Photos from the 1st EeePH Meet & Greet

Some interesting pics from the first eyeball of the Philippine-based EeePH forum -

Keyboard swap





Apple or Linux?



On the spot privacy filter cutting

EeePh's First Meet & Greet

The EeePh Forum (Philippines) has their first EB last Saturday. One of the attendees reported the meeting in his blog, A Personal EeePC Education & Enlightenment Experiment -




Our little local users group of EeePC fanatics, a couple of dozen of us, mostly all complete strangers to one another, spent the afternoon and evening comparing notes, exchanging tips, showing off and generally getting to know each other. We only knew everyone from the faceless camaraderie of the postings in the user group forum at eeeph.com and the handles we went by...

We caused quite a stir in the mall, with 24 tiny Asus laptops crowding the little coffee tables. Where else can you see four computers all comfortably perched, with ample room for coffee cups, on a small circular surface that usually had room enough for only one regular-sized laptop? Heads turned the whole afternoon. Even the baristas were all questions, and refused to believe that the computers each cost less than a mid-range cellphone.

We spent five hours there, yakking away about everything, and leeching off the free mall wifi. Some industrious members took the opportunity to sell wares – leather cases, SD cards, USB sticks, RAM, external DVD drives, screen protectors, speakers, car chargers – which we all gleefully perused and cheerfully bought at great discounts .

People showed off their gear, their hardware and software modifications – our forum administrator and founder had an Eee PC with OS X on it, but he couldn’t make it. Some guys took out their tools and tinkered with things right there – a couple even exchanged keyboards and batteries, ending up with a white Eee PCwith a black keyboard and battery and vice versa.

Full article can be read here.

EeePh Group to Hold EB

For Philippine-based users, the EeePH forum members have set their first meeting this coming Saturday, Feb 23, 2008 3pm at Bo's Coffee, Robinsons Galleria's "Cyberzone" area, basement level, in front of Gold's Gym.

Since the place has free wi-fi, chances are the members will go on-line. Users based elsewhere may want to participate via the forum.

The specific thread, Meet and Greet, can be read here.

New Philippine Eee User Forum

For Philppine-based Asus Eee users, there is a new forum - EEE Philippine Users Group.

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.

Asus Eee PC Selling in Taiwan for USD257

According to member jonel003 of the TipidPC forum, the Asus Eee PC is available in Taiwan for NT$8,500 (approximately USD257). If purchasing in volume, the price can be negotiated down to NT$7,500 to NT$8,500 (USD226 - USD241). No word on the exact configuration, though.

Russian Eee PC Site

Notwithstanding the continuous delays in the release of the Asus Eee PC, as well as rumored downgraded specs coupled with price increases, the sub-note continues to appeal to a worldwide market.

While the interest is not as huge as the pre-sale publicity hype generated by Apple's iPhone, it nevertheless is as worldwide in its range, as evidenced by the Russian site LiveInternet which now has an ongoing thread.

EeePC release date pushed back further

From the Eeeuser site, posted August 2, 2007 -

According to a post by user Don on our forums, Asus has moved the release date of the EeePC 701 to “Mid/Sept to Early/Oct.” No word on any more details…

Read further: http://www.eeeuser.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=105.

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Bummer. What else can I say?

Hilarious Exchange in the Tipid PC Forum thread

New posts in Tipid PC (Philippines) forum -

Posted by ekimonk on July 30, 2007 11:04 PM

mukhang panget ito..tignan mo di masaya yung may hawak..malungkot sya.. pag ito binili nyo malulungkot din kayo ([the Eee] doesn't appear to be OK, look at the guy holding it...he is sad. If you buy the Asus Eee, you will be sad, too.)



Posted by december20 on July 31, 2007 08:37 AM

bakit siya masaya ohhhh! Ang ganda ng eeepc pati nung chick! hehehe! (Why is she happy then? The Eee PC is pretty. So is the chick!)



Posted by darkchoco11 on July 31, 2007 08:40 AM

alam ko na! naka-on kasi yung eee pc nya kaya masaya! (I know! She is happy because the Eee PC is on!)

Posted Gerard on July 31, 2007 09:01 AM

haha,, yung una, wala baterya,, eto pangalawa merun,, hehe (The first had no battery, this second already has.)

Posted by december20 on July 31, 2007 09:09 AM

send pics from the beach... if you can find a hotspot



Posted by Ranma on July 31, 2007 09:14 AM

Maybe that blonde thought that tanning directly under the sun counts as a "hot spot". :)

Apparently a slightly earlier post by meeegs on July 30, 2007 09:28 PM was never taken seriously -

it's amusing how long this thread has become, and how little it has progressed.

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Well, at least the above exchange offered witty humor while we all try to wait patiently for the launch. It made my day. Hope it makes yours, too.

A Very Entertaining Forum Thread on the Asus Eee PC 701

If you can read and understand Tagalog, surf over to the TipidPC Forum (Philippines) where there is a long and oftentimes hilarious discussion on the Asus Eee PC 701. Actually the discussion is conducted in English and Tagalog so even if you don't understand the latter, you should be able to pick up the gist of the discussion and learn a lot of technical issues along the way.

The thread is littered with several posts by a self-labeled "power user" named Ekimonk (rig: AMD athlon 900 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 20GB HD, 14" LCD laptop) who oscillates between putting down the Asus Eee and providing links and information from other sites he keeps discovering.

WARNING: At the time of this post, the thread is already 20 pages long. So be prepared to spend sometime going through it.

Asus EEE PC First Thoughts

From Notebookreview Forum, submitted by Andrew on Thursday, July 12, 2007 -

The Asus EEE PC 701 notebook was officially announced at Computex Taipei. Today I met with Asus to get a close-up look at this new device and talk more about the company's goals with it. If Asus really can pull off selling this device for $250, it could be a very tempting companion PC for on the go.

First of all, here's a quick look at the specs the Asus EEE offers:

• Display: 7"
• Processor: Intel mobile CPU (Intel 910 chipset, 900MHz Dothan Pentium M)
• Memory: 512MB RAM
• OS: Linux (Asus customized flavor)
• Storage: 8GB or 16GB flash hard drive
• Webcam: 300K pixel video camera
• Battery life: 3 hours using 4-cell battery
• Weight: 2lbs
• Dimensions: 8.9 in x 6.5 in x 0.82 in - 1.37 in (width x depth x thickness)
• Ports: 3 USB ports, 1 VGA out, SD card reader, modem, Ethernet, headphone out, microphone in

What bootup?

The startup time for the EEE is about 10 seconds, and that's when it's being slow. Shutdown is performed with the simple one click of an "off" icon in the lower right hand of the screen (this "off" graphic is always present) and the total shutdown time is a whopping 5 seconds. We've all been ruined by slow hard drives and a bloated Windows OS I know, but I felt kind of giddy with glee seeing such fast startup and shutdown.

After you push the power button on the right hand side, this is the opening screen that pops up after less than 10 seconds

The Asus EEE uses a Linux based OS that Asus has customized themselves. Combine a small Linux footprint OS with a flash based hard drive and what results is this speedy startup that the device has. There's a ton of software features on board that will most definitely serve all of your basic needs. You can browse the web using FireFox, use Skype with the built-in web cam and microphone, open Word and Excel docs and edit them, view photos, listen to music files, use AOL IM, MSN messenger or just about any other major chat client via Kopete. In other words, all the basic functions you perform on a PC you can do on the EEE PC.

Performance

You already know the bootup time is fast, and I'm happy to say that not once did I ever see an hour glass (or, whatever might indicate "waiting" in this Linux OS) when opening an application. Everything was just instant. Apparently the included Intel 900MHz processor is powerful enough. Unfortunately we didn't have a wireless connection handy when using the device, so I couldn't test the devices abilities to quickly download and process web pages. It is 802.11g capable so I trust throughput speeds would be fast, the question is on how fast the processor can render large web pages.

Software and OS

The home screen is very simple and intuitive. You bootup and see the "Internet" tab where you can quickly double click on any icon there to open an application related to the Internet. There are six different tabs across the top labeled "Web", "Work", "Learn", "Play", "Settings" and Favorites. Each tab had applications or links to websites underneath that corresponded with the description. For instance under the "Learn" tab was a link to Wikipedia -- often some of the icons when double clicked would just launch websites.

There were some pretty intense games under the "Play" tab, I can attest Penguin Racer ran flawlessly and Solitaire was blazing.

Viewing photos on the EEE

Usability

The keyboard is definitely small and takes some getting used to, I initially found that pecking at keys was faster than doing a normal style fast type. It's just hard not to fat finger the wrong key or two keys at once, even if you have medium sized fingers. The keyboard also had a bit of rattle and shake to it, but it definitely worked for getting the job done. Nobody will use this as their main PC, but if you're at Starbucks and want to surf the web and crank out a few emails, the keyboard is absolutely serviceable for that.

Screen

The screen is no 300nit glossy display, but it's absolutely serviceable. Brightness is perfect and coloration is decent.

Ports and Features

I was most impressed to see three USB ports on this thing, and at the same time even more angry that my 14" screen notebook that cost $2,000 only has two USB ports. In a notebook with a 7" screen, what more could you want than what you see is offered below?

Ethernet, Modem, USB port and then headphone and microphone jack

SD card slot, 2 USB hubs, VGA out

Any noise and heat?

On the whole the Asus EEE was very quiet thanks to the flash drive, but it does have a fan and it did make a bit of noise trying to keep itself cool. We were in a very, very warm room (about 80F) during the meeting so the EEE got noticeably warm. If the room temperature was something more sane like 70F then I would expect the EEE would feel much cooler to the touch.

Build and Design

To be honest Asus could have made this thing as ugly as the OLPC (bright green) and it would still be appealing for $250. But as it is there's not much to complain about with design. It's white all over with some black around the screen. It's not glossy or anything fancy, but that means it won't pickup fingerprints either. The LED lights on the front are actually nice.

The build is as you would expect for a budget $250 PC, a little shaky. It felt and looked like plastic and if this thing were stepped on I'm sure the result would not be pretty. Having said that, it didn't feel like it was made of something as thin as milk jug plastic. You'd probably want to just put it in a rigid case if you were carrying it in a backpack with a bunch of books.

Price and Availability

Asus had initially said that the EEE PC would start at $199, but they're thinking now is more like $250 for the 8GB flash drive version and somewhat more for a 16GB version. They're still looking at late August for availability of the device, and it should be offered world-wide.

For the complete review, including more photos and tons of comments, go to Notebookreview Forum.

Asus Eee! Cheap subnotebooks for everyone?

Ars Technica open forum discussion on the Asus Eee.

Asus Eee, Are you getting 1? - Notebookreview Forum Thread

Another on-line discussion on the Asus Eee at the Notebookreview Forum. This one is rather lengthy and makes for good reading while the Asus Eee is still vaporware. At the time of this entry, there were 194 posts.

Asus Eee Discussion in Ubuntu forum

So-so discussion about the Asus Eee in the Ubuntu forum.

The Asus Eee PC 701 as a writng tool

My on-line search on any info on the Asus Eee's power supply led me to this lively discussion over at Flickr Groups on AlphaSmart (a laptop being pushed as a school unit and as a writing tool) and other comparable subnotes, including, of course, the Asus Eee.

One post pertinent to my search -

paleo_paul says:

"There is one significant specification that never seems to be mentioned -- the weight of the wired connection between the computer and the power source for recharging. This may not be so important with a 15" or 17" laptop, but with these two-pounders it could be quite significant.

For instance, if someone could come up with the ability to recharge by using simply a wire (rather than a wired brick) that would make a big difference in portability.

That reduction in weight would be a lot more significant to me than battery life because away-from-home I'd be doing any serious writing on my Neo, not on the little Internet-capable computer. A battery life of only an hour or two would not be a big problem for me.

I have noted, incidentally, that battery life is greatly shortened when one is on the Internet with WiFi. On my Dell laptop, I can't even get two full hours of use when on WiFi. When not on WiFi, battery life is much longer."

Well, that is good insight. But bottom line, still no info on the dimensions, weight, and specifications of the Asus Eee's brick.