Eee PC: Low Cost Portable Computing
Posted by Johan Cyprich on 23 Nov 2007 | Tagged as: Technology, Videos
Just in time for Black Friday, the ASUS Eee PC has to be the most exciting technology product of this year. The Eee PC is a tiny 7″ computer that weighs just under a kilogram. The current models are being sold with Linux, but ASUS will be releasing a Windows version later this year.
OLPC Is Not Enough
When I first heard of the OLPC (a tiny computer designed for children in emerging nations), I like many people wanted one. A machine like that would be much more useful than a PDA for doing work away from your main desktop computer. It, however, loses its appeal with it being filled with software that would be useful only to a school age child.
It would be great if someone made a low cost computer running Windows at that size …
The Little Engine That Does
The Eee PC has 256 MB to 1 GB of RAM and a 2-16 GB solid state drive for storage, depending on the model. The solid state drive isn’t very much large and it should be at least 20 GB to comfortably run Windows and for running applications. There are 3 USB 2.0 ports which can take a hard drive through it and there is a Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard media slot which is useful for downloading digital photos.
It uses an Intel chipset with a 900 MHz Celeron M processor.
The multimedia side of Eee gives you a 7″ WVGA TFT-LCD widescreen monitor with a resolution of 800×400 pixels, high definition audio, a speaker, and a microphone. The higher end models have 300K pixel web cams.
The machine is very durable and shock resistant which is a must for outdoor use. I’m not sure if its water proof, however. The battery from its 4 cells ranges from 2.8 to 3.5 hours, again this depends on the model purchased.
All machines have wireless LAN (WiFi 802.11 B/G) and Ethernet (10/100 Mbps with an RJ-45 connector) capabilities. You can surf the net while sipping coffee at Starbucks. There’s even a 56K modem with it but its unknown if its fax capable.
The Price Is Right
Most computers this size cost a couple of thousand dollars. The Eee PC retails for $399.99 USD, which is the price of a good PDA. Palm almost released a machine similar to this called the Folio, but they dropped it soon before its release date. This was likely a mistake since when the Linux Eee was sold on ETTV Shopping (Taiwan’s shopping channel), a computer was sold every 6 seconds.
The Eee PC is a low cost alternative to notebook computers for people who need computing on the go. It should be a big seller this Christmas season.
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