Having seen the ASUS EEE PC at the Ad-Ed Camel fayre, I was so impressed that I bought one!
I felt that some of you may like a little information on what it is and what it can do. Mine has the 80GB hard drive fitted.
I recently bought the EEE PC904 HD in white. What a fantastic device! I was looking for something to replace my old Psion organiser (mini pc style) which died a while back. I had software to sync this with windows and it was useful to carry around my dates, schedules, word and excel files. I looked at several PDAs but came around to the idea of a netbook style PC.
For compatibility with windows, I went for the ASUS EEE PC904 with 80G hard drive. It comes with Win XP home and MS Works preloaded. It has anti virrus pre-installed, a web cam and mic array with a mini web video creation package. Win XP was at SP3 level but I have updated the IE browser to V.7. plus other win updates have been rolling in. If you are not an MS fan, It also comes with Sun Microsystems Star Office (an open office package). The only thing lacking is a full version of PPoint (a viewer is supplied).
The free AV package is included with 40? days cover. I have altered mine to AVG Free.
The device has 3 USB ports, headphone and mic sockets, VGA, Ethernet and a security lock socket plus an SD card socket (and power inlet jack). It is well suited to portable use including use with a Digital projector via the VGA Port.
There are two reasonable quality speakers either side of the screen plus a stereo phased array microphone (bottom of screen) and built-in webcam (screen top). These can be used with the supplied applications to easily create av clips.
Construction is very good although don't be tempted to pick up the unit via the lid with the screen exposed. I have seen a number of reports of thumbs going through the LCD (ouch, sounds like a write-off). I have fitted a clear filter / screen protector to my unit, just to keep the LCD clean.
This is such a useful device, it gives you the power of a small PC in something just a bit bigger than an A5 notepad. Even though it is not a speedster, performance is very good. As a bonus, ASUS warranty is 2 years on this device (at the time of writing)
A memory stick is a useful addition as to is a mouse or trackball although the built-in touchpad is quite functional. If you don't already have one, a USB CD/DVD drive should also be on your shopping list. In fact, an external CD/DVD drive adds a new dimension in being able to demo Windows media player and similar applications. Ideal for demos on multi-media.
The other thing to bear in mind that, if like me, you teach at a facility where in house PC's are tightly controlled (as they should be), this provides you with an unteathered, fully functioning PC able to do things that may be restricted on a school network (for example). You can demo things like System tools, settings menus, winXP settings, registry, RIP function for CD to WMA / MP3 etc. Normally restricted in such an environment.
For around £250 for a PC with pre-installed Windows XP OS plus MS works and other packages, this is a fantastic bit of kit that is ready for work as soon as you get it out of the box! Well done ASUS and well done Ad-Ed for using this device!!!
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2 comments:
Hi Bill
As you will have seen from other posts these Eee PC's are building up a bit of a following with our tutors - particularly in family learning.
The only problem I have with them is the location of the shift key on the right hand side - it's in the wrong place if you are a typist! But a small issue for such a useful piece of kit. Great for those of us who travel a lot and want to take a PC along.
What a fantastically positive post, Bill! Your enthusiasm is infectious...I don't need an EEPC at all and yet I want one too!
I will try to post a similarly enthusiastic bit about my HP Tablet PC but I'll have to love it a bit more first - your comment about it being ready to go right out of the box is apt here. My tablet took quite a bit of tweaking, setting up and getting going all of which tends to take the shine off the whole thing, don't you find?
But I'm nearly there and have used it in several meetings now with no problem much to the envy of others present. It doesn't have the immediate loveability of the eepc though...
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