Canadian User Reviews Asus Eee PC

polocanada posted a review via a comment (no. 8) in Eeeuser -

Highlights of the review -

Unit reviewed is a pre-production model 701 with 4 GB. It was bought from a company that did an online review. Overall look - sexy, tiny, light, pleasant to hold.

SYSTEM INFO:
BIOS version 0155
BIOS date: 09/10/2007 (this is after I flashed the BIOS today. Flashing BIOS on Eee Pc is easy).

Software version: EEE PC 1.0
Build info: 2007-09-20 06:00. That means this EEE PC was built like 8 days ago.
CPU Type: Intel Mobile
Memory: 512 MB
Mother Board version x.xx

Screen - matte. Resolution and colors are OK. The screen doesn’t tilt flat as it is heavier than the keyboard. So limiting the tilt angle prevents it from flipping over.

Audio - even with headphones, sound is low. But this might be application dependent. Audio for anything in Firefox is too low but sounds for games were OK.

Boot time - about 20 seconds. The Eee PC uses Xandros (Linux). It has two GUIs. One is simplified (with big icons for email, gmail, gaim, firefox, Open office, player etc.) and is intended for kids, and new computer users. The other is Normal and acts like Windows or KDE. Switching between both modes is easy but requires a 20 second reboot.

Battery - A little bit warm. Not hot, but the tiny fan is running.

Stand-by mode - In stand-by mode, the Eee PC remains hot.

Touchpad - Touchpad is great. But the button is a little bit tricky and not easy to handle. It is also pretty loud.

USB ports - 3

Multi-card reader - Didn't recognized SD card from Nokia phone. Probably it wasn't formatted properly.

Microphone - located on the bottom underneath the touchpad. There might be another one besides the camera.

Hinge - perfect. Perfectly tight. Closes good and easy.

Bottom - there is a cover. Under the cover there is 1 DDR II 512 MB memory. Max might be 1 GB. Besides memory there is an Express card slot. This could be used for anything, like a GSM or 3G card or even a memory module. It is very easy to set up a 3G or HSDPA connection when you have the card. This can be setup in control panel.

Keyboard - My fingers are XXXL size so typing was some nightmare. Normal sized users might find typing OK. One very negative thing about this keyboard is that is relatively noisy. The Back Space key should have been bigger also as you will make a lot of typos.

Software update - it’s easy. There is a utility that you can start and update your software. So far, there is not much to update, just the BIOS.

Applications - There is a nice set of sweet games. SMPlayer (media player) comes preinstalled. There are other typical KDE applications, including an anti-virus. The software takes up a lot of space. There is only like 1.3 GB left out of 4 GB for my files. Also I am not clear about how to do a complete system backup.

Webcam - I tried to start the Webcam application but failed.

Charger - The power cord is long enough and plugs into the back of the Eee PC.

Bug: If a USB mouse is plugged in and then unplugged, the touchpad and keyboard stop working. If the mouse is plugged in again, the touchpad and keyboard still won't work. To get both working again, the Eee PC needs to be shut down, the battery taken out for a few seconds, and then rebooted.

I think many people will love the Eee PC and some of them will find that after initial excitement it is simply too small and thus a useless gadget. But if you need extreme mobility and always access to your stuff, work, school, internet, WIFI, movies on subway, then you are going to like Eee PC.