee application called nLite which helped me enormously with the installation.
The machine will run games up to the graphical level of the likes of Half Life 2, but the performance will depend upon the speed of the additional high speed HD memory card you are going to want pretty soon. That 4gb gets eaten up very quickly.
The web cam is very basic, and the sound recording from the built in mic on both of the models I have was terrible. Headset required for Skype.
Having said all of that, and pointed out the pitfalls, I think this is a great wee machine. It appeals to those who want an instant cheap solution out of the box, as well as to those who want to tinker (that's me!)
There are a few more of these sub or micro notebooks on the horizon. Look out for bigger screen sizes and faster processors, but in the meantime, this is a great buy.
Rating:
- Excellent
I bought this travel laptop for work to avoid travelling with a heavy office laptop and cabling. I don't need email access for work as my phone now does that for me. Instead I have a small and lightweight piece of kit on which I can watch ripped films and photos, listen to music, iBooks and internet radio, see and speak to the family via the built-in webcam and Skype and manage any work documents I wish to create, view and edit via a flashdisk. If I receive a file on email with an important attachment then I can forward to my hotmail account. The battery time is good and with a second more powerful battery I can now go 10 hours without the need for a power source. These days company laptops seem too delicate to take them out and about so this is an excellent alternative and cheap enough not to worry about losing it but also cheap enough to pay out of my own money (so I get privacy as well). I'm sure ASUS will bring out better and faster machines but this one is fine for me. Using Linux is a novelty but it works straight out of the box and I have had no problem at all.
- Great, small, light, but keys are a showstopperHi,
there s a hype around these sub-notebooks. Asus was the first and to be fair got it right for many things.
I think, before buying the Aus 4g you should clear define what you want to do.
Pro:
*very very light (< 1kg)
*small, size of a A5 book
*fast (taken in account the processor), heavily optimized linux
*clear, non-glossy screen
* lots of help on the internet, easy to tweak and exchange the OS (google is your friend).
* can be used with 3g UMTS modems within 1 minute
Cons (some not the fault of Ausus, but due to the design specification)
*small storage space (4 Gbyte). Yes, I know you can add a SD/SDHC card, but installing programs on an external drive is not trivial
* linux (not a con, but this is not a modified distro)
*"relative" expensive for the type of hardware
And here the showstopper:
The keyboard. There are small and tiny due to the overall size of the computer. But also very flimsy. Even with the one-finger system many typos.
By the way, the bigger 900 has the same keyboard.
If you want just get e-mails, a phone or a blackberry might be better.
Consider the HP 2133 which has an excellent keyboard (the best I ever have used, but this machine has other problems).
Rating:
- Wireless Networking does not workAfter reading magazine reviews decided to buy a 4G Linux Eee pc. I have spent the last five hours trying to connect with my Belkin Wireless Router with WPA Encryption. Eee pc finds my and all the other local networks but when I try to connect PC sits with "PENDING" displayed. I did a search and this appears to be a known problem, tried changing settings as advised by Forums and Asus FAQ withou success. I have PCs connected and got my Palm, Archos and PSP to connect in a couple of minutes. Have requested support from ASUS but they will take several days to reply
Rating:
- Beware - flaky softwareIn some ways this is a nice little machine, but beware, the software is flaky. If like me, you are thinking of buying it to take it around with you and use it in a hotel or other public place, before you go any further, please Google: "EEEuser no DHCP offers received" and read the whole sheaf of complaints on the EEE official user group web page. It seems that typically, it will connect with the web at home, but when you try to use it in a hotel or other hotspot, it simply won't connect but gives this error message.
There are other problems too. For example, if you wish to install a memory card and then write to it you will get an error message, you do not have permission to write to the memory. There is a workaround for this by going into the console, but this is a problem that Asus should have fixed.
One might add that the battery life is a little disappointing for a machine with no hard drive and a very small screen. After about two hours, it shows half exhausted, but the remaining half seems to go in under an hour.
And the screen is a little small.
PS. Does the Windows version have the same problems?
Rating:
- A Little Perspective....This is a fun wee machine that looks like a toy but isn't, although there are important compromises to bear in mind.
You get portability and rugged reliability at the expense of
*Memory - only 512mb of RAM and 4gb of solid state storage (no hard drive), of which about half is used by the Linux installation.
* Minority OS - the installed Linux OS will be an utter mystery to most people.
* Speed - the 900mz processor combined with the solid state drive (based on Flash RAM) means that this isn't the fastest machine there is.
* Screen real estate - yes, the screen looks cute, but the native 800x640 resolution does cause problems, even though there is an 800x600 "point and push" option.
* Small keyboard - touch typists will hate it, the rest of us will adapt.
* No optical drive - making upgrading or changing the OS and installing software somewhat tricky.
The installed Linux Xandros OS is tab and icon based, keeping things simple for those who want a standalone solution on the move. But if you want to network this with your XP or Vista home PC to share files and printers you will need to change the OS, and for that you will need an external optical drive.
There is now a version available with XP pre-installed for about £30 extra. That version comes with a mouse, MS Works and MS Live.
I have two of these machines - one that came with Xandros, and one with XP. I installed XP on the Xandros machine without any real problems, but this does require that you have a legitimate copy of Service Pack 2 XP. There's a useful wee application called nLite which helped me enormously with the installation.
The machine will run games up to the graphical level of the likes of Half Life 2, but the performance will depend upon the speed of the additional high speed HD memory card you are going to want pretty soon. That 4gb gets eaten up very quickly.
The web cam is very basic, and the sound recording from the built in mic on both of the models I have was terrible. Headset required for Skype.
Having said all of that, and pointed out the pitfalls, I think this is a great wee machine. It appeals to those who want an instant cheap solution out of the box, as well as to those who want to tinker (that's me!)
There are a few more of these sub or micro notebooks on the horizon. Look out for bigger screen sizes and faster processors, but in the meantime, this is a great buy.
Rating:
- ExcellentI bought this travel laptop for work to avoid travelling with a heavy office laptop and cabling. I don't need email access for work as my phone now does that for me. Instead I have a small and lightweight piece of kit on which I can watch ripped films and photos, listen to music, iBooks and internet radio, see and speak to the family via the built-in webcam and Skype and manage any work documents I wish to create, view and edit via a flashdisk. If I receive a file on email with an important attachment then I can forward to my hotmail account. The battery time is good and with a second more powerful battery I can now go 10 hours without the need for a power source. These days company laptops seem too delicate to take them out and about so this is an excellent alternative and cheap enough not to worry about losing it but also cheap enough to pay out of my own money (so I get privacy as well). I'm sure ASUS will bring out better and faster machines but this one is fine for me. Using Linux is a novelty but it works straight out of the box and I have had no problem at all.