The Asus EeePC Netbook
It is ten times easier to use than any Windows machine, starts twice as fast (no crapware!), Y is only about one-fifth the cost of other systems in its weight class. It's a little rough, but the Eee PC is a very versatile machine for the price.
Designers Asus is no easy task creating an attractive ultraportable while making it cheaper to produce. The case seams match reasonably tight tolerances, plastics feel thick (though the pearl-like white plastics look cheap) the display hinges and molded into the body with the battery. The lifting Cover of the screen is amazingly small keyboard surface and even smaller touchpad resting below the recessed display and speakers. In summary, build quality is very high despite the low cost.
The design of the Eee PC is something truly unique in the market. Weighing just two pounds and delivering a performance level similar to a notebook with all the functions of budget, the only notebook that comes close to "directly" competing with the Eee PC is the Fujitsu LifeBook U810 Tablet PC … that retails for over $ 1,000 at the time of writing this article. The closest competitor, next to the Eee PC would be traditional ultraportables like the Toshiba Portégé R500 ($ 2,000) and the Sony VAIO TZ ($ 3,000).
It is true that more expensive rivals come preloaded Microsoft Windows XP or Vista and feature a range of superior technical specifications … but our review of the Asus Eee PC shows this tiny white giant packs a impressive punch.
The compensation of small form factor of the Eee PC is that your keyboard has to be reduced to a very limited area. The keys are very Small, including delete and return keys, although the shift key on the left and the space bar are of reasonable size. The differences between the keys are less 1 mm. Although the keys are very small and well separated, I found that after using the device for a couple of hours, I began to write errors very few. I can write in about 80% of the speed you get on my desktop machine (with a Zippy WK-620 USB keyboard).
This review was written all about the Eee PC without any feeling of being too narrow. Despite its small proportions, the keys feel firm and provide a sufficient level of resistance and feedback. Having tried Sony Vaio and the GIGABYTE Ultra-Mobile PC, I expected the keyboard of the Eee to be better. However, the keyboard exceeded my expectations.
A couple of minor subtleties with the keyboard are the non-standard marketing of the Change key right, and the vertical bar (|) which require 3 keys to be pressed. The keyboard is heated, but I will expand on this later.
If you open the bottom panel on the Eee PC (which may void the warranty of two years) you'll find a standard of DDR2 RAM slot and a PCI-E mini card slot for possible future expansion. We tested both the Eee PC Memory standard 512 MB and 1GB memory module. Theoretically, a 2GB of RAM should fit in the slot as easily as a 1GB module did not … but have 2GB module available in the office.
The speakers on the Eee PC are hard to miss. Aa are located left and right of the screen and, through their networks black speakers stand out compared to the rest of the book of all white. The location may seem odd, but provides a clear path to the head to enjoy a maximum hearing. Despite the small size of the speakers that worked quite well for watching movies, playing or listening to music while moving room to room in my house. With the volume set to maximum, the decibel meter registered ~ 75dB at one foot. The audio was just a bit of distortion in high notes, but stayed clear.
As is common with small speakers, the high and upper midrange came through well, but the bass did not sound almost as impressive. Thankfully, Asus included a standard headphone jack on the Eee PC so it is very simple to connect headphones or external speakers, if you want a superior listening experience.
About the Author
Writer of this article, Hasan Keril works at a cep telefonu (mobile phone in Turkish) selling company in Turkey. To find more about mobile phones (cep telefonu) check the links.
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