Usage Discussion and Conclusions
Asus Eee PC 4G HardwareThe small size of the Asus Eee PC 4G is either going to be its main selling point for you or its main drawback. As I already discussed, typing on it can be a bit cumbersome but after just a few documents of practice I grew more comfortable typing on its small keyboard. Writing a thesis on it might not be the best idea but I can see making a good rough draft out line of it on the Eee PC without much issue.
Despite the keyboard the size of the Asus Eee PC wasn’t anything but a blessing in most instances. I tried replacing my 15″ notebook with it in my bag and walking around for a while with it on my shoulders and as you’d expect there was a lot less strain. If anyone else has the pleasure of carrying around a notebook while walking around Taipei and/or Las Vegas during trade shows, you will undoubtedly love the advantages the Eee PC’s weight and size give you.
Cheap enough to let your kids play on it!
The rest of the hardware on the unit worked as expected — the USB drives work just as you would expect on Windows machine as I plugged in my iPod, USB keys and more without any issues. The integrated webcam was good enough quality to do basic still shots or movies as well Skype-based video conferencing. The screen was adequately bright and didn’t cause me any eyestrain in my time with it though of course we did have to do more scrolling than normal around websites to see the whole picture.
Heat was not an issue either, as we would expect with a system that had a max power draw of around 20 watts. Sitting the Eee PC on the table didn’t create any hot spots around where you would be using a mouse and even setting it on my lap didn’t cause any discomfort on the legs as I have had previous notebooks do even when they weren’t doing gaming. The battery life if good at 2.5 to 3.0 hours but I honestly expected more out of it based on the other features of size and weight. Still, you should be able to use it throughout a full day with minimal start up and shut down times.
The Asus Eee PC does lack an optical drive as well as a PCMCIA (PC Card) slot that most other notebooks will have but I don’t think they’ll be overly missed on a unit of this size.
Asus Eee PC 4G Software
The integrated Linux operating system was surprisingly more than adequate for all the various things I would see myself doing with an ultra mobile notebook. The inclusion of OpenOffice was a big step in getting people working on the system especially when out of the reach of any kind wireless internet to access Google Docs and the other online-only software that is on the Asus Eee PC.
The boot time is obviously another one of the great features of the system and is thanks to the small but fast solid-state 4GB disk drive it uses. The applications take just a few seconds to start up on average, no more or less time than we would expect to see on a normal system. Because of the somewhat underpowered hardware on the laptop though, the delay between a click and the result is sometimes noticeable but was never enough for me to get frustrated.
I do wish that Asus would have allowed users to install and uninstall their own applications more easily, but I can see Asus’ trouble with trying to support a notebook with such an unfamiliar operating system if people start trying to modify it. I also have confidence that those users that DO know enough about the OS to get inside and start installing things will be able to handle any issues that crop up.
Windows XP?
One interesting note from Asus is that even though it doesn’t come with the Eee PC, the system can run Windows XP. Vista is obviously out of the question because of the hard disk size and performance issues but I am very curious to see how Windows XP performs on it and how many applications we might be able to get loaded on it. Once I get my full review sample I plan on trying just that — guess I better get my USB-based XP software prepared!
Pricing and Availability
According to Asus, the Eee PC 4G should be available starting in November, which is just a couple days away according to my calendar. There are two different prices that are going to be available at launch that differentiate with the drive size and the installed RAM. Our model had a 4GB hard drive with 512MB of system memory and is going to have an MSRP of $299 while another should have 1GB of system memory and an 8GB hard drive for $100 more. These prices make it probably the lowest cost notebook PC on the market and should be an appealing option for anyone that was considering another UMPC or ultra mobile notebook.
As for availability, my guess is that it is going to be tight for some time. While I don’t think Asus will sell one every 2 seconds in the US as they did in Taiwan, the limited nature of the stock in the US will force people to jump on them when they see them for sale. We initially heard that these were going to be sold at Best Buy stores but that no longer seems to be the case — expect to find them at stores like Fry’s and online only for the time being.
I just checked our online pricing engine and found only one entry for “asus eee” and it is a preorder for the model I tested for sale at $399. Take that for what you like.
Update: It would appear that Newegg has the model we reviewed here for sale NOW for $399!
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Final Thoughts
The Asus Eee PC 4G is a unique notebook solution that I think will be more successful in the US than many people are giving it credit for. Even though it might not be completely embraced here as it was in Taiwan, the features of it make it stand out as a great mobile computing solution. The combination of incredibly fast boot times, low weight and size and even a small price at just $300-400 will bring more attention to this Asus notebook than any previous one. For people on the go that need a simple computing solution, the Asus Eee PC 4G might be the perfect fit.
Be sure to use our price checking engine to find the best prices on the Asus notebooks, and anything else you may want to buy!
