Asus EEEPC

Rhys · Feb 5, 2008

Is the EEEPC worth bothering with when you have a normal sized laptop?

I looked at it and thought it's a handy size to toss in a camera backpack. It's also handy because it's got a solid-state hard drive so it doesn't matter if it gets bumped and banged.

I have a Hyperdrive HD80 that would work well with that. The only problem is that as the thing uses Linux I might not be able to find decent RAW editing software for my XT and 30D files.

Idly I was thinking of it because I am looking at a couple of long flights in the near future.

jedithebomber · Feb 5, 2008

900mhz celeron, 512mb ram, 8gb flash memory, 7in 800 x 480 lcd. It would be hard to imagine a more horrible photo editing experience. It may be a good way to store photos, and maby view them on the go?

Antithesis · Feb 5, 2008

I've seen a few fellow students taking notes on these and I wondered what they were. Seems like a cool idea. If you had a larger hard drive and you could try and calibrate that dinky little monitor, it wouldn't be too bad for doing basic exposure and color correction on the go.

It also appears that you can get a version with a gig of ram. My only concern using that little thing would be the frustratingly small hard drive.

Sideburns · Feb 5, 2008

I've seen one. Seriously, it's too small and slow to be good for anything more than store and view photos on the go.
The keys aren't even normal size...

I guess it's ok if that's all you want..but then again...you can use an iPod as a photo storage and viewing device as well...and they come with huge harddrives...

Garbz · Feb 6, 2008

There's another problem too. As far as I remember this thing has only 1 USB socket. Given the hdd is 8gb and a bit of that taken by the OS, chances are you can't even download an entire memory card. And given that it has 1 socket it means external HDD AND a usb hub. All of a sudden you're lugging a lot of crap around again.

If you want something small for photo editing I'd wait till the Lenovo X3000 comes out (i think that's the model anyway). It's slightly larger but significantly more useful. I've been wanting the Asus EEEPC for ages but I simply can't find something I could do with it.

As far as I am concerned it's a machine for writers who just need a keyboard and maybe some email.

Rhys · Feb 6, 2008

Lol. Yes. I love the size. I love the fact it has a SSHD. I can't say the rest of the package is all that great. The MacBook Air looks more interesting although if I wanted to spend $1600 then I could just stick a 128GB SSHD into my existing laptop.

Alex_B · Feb 6, 2008

I am using the Lenovo X60s for storage and processing while travelling.

not the best screen ever, but at least it has got enough power to batch convert
RAW and to work with photoshop properly

And compared to my camera gear it is lightweight and small ..

Rhys · Feb 6, 2008

Looks neat. I'm amazed Lenovos are so expensive given that they're Chinese.

Atropine · Feb 6, 2008

Rhys said:
Looks neat. I'm amazed Lenovos are so expensive given that they're Chinese.

And Macs are produced in a castle in Switzerland? I thought everyone knew by now that practically all components in our elecronic equipment is made in China or some other low salary country. And they are often able to produce any quality you want on the stuff as long as you are willing to pay.

Antithesis · Feb 6, 2008

Garbz said:
There's another problem too. As far as I remember this thing has only 1 USB socket. Given the hdd is 8gb and a bit of that taken by the OS, chances are you can't even download an entire memory card. And given that it has 1 socket it means external HDD AND a usb hub. All of a sudden you're lugging a lot of crap around again.

If you want something small for photo editing I'd wait till the Lenovo X3000 comes out (i think that's the model anyway). It's slightly larger but significantly more useful. I've been wanting the Asus EEEPC for ages but I simply can't find something I could do with it.

As far as I am concerned it's a machine for writers who just need a keyboard and maybe some email.

It has 4 USB 2.0 ports according to their website. If you did have an external HD like the poster mentioned, I don't think it would be too bad of a little computer. I used to run photoshop 9 and several other programs on a 600 MHz, 128mb ram POS laptop, as well as doing most of my school work on it, and it worked just fine.

I was thinking it would be cool to have one and use my 80gb Ipod as storage, but I already have a Macbook and I'm not all that concerned with carrying an extra 4 lbs.

Rhys · Feb 6, 2008

I'm kinda 50/50 over the Asus. It looks neat but so often the neat-looking stuff turns out to be a lemon. As somebody else said: it's an "emerging" technology. I like the fact it doesn't use Windows. There's a lot to like about it. Practicality though means it's probably not up to more than basic web surfing and email applications.

Generally I'm moving more toward using an external hard drive for everything and just keeping the laptop/desktop clean.

Garbz · Feb 7, 2008

Antithesis said:
It has 4 USB 2.0 ports according to their website.

You're right, sorry my mistake I got confused with the Macbook air.

I'm amazed Macs are so expensive given they are made in China

Rhys · Feb 7, 2008

Garbz said:
You're right, sorry my mistake I got confused with the Macbook air.

I'm amazed Macs are so expensive given they are made in China

Seriously... Look at it like this...

A shirt made of American cotton grown by American farmers in America, harvested by American workers (not illegal immigrants), baled, spun and woven by American workers then sold in American shops will be much more expensive than a shirt made of indian cotton, grown by Indian workers in India then shipped to America and sold in American shops.

All the labour intensive stuff is done overseas and the parts sourced overseas. The Chinese make the electronic components, put the electronic components together with Chinese labour. We all know that the average Chinaman lives and works for a week on less than the price of a cup of coffee from Starbucks. So where are the savings? Why are Lenevos (designed, built from Chinese made parts in China using Chinese cheap labour) so horribly expensive?

I am not sold by all this outsourcing to China on the basis that the price of goods has not reduced accordingly. I pay the more now (counting inflation) for items that are made in China that I was paying before for items not made in China. There is no knock-on saving for the consumer although the goods are now of more dubious quality.

The economics are that stuff made in China and shipped is cheaper. I have a suspicion that somebody in Lenevo is milking the market and that somebody in Apple is also milking the market.

Alex_B · Feb 7, 2008

the lenovo design (well, based on IBM design) is very robust, those laptops you actualy can drop while the harddrive is on.

Rhys · Feb 7, 2008

Alex_B said:
the lenovo design (well, based on IBM design) is very robust, those laptops you actualy can drop while the harddrive is on.

This is one reason why I'm waiting with baited breath for solid-state hard drives to plummet in price. They will survive impacts of 1500g and will be usable at high altitude.