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[GrannyGeek]

I like my old Compaq Armada m300, but it's too small for comfort. I can't imagine using something even smaller every day. Small isn't all that great IMO.

Also, the disk space is smaller than I have in even my oldest laptop (a 333 MHz beast), and the resolution is lower too. IMO a second hand laptop is much more value for the same amount of money.

I don't think the eee is a laptop replacement. It's more for having something small and light when you're traveling, taking notes, or need to carry it around. As you say, the disk space is small, but it's large enough to hold the OS and applications provided, which are really all it's intended to run. It will take a flash drive and 8 gig flash drives are now common and inexpensive, and it has a USB port so you could attach an external hard drive, too.

I don't think the small keyboard would be satisfactory for a lot of typing, but it's not really intended for that. If it were your primary computer you could attach a USB keyboard and mouse, but then it's kind of weird to have such a small computer as your main computer. But the price is right, so I could see someone deciding that a light machine for traveling was more important and could be used as a main machine at home with the addition of a USB keyboard and mouse. I think you might be able to hook up an external monitor, too, but I'd have to check that. I mean, if you used the computer away from the office or home 90% of the time, ultralight weight becomes very important. There are plenty of ultralight notebook computers out there, but for much more than $400 US. The new MacBook Air starts at $1800 US, I think, and other ultralights are similarly expensive.

I'd like to see the screen. With monitors, I like them big.<g> But surprisingly, I find the small screen on my Sony Clie to be quite satisfactory for reading large amounts of text, much to my surprise. I've loaded PDF magazines into it using Adobe Reader for Palm and even those that weren't formatted for reading on a PDA are easy to read.
--GrannyGeek

[The Headacher]

it will not replace any laptop I have (or will get) but instead will be more like an oversized PDA.

I don't see it as an equivalent of a Laptop, but as a replacement for handhelds, perhaps ipod, sub-notebooks or a portable multimedia station.

I don't think the eee is a laptop replacement. It's more for having something small and light when you're traveling, taking notes, or need to carry it around.

For something that's not supposed to be used as a laptop it sure looks a lot like one... I never use any of the above mentioned devices, except subnotebooks, but I hardly ever touch those old m300's. My current laptop can do everything those devices can do, there's no need for them (well, except for the mp3 player). Perhaps that's why I don't see the use for the eee. Still, I'd prefer a second hand subnotebook to the eee. My previous trouble with Asus laptops have convinced me never to buy their hardware again.

From what I read here, it seems like it's primarily meant to be used to show off to your friends and as a toy. I don't think it looks all that hot, it just looks like a crappy version of a macbook. My philosophy about buying the eee in addition to a laptop is "Don't get a toy to do a laptops job".

I'm not saying people shouldn't buy one of these eee things, but if I were looking for something light I'd still look for a second hand laptop or subnotebook first.

With that said, I wish anyone who buys one the best of luck with it. If my experiences with Asus are any indication, you're gonna need it.

[rbistolfi]

I could agree, The Headacher. But I see an scenario where something like the Eee is useful, and is when you actually have to carry the laptop the hole day. But that is my personal preference, I really don't like to carry many things  .But as you say, for many needs a second hand sub-notebook will be enough. I know a guy who offer networking services for enterprises, and he has an old Texas Instrument with BSD, he just connect to the client's network and run his scripts. I have a Zaurus with a 200mhz cpu and 64mb of ram suitable for the same thing. Sadly the CF network card is broken .

[BlueMage]

Oh, I still intend to replace my current laptop (thanks all for helping me getting her up and running with Vector by the way folks) and intend to do so sometime relatively soon, but it will be with a similarly sized creature.  Another 15.4" incher I imagine.  Now, if only I could find a bloody standard aspect-ratio laptop that WASN'T a Dell, I'd be set.  But no, even my beloved Acer has thrown standard aspect ratio to the winds of widescreen.

Regardless, it will be nice to get some decent performance that lasts for more than just 3 hours.  Still, I will never get the same value for money that my Acer had - a 5200AUD laptop for 3000AUD?  Bloody steal.  And for something that's lasted me over three years ... yeah, I'd say I got my money's worth, and then some.  Uni would've been a lot harder were it not for that laptop.

[easuter]

I'd rather get a second hand Libretto or one of those really cool Vaio Picturebooks than an EEE PC.

[lighans]

From what I read here, it seems like it's primarily meant to be used to show off to your friends and as a toy. I don't think it looks all that hot, it just looks like a crappy version of a macbook. My philosophy about buying the eee in addition to a laptop is "Don't get a toy to do a laptops job".

Well, there is a consideration for me to buy one (if I had the money to buy a second laptop). I think the flash is more shockproof than a harddisk. I could take it into my bike to my work. I wouldn't do that with my normal laptop (acer aspire).
(into my bike?, yes: http://kali.fali.nl 

[sullysat]

The thing I still haven't heard are impressions of anyone who actually bought one of these on here...  The Eee PC forum is a little, well.... biased.

I bought my eeepc in December primarily as a replacement notebook for traveling and for use when I meet with clients outside of the office.  So far, I have been very impressed with the machine and its capabilities.  It offers Open Office, Firefox, and decent applications for everything that I would normally do on the road.

I've written a few documents and actually had to produce to Powerpoint presentations on it and that all worked without difficulty, but the smaller keyboard DOES take some getting used to.  For what I use it for, its biggest asset is that it has the best wireless connection of ANY device I've ever used.

As a relative newcomer to Linux, I was excited about the eeepc because it is designed to run well with Linux and I'm all for not using MS if I can help it.  The only issues with the operating system, for me, are that its locked down pretty good unless you tweak it to get to full desktop, which I've done, and I'd like to add a couple of little apps that would be useful for me.

After spending months playing with every distro I could get my hands on, Vector is in the top three for me and the only one I'll use when I build a new system for someone else now.  I'd love to see it optimized to run well on the eepc.  Until then, I'll probably just stick with the Xandros version the eeepc comes with.

Sully

[caitlyn]

I'd rather get a second hand Libretto or one of those really cool Vaio Picturebooks than an EEE PC.

Interesting, since I mainly want the Eee as a replacement for my old Libretto.  The keyboard on my Libretto SS1010 is actually smaller than that on the Eee.  I like the idea of no moving parts to fail for one thing.  I like the faster processor speed than any Libretto save the U105, which is much more expensive.  I definitely like the price.

Sully:  Thanks for the report.  That's the kind of first hand experience I was looking for.

[Kocil]

I bought one too, last week. My impression ...
For me:
THIS IS THE FISRT COMPUTER that
COMES WITH A WONDERFULL LINUX INSTALLED,
READY TO USE

Without any hacking, I got :
- Nice user interface
- Relativelly complete applications
- Multimedia is ON
- 3D Video is enabled already
- Network & Wireless works flawlessly, and a nice configurator
 
So far, I have found only one bug.
The MMC memory and flash disk were mounted with no write permission for users.
Not sure though, maybe this is a feature for virus prevention.

Oh yeah, did I mention there are an Anti Virus Utility too ?

I really wish more and more PCs will come with Linux inside too.

[BlueMage]

Pretty sure it is a feature.  Actually, by default root doesn't get write permissions either - you have to remount it as a read-write filesystem.

Other than that, I'm loving my Eee   Enabled a few other repos, got a few debian packages, plus I've got Puppeee on a 2GB SD card, so I'm set with my little sublaptop

Oh, and I installed ZSNES so I can play all my perfectly legit backups of games for which I still own the cartridges.

[blurymind]

i want one of those badly, but it doesnt have a cd-rom or enough memory.
A big flash memory usb is a must for this thing.

[BlueMage]

You'd be surprised actually - 4GB is plenty so far.  However, I'm seriously contemplating putting Vector Light on it instead of Xandros.

[caitlyn]

You'd be surprised actually - 4GB is plenty so far.  However, I'm seriously contemplating putting Vector Light on it instead of Xandros.

What made you choose the 4GB model instead of the 8GB model?  Was the price difference too large.  With the 8GB you could easily install VL Standard instead of Light if you wanted. 

[BlueMage]

Actually, I think I got the 4GB because ... they didn't have any other models available at Myers   But it's not an issue - I enjoy tweaking and optimising for challenging systems - it's why I still use the optical-drive-less slim-client machine I got from work - it's a challenge to get just about ANYTHING working on it correctly

Besides, VL-Light lets you basically build it from the ground up, no?  You get the core basics, everything else you put in yourself, right?  I'm fine with that.

[tomh38]

Apparently Sony is worried about the effect of the low cost Eee PC might have on their profits.

Story here:

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9879798-7.html

Tom