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WheeeeePC!
Well, I'm sitting here tinkering with a neat new toy. I ordered one of the Acer Eee PC computers to test out...and I must say I think I'm liking it. It is a bit on the small side, and typing on the tiny keyboard takes a little bit of getting used to, but the eee pc might put the wheeeee back in computing for just the right users.
I started out just wanting to give it a whirl, but I must say that for the past several hours I haven't been able to put it down. Weighing just about the same as a nice liter of homebrew, it just feels right in my hands, heh heh.
It has tons of features that you'll want in a portable pc: wireless network card (which I'm using right now), wired network port, 3 2.0 USB ports, VGA out, mic and headphones out, and an SD card slot as well.
I have used both the wired and wireless network connections, and both worked without a hitch. The only negative side is that on the wireless connection, I have found no way to store the settings for secure networks that I regularly connect to, nor have I been able to specify a preferance in which available network I wish to connect to, just in case I get tired of stealing the neighbor's broadband.
The LCD screen is a bit on the small side, but it runs at 800x450, so it is more than usable for most websites out there with a minimum of discomfort.
The smaller than normal keyboard DOES take a bit of getting used to however. I am still in the midst of this learning curve though, and while typing this news entry I probably have had to correct a typo about every 15 or 20 letters as I fat finger the wrong key. And believe me, this tiny keyboard will make fat fingers out of the smallest of adult hands. It would be perhaps better suited to a small child, but it is definately more than usable, especially given the small footprint and weight of this tiny little laptop.
Perhaps laptop is a bad description, it is more like a "legtop" computer than anything. It is a meager 6 1/4 inches from front to back when closed, about 9 inches across, and just a tad over an inch high. It will probably fit into one of the pockets of the cargo shorts that I'm planning on wearing to the Second Annual Magic City Brewfest this coming saturday, and if there is an available wireless connection that I can steal while I'm there, I'll try it's remote blogging in a real world situation, heh heh. Perhaps we'll also see how it'll stand up to having a beer or two spilled on it huh? lol.
The operating system installed is a flavor of Linux, so that may put off some of the titty baby Windows users, but hey, we'll call that a feature. You can install XP on it, but given that it only has 4 gigs of solid state storage, that will eat up the available room in hurry, but may make it more usable for most folks. The software comes with a variety of web tools and productivity software, so there is more than enough here to get the job done out of the box.
You programming/hacking geeks out there will love the hacks that are already being done on this bad boy (just google "eee pc hacks" for more information).
One downside that I would say is it's price, which is about $350 for the 4 gig version. I would put it's actual value to me personally in the $200 range, but I'm sure that as bigger faster versions of this thing come out in the future the price will drop for this particular version.
Ok, enough of this mundane typing...lemmie see what else this baby has that I haven't found yet!