«An amazing little computer»

I would really classify this computer as a very small notebook rather than a netbook. With the 10" screen and 6 cell battery it's substantially larger and heavier than the Asus 4g, 900 series, or Acer Aspire One. That being said, it still seems miniscule compared to a 12" or 14" laptop. With the sensible 1024X600 resolution on this screen, the fonts are the same size or larger than on my 12" laptop with 1280X800 resolution.
I replaced the drive with a 7200 rpm 200 GB drive. As a software developer, I've loaded all my development tools and databases on it and it all works extremely well. The only speed issue I've encountered seems to be with IE rendering some pages.
It fits into a caselogic dvd player case with room for the power adapter and a few odds and ends.
As a second computer geared to travel or quick use in a coffee shop, it's just outstanding!

[Saturday, August 30, 2008]

«Some Tips»

I have this notebook for about a week. I love it. It is tiny and you can always carry it around in your handbag. I am a researcher and three main programs that I use are MS office, Acrobat Reader and statistical analyses software (such as SPSS). The computer has no problems running those and performs well. It is great to have everything you need on the go.

As you probably know, it doesn't have a DVD drive. If you already have a desktop computer, then you don't need to buy an external DVD. Just setup a small home/office network from your desktop computer (you can do it with a few steps in Windows). Then open your DVD drive to sharing by right clicking on your DVD drive under "My computer" and choosing share. Next, from your laptop connect to your home wireless internet.Change Workgroup of your laptop to the same workgroup name you assigned while setting up home/office network. Then you would be able to see and access the shared folders on your desktop PC from your notebook. You can also use your PC's DVD drive to install programs. After you are done you can turn off sharing your DVD drive.

Secondly, the laptop has an automatic power saving mode when you unplug it, however unlike my previous laptop, it doesn't adjust the brightness. My old laptop would go dim to save power while running on batteries. Don't just assume that ASUS does it automatically because it doesn't. Mine came with the highest brightest setting,so make sure to adjust it manually if you want the batteries to last more.

Lastly, if you are going to run several programs at the same time, just buy and install a 2GB ram, which will cost less than $40 as of now. XP runs great with 2GB and it is worth it. What you need is a 2GB 667 Mhz SoDIMM module like this one OCZ 2GB PC2-5400 667MHz DDR2 Value SoDIMM Module (OCZ2MV6672G).

[Friday, August 29, 2008]

«Great Mini-Notebook»

I would describe this as more of a mini notebook than a netbook.
Good-
1. With 6 cell battery, 5+ hours of work time
2. Very small power brick
3. Compared to other netbooks, keyboard is roomy. Unlike some other reviewers, mine has no keyboard flex.
4. Touchpad and button setup nicer than other netbooks I have tried.
5. WinXP better than Vista
6. Wifi range seems good. Comes with N, but I've only used G.
7. 80gb drive is roomy. Not SSD is negative.
8. Nice screen
9. Bluetooth
Bad-
1. Shiny- get used to fingerprints. I don't know why they can't make these things matte.
2. Compared to other netbooks, this is pretty thick and heavy. If you are looking for more of a net appliance, look elsewhere.
3. Pricey- but they seem to be coming down.

This is a great little PC, but might be on the verge of being too big to be something you always carry with you- I would go for the 9" models for that. I would imagine if someone wanted a small laptop (12-13" screen) but didn't want want to spend the money this would be a great alternative.

[Thursday, August 28, 2008]

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