EEE PC or Laptop
 

Never had a laptop, always wanted one. Nobody would buy one for me and my parents would always threaten to kick me out of I bought a laptop. They figured if i couldnt afford to pay rent then I couldnt afford a laptop. What they dont understand is that in order for me to be able to pay rent, I need a laptop. I need to be able to do what I want to my computer without worrying about whether or not my mom can access her email through MSN Explorer (We have Windows XP and since she learned how to access her email in Windows ME, I had to download the obsolete MSN Explorer because she doesnt understand what http://www.hotmail.com means) I want to get A++ Certified and the desktop that we have at home, while I have maintained it and upgraded it to its max specs, is obsolete. A Dell Dimension 4100 from the year 2000. I have learned all I can from this proprietary system.

I just decided to grow some balls and buy myself a laptop regardless of what they think or say. Keep in mind I am 26 and live at home, so I guess they have a right to say what they say to me.

I am pretty experienced with PC's although I wouldnt call myself a guru or an expert. Truth be told, I have fallen behind in my knowledge of hardware. For the first time in my computer life, I have failed. SATA, SSD, Dual Core, Quad Core, even the P4 have passed me up. I'm stuck on a P3 1ghz with 512mb of PC133 with a 200gb ATAHD and an ATI Radeon 9200 -- Thats pretty much as high as it goes.


Long story short.

EEE PC or budget laptop as a companion to my N800

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Thank you. Any recommendations on an upgradeable laptop for less than $500 (new or used) I really need to be able to mess around with the bios settings, overclock, video card upgrades, ram, anything. I have fallen out of touch, I need to get back.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

You.... You wanna get A++ certified...

But you can't pick out your own laptop? This is comical.

www.newegg.com

Thank me later.

Oh, and upgradeable laptop is an oxy*****.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Walmart, January 25th - Everex Cloudbook (http://www.everex.com/). Same essential dimensions as the EEE but with a 30 GB hard drive.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Where do you get your info? You are totally wrong!! The eee is available in 2,4 & 8 gb models. I have the 770, 800, 810 & the eee 8g and I love all of them. I can't stand it when people put down something when they know nothing about it, fanboys are ridiculous. Do some research before you post false info.
To the OP, I would get an eee over a laptop if portability is your main concern, however, if you need a powerful laptop with dedicated graphics then the eee is not for you. Personally, I would get a laptop and an eee as a secondary laptop, they are cheap enough $300-500 depending on which model you get. Plus, you can add a 16gb sdhc card to the eee for only $75 and have a ton of storage. Get the eee it's great!

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

thank you syntra. i already knew of newegg. yes i could pick my own laptop but i was just looking for community input. so i will thank you later. to chris and billion..thank you for real information. i didnt know of the options that were available for the EEE and I had no idea that the Cloudbook was coming out so soon! As much as i hate Wallmart, I may be taking a trip there shortly.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Awesome rhetoric and personal feelings flying around here, but you've got to make the right choice for you.

You've got a few main factors to consider.

1.) Screen size. I have an EEE. I love my EEE. The screen size is small, 7 inches @ 800x480. I've got to move windows half off the screen to click 'OK' buttons and the like at the bottom. However, I'm fine with that. :) You can also plug the EEE into an external monitor and get higher resolutions, so for home use you might be fine with it. With laptops, the bigger the screen the bigger the unit obviously... which brings me to...

2.) Size. I have a widescreen Dell Latitude D620 as my work laptop sitting here and I'd hate to lug that thing around. It weighs a few pounds and after holding my laptop bag for an hour on the commute it hurts my shoulder. The EEE could fit into a cargo pocket and is less than 3 lbs. It's as big as a paperback book (well, a larger size one) :)

3.) Power. Power ain't all that it used to be. I've been using the same desktop since Feb 2004... a P4 3Ghz w/1GB Ram and a 256MB Geforce 5700TX video card. Only thing I upgraded was HD space (added a 320 gigger to the 80GB I bought it with). If you want to play high end games, don't even consider the EEE for a second. If you wanna browse the internet, play simpler games, do the whole Office suite thing, keep the EEE in the running.

4.) Usability. The EEE keyboard could be considered a form of torture if someone made you right out a 30 page thesis on it. For quick msg board posts, email, etc, it's great and does the job well. You can still plug an external USB keyboard into it for home use.

5.) Expandability. My EEE has a 4GB SSD and 512MB of RAM. I could easily upgrade to 1-2GB of ram (same as a laptop, unscrew the panel on the bottom, slap it in). Another thing the EEE offers is an SD card slot built into the machine. I have an 8GB SDHC card ($40) that I keep lots of media on. The 4GB is for installed apps (full blown Ubuntu install plus a few games like Wolfenstein Enemy Territory and I still have a gig free). So space-wise, it's not so bad.

Look at those points and see which way you lean.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

I just pop in my 2 G ram from Newegg.com, will need to hack it to take the full 2G. It is under $40 USD, maybe cheaper now with the higher Can$?


bun

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Computer fundamentals haven't changed in the last 15 years. A laptop isn't going to teach you anything that your parent's 8 year old desktop won't, especially not an EEE, which bears little to no resemblance to the vast majority of computer hardware in the world.

So yeah, go buy a laptop or an EEE for a toy if you want to, but your parents are right. If you can't afford to pay rent, you probably shouldn't be buying a laptop. If you want a new computer that is going to teach you A++-type stuff, build a cheap desktop with parts from newegg. If you want a good companion to your n800 for work and travel, I recommend a budget laptop.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

... Ok seriously, the main difference between a laptop and an EEE aside from size and power are: Laptops don't have solid state HDDs. The EEE doesn't have PCMCIA slots or an optical drive. So far as it being a toy goes, have you used one? If you have and you stand by your opinion, I for one, think you are on crack, sir. :)

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Well A+ certification isn't going to get you far, you'll also need to be MCSE certified if you want a decent paying job. Your best bet is a full blown laptop so that you can put dual boot operating systems on it such as Linux and M$. Also you can usually find 0% interest financing at such places as Best Buy or Circuit City; makes buying a laptop pretty easy when monthly payments are $25.

Lastly, I don't know your situation, but at 26 years old you need to get on the ball here and the balls you need are not for buying a computer. The technology industry is a very competitive industry that looks for talented hard working people. Maybe you fell on some hard times that required to live at home, but at the same time I can't blame your parents for looking for rent money. Along with getting certifications I hope you are involved in a technical school as well.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

I am looking for a stepping stone and I figured A+ was a good starting point. Yes, I will be going to a technical school as well. MCSE would be my next step. We all have to start somewhere.

Thanks for the advice on the laptop option. It seems that would a better choice for my needs. However, People have always told me never to buy a laptop from a big box retailer. But that seems like the most economical option.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

That screen is just too tiny to do anything seriously productive on. I mean light editing or surfing might be alright, but there simply isn't a replacement for screen real-estate. Not to mention the abysmal battery life. On the "mobile device continuum" it's more powerful than an n800/810 but not as powerful as even a budget laptop. If you compare mobile devices to golf clubs, with the mobile phone as a putter, and a desktop replacement laptop as a driver, the eee is a 54 degree wedge. It's certainly useful, but if you have to drop one thing from your bag when you travel, that's the first thing I'd get rid of, given that I had an n800 and a laptop.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

This is a off topic to this forum, but I think i'ts worth it...

IMHO your mistaking the ability to "talk along" with real knowledge, DDR13/pentuim31 whatever is not relevant. like said, the PC form factor is not changed for ages.... and companies will not pay you because you're able to talk along wich Nvidea chipset is the "best" .
Unless you have a compelling reason to work mobile forget the laptop.
If you're serious to get into "IT" (and not in showing off doom8 benchmark results) I suggest to get (for the same money as a entry level portable) a cheap big tower, a rock stable motherbord and a entry level AMD/INTEL cpu (no not a via C7), a cluncky but dirt cheap *big* CRT screen and 2 gig ram (or more for a 64 biy host - but 2 gig is a start) and lots and lots of hdd space.
Install windows or linux and then download vmware server (it's free) and then start playing around.
It will allow you to play with your own full blown virtual network on your own pc, learning tcp/ip basics like routing and firewalls/packet sniffers.
make vmware images for several clients (different windows versions for example), win domain controllers, web servers on linux, samba sharing, etc,etc...
and then mess things up/play with it.

decide what you want to do/what you like
* OS support? every idiot claims to "know windows" (and imho very few MCE's actually do) it's hard to distinct yourself in that area.
* databases? learn Linux / windows basics first and then get Oracle 11g from their website (or a other RDBMS) and start reading. Knowing a RDBMS like DB2/Oracle/Sqlserver is really good for $$$. trust me on that one.
* webservices? learn Linux / BSD basics first and then hit apache
* networking? try setting up a vmware env with OS/2, dos (yeah really), windows 93/ZP/brista en a few flavors of L/Unix clients and a few win/linux servers ... all the problems will give you lot's of things to discover and learn.
* coding? check your local offer for jobs and see what they ask for the moment - java? C? #? I'm no programmer besides SQL, might ask other input on this one...
* learn what the word "backup" actually means....

buy (or download - but a paper book is much more fun to read) one or 2 reference books ( O'Reilly are good) in the area you're interested in to "bootstrap" , all the rest of the information is free on the net.

you can then even take remote control of your env trough the Nokia :) how 's that for "portable"? ;)

greetz from a complete self taught IT idiot

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Depends on what you mean by productive. I travel a lot and would MUCH rather leave my laptop behind (lord knows I've B&Med enough about traveling with a laptop), yet I can still work quite efficiently on a 7" screen (not an EEE, but a PP3 with a USB keyboard).

Granted, I'm not doing graphics. I'm doing translations in an office suite environment. For me, as long as I have something that's Word/Excel/Powerpoint compatible, I'm productive.

R.
==

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

I guess it just depends on what line of work you're in, I suppose. I can't imagine doing much graphics work on a 7" screen. Basic editing/word processing might not be too bad. Working on a complex powerpoint, or biggish excel spreadsheet, less so. I also HAVE to have an optical drive when I travel. USB-based media aren't an option. By the time you drag enough peripherals around to make an EEE or tablet PC as powerful as my laptop, you're hauling around just as much crap and it's now all tethered around with messy cables.

It's still a pain to carry a laptop, granted, but ultra mobile devices just aren't there yet. That new lenovo airbook sized thing might be interesting though.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

The Eee has replaced both my desktop and my laptop. The screen is plenty big enough for most uses, even for my 60 year-old eyes. It does dual or treble boot as easily as anything else, maybe easier. You can boot whatever you like off the USB or SD ports. Lots of people are installing WinXP on the SSD and booting various Linux distros off sticks or SD cards. The Eee is a full computer, just in a smaller box, which makes it far easier to carry but it's just as productive as anything else. My big HP laptop now makes a fine doorstop, because it's just too big and heavy to carry around, and the Eee will do absolutely anything it will do, and do it faster and longer. If you need optical media, just plug one into the USB port, as well as a terabyte HD if you want. The package will still be lighter and smaller than a huge laptop. You can also plug an external monitor and/or keyboard in and use that if you have to have a bigger screen. Don't slag something you've never seen or used. Your ignorance shows very clearly.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

I just said that I don't like carrying around a bunch of kludgy external devices to do things that a laptop can do with what's built-in. See how long the battery lasts when you are running an external HDD and DVD writer off it. I don't want to have to plug a bluetooth dongle into the thing to use my cell phone as a modem. I don't want to be stuck typing on a smaller-than-normal keyboard with keys laid out funky. I don't want to have to squint at a tiny little 7" screen, especially on websites that have complex layouts. And I can't imagine that it's a champ at doing video transcoding and the like, not with 900mhz of processor.

I'm not bashing the EEE, I'm just saying there are a lot of things about it that make it less-than-optimal for me, and how I use computers. If I was hiking across america, I'd make do with using it because of it's form factor. If I'm just toting my laptop from the car to the airplane and to the hotel, I'll live with a backpack and 6 or so lbs of laptop. It's an amazing machine, it's just not right for everyone.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Get a used laptop. A thinkpad R52 or T42 from eBay. They are about the same price as the eee but you get a lot more out of them.

If you want something small, get a X40 or X41.

All these are between 300 to 500 dollars. You might even be able to buy an R50/51/52 for less than 300.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

I don't own an Eee, nor have I played with one. I can say, though, as a person interested in getting into IT or programming, the Eee is a really bad choice. Yes it's a computer, and it's cool in its own right, but it's not made to be a replacement for a desktop or laptop, instead it's geared as more of an "on the go" system. That alone should be enough to make you pick a budget laptop over an Eee. Plus, the Eee may be fast enough to do what most people want to do, but a budget laptop will be much faster and will therefore likely make for a better "every day" computer, not a travel companion. Plus, the screen resolution is the same as the N800/N810, it's just a bigger screen. You already have the portable computing angle covered with the N800, now you need a real computer.

If you're not hooked on the portable, whet polossatik said is absolutely brilliant. Build (don't buy) a desktop. You learn quite a bit from researching components and putting it all together, and in the end you'll spend less and get more than if you built a laptop. His/her suggestion about VMWare is also brilliant; the best way to learn anything is to do it. If you chose Linux as your main OS, you could also use VirtualBox for a lot of your needs (an OSS alternative to VMWare). Virtual environments aren't quite the real thing, but they are a great learning tool. You could probably do the same with a laptop that's slightly better than budget, but building your own system definitely has a lot of merit; again, if you can deal with your machine not being portable. That's my 2 cents I guess.

As an aside, why does every topic involving the Eee have to degrade into a debate about the Eee vs a budget laptop? The guy asked a simple question, why can't anyone give him a simple answer? The Eee has its place, and it fits the need of some people very well, others not so much, and still others not at all. Fanboy vs. anti-fanboy helps nobody....

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

His simple question was laptop vs. eee :) I'm not a fanboy or anti-fanboy. I actually want an EEE. I just wouldn't want one over a laptop. I think in his case, he's probably best served by a new desktop, but if he's not amiable to that, a laptop is his next best choice. He's already got an ultra-portable machine in the n800, which can do much of what the eee does with a few modifications and a 30 dollar bluetooth keyboard. Obviously he's financially constrained, so that's a consideration as well.

I agree with you, though.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

I played with a Cloudbook at CES. My only significant gripe about it was the touch pad. It's near the right hinge and only about one square inch of surface area - intended to be operated with the thumb. Ow.

But then - I am an Eee owner and welcome the 30 GB drive. Especially since it's running gOS on shipping so Ubuntu linux drivers are already sorted out.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Regarding the original question: Choose a machine based on what you want to do with it. If you want a web browser, Email reader, and music player, go low end with either a super-cheap Dell or an Eee or Cloudbook. If you want to edit video, write music, and bag college girls, get a Mac. If you want to run high-end games, you can't afford that laptop. Don't worry - neither can I. If you want a good all-around laptop, look for a cheap Pentium M or Core Duo from last year on clearance.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

The whole point is just that IMHO he's asking the wrong question :)
I suggest to let's see what's mooler's idea after all the input and take it from there :rolleyes:

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Yes, he's asking the wrong question. I agree with that. But people who have never seen a device saying that it's too slow, or too small, or won't do something, are out of line, IMO. The Eee is faster than my HP laptop. It certainly isn't for heavy graphics or gaming, but for the things most people do, including programming, it's better than a budget laptop, because it's faster, especially running Linux instead of Windows, it's smaller and lighter, and it's cheaper in the long run. Flash memory is getting cheaper, and you can plug a USB stick in and have plenty. Optical drives are only good for making permanent backups now, because you can get far more memory on a USB flash drive than is available on a CD or even a DVD for very little money, and it's easily and quickly rewritable. DVDs are going to be obsolete rather soon for most uses. Lack of a DVD drive isn't a major drawback any longer, and neither is lack of a hard drive, which uses battery power quickly. I've been looking for exactly what the Eee provides for some time, and would have been willing to pay more than double the price. It's not for everyone, and that's why they sell so many different types of computer, from handhelds to huge desktops. Everybody's needs and wants are different, and they vote with their pocketbooks, or at least their credit cards. The OP can use what he has to do what he needs, but doesn't want to. An Eee is the cheapest way to get a new computer that has the capabilities he needs. You don't need a huge screen for programming, or learning networking. If you want something you can use anywhere, anytime, and can easily take with you wherever you go, it fits the bill. You can get a new desktop much cheaper, and the one he has will do the job, but it's pretty much stuck in one place. Whether money or portability is more important is an individual decision.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

None of that makes it better than a Thinkpad X series though. It has similar dimensions/weight to the eee(not quite as small, but small enough) without any of the sacrifices. 12" LCD with a usable resolution is pretty important IMO.

The eee has the same resolution as the n800, and using a full KDE desktop isnt possible without running into issues of windows being too large. At least on the NIT the limitation makes sense, but a 2 pound $400 laptop should be able to run a modern OS and desktop. Asus had originally intended to make a 10" version of the eee(which I fully intended to purchase) but when they got rid of the 10" WXGA version and jacked up the price, the n800 became a lot more attractive for ultraportability and regular subnotebooks started being much more practical in comparison.

Also, instead of the cloudbook, everex sells a $199 desktop at wal mart, that is about as low as you can go, and it is an excellent machine. You can buy a 19" LCD for another $130 and be all set.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Well, we can disagree, I guess. Price is an object for many. The lack of a HD is a plus for me. 12 inches is far too large for me. The windows aren't that big a problem, because you can drag them anywhere by holding the Alt key while dragging. Most are fine, but some apps require it because they've hard-coded the window size. Poor programming, but we have to live with it. It runs any modern OS around that any other Intel box will run. I agree that you can get a desktop cheaper. I got my desktop at Fry's for under $200 at Fry's, several years ago. I had to install Windows on it, though, because Windows costs more than $200, even on an OEM box. I wasn't up for Linspire at the time. I'm seriously considering putting some version of Linux back on it, though. Windows takes forever to boot, while my Eee go from completely off to ready to go in about 20 seconds, to the full desktop. From standby, it takes maybe 5. There are lots of choices, and making the correct choice is more difficult when people with no actual knowledge obfuscate things with uninformed opinions. I couldn't be happier with my Eee, but not everyone feels the same way. You need some computer knowledge to do more than the basics with it, but that doesn't bother me. It does some who only know Windows.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Flash drives are a non-starter for me, since I cannot use them at work, or take them anywhere I have work to do. The ONLY way for me to transfer files from one machine to another, or even from home to work, is via optical non-rewritable media. Hell, a floppy drive is still a bonus for me sometimes, as there are machines I work on that do not have a CD ROM. A hard drive might use battery power more quickly, but can store a heck of a lot more data than any SSD in a reasonable form factor. Plus, the form factor of the EEE makes it difficult to put a reasonable battery on it, so it's really not a matter of it being better, but a matter of necessity.

Also, I want XP on my laptop. I don't WANT to run Linux. I don't WANT to use openoffice. I want to run Windows XP, and office 2007. It's what I use at work, it's mostly what I use at home and it's what I want to use when I'm on the road. I have plenty of mobile-optimized devices for when I don't want to pull out a full-fledged device (Treo, n800, ipod etc). When I pull out a laptop, I want a full-fledged computer with all the capabilities of my desktop. I don't foresee a machine with 512MB of RAM and a very limited amount of storage being able to run a very robust XP desktop. My outlook mailbox alone is over 2GB.

I want an EEE, I'm not bashing it. I'm just saying, as most people do, that it's not a full-fledged desktop replacement for most people. It's a compromise at the moment, a good one at that, between capability, usability and form factor. It's somewhere between the n800 and a "real" computer. Maybe by EEE 2.0 they'll have addressed some of the limitations. I'm glad it fits your needs, but I can assure you that it doesn't come close to addressing mine at the moment.

As far as the OP, he hasn't defined the capabilities he needs, but I would presume that running a windows-based OS would be part of that, if he's looking to learn about how to fix computers, since 90%+ of the world uses MS products. You can learn networking or programming on an n800 too. Or a TI-92. Or an Atari 800. Heck, you really don't even need a computer to learn networking. I think, as others have posted, that what he really needs is a big beefy desktop that can run multiple OS images and can be tinkered around with quite a bit without the form factor limitations and concerns that come with a mobile device.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

I would never replace my desktop computing experience with a system such as the eee, or anything where I can't upgrade the m/b and CPU.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

My friend, no computer in this world will help you "bag college girls" or impress any chick to consider going out with you. For that, you need a set of balls and to know how to talk to women. :cool:

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

I really cant believe my little therapy session started such a great and informative thread. Even thoughtfix showed up ;)

Truth be told, I did not know exactly how to word my question. Really my simple question was Laptop vs EEE. I built a desktop once, a 500ghz P3 from scraps, and my dad got drunk, angry and threw it in the garbage because I bought a 79 dollar printer for it. That computer was going to be my dedicated linux box. I guess basically I just wanted some advice on what portable would be more suited for learning linux and experimenting with programming and development. I dont need high end games, or fancy 3d Modeling software. I should have asked that from the beginning. But thank you guys. I appreciate it. I'm not really good at writing, so I am sorry if I sound like an idiot.

BTW There is so much information here that you guys posted, I am still reading it.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Sounds like a good reason to me to go for a portable that you can tuck away or do stuff on a other place. IMHO if you go for portable, get one of the big ones (physically) with limited batterylife (= using desktop components = cheap) with a low spec cpu, USB2, max amount of ram you can afford and the biggest screen that is a good price/screen estate ratio. Then add a 500gb USB drive(s) as vmware/VirtualBox or other virtual stuff eats your HDD space as candy.

ha, and second hand portables are almost as expensive as new ones, so might better spend 100 usd more and get a new one in promotion.
This one has 2gb ram for example: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1195599779433
550 usd
Please don't feel like a "idiot". I ask everyday several "stupid" questions, that's to only way to advance in life: trying to find knowledge in the ridiculous amount of information we have at hand.
...
and to learn for other ones mistakes (which is pretty hard to do)...

But something say's me not comment on all the things said before on EEE vs laptop :D so i'll shut up ;)

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Actually my GF had a great quote. "Have you got a computer?" "Yeah it's a Mac Laptop" "What, are you stupid?"

I think everyone needs to take a deep breath and read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The main character went insane trying to define quality, because it can't be done. It's in the eye of the beholder and depends on their specific uses.

I for example, can be productive on the EEE. Gimmie a connection to a SQL box and I can write/execute all the queries/procs I want. I've got enough real estate to prep data imports in Excel/Spreadsheet if needed, and can document it in Word/Word Processor.

As for the off topic bit. Mooler, take EVERYTHING everyone here tells you with a grain of salt. I crap on people who want to be artists for a living, falling just short of having them try cheap catfood because it's gonna be what they're living off of. But people ARE successful artists. I'll still give you my two cents tho.

A+ is pretty useless. It's a lot of money to spend to end up working for Geek Squad with a bunch of mouth breathers. MCSE is always a nice to have but I've never seen anyone in the industry give it any mind. Someone said try the DB route. I did that and I love it, no shortage of work. You need a LOT of discipline to do it, and if you ever decide to, repeat this 100x. Production is hallowed ground. Test multiple times, execute once.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

I've never understood the cat food thing. Cat food ain't cheap. It's more expensive than lots of human food. Ramen noodles, rice, and lentils are cheap, and the lentils and rice are very nourishing and taste pretty good to boot. For a dollar you can make several meals. It does require cooking and some prior planning, say a half-hour's worth.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

Well, I hadn't planned on it, it just happened. I still have my HP laptop and my desktop, I just quit turning them on. They're still sitting there, gathering dust.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

I guess I'll throw in my $.02. Based on what I hear from the OP (well thats how I read it at least), I think the eee would be the best bet overall. Here is my twisted reasoning. Based on his living situation it would seem best for him to keep it small so as to be able to stash it away and still be able to use it away from home. Also he can always just use the KM&M from the desktop. From what I overstand from his post, he is looking to learn, well there is much you can learn from the eee. The methods used to install other operating systems ( other flavors of Linux, same with windows and OSX are known to work), then configuring them to use all of the eee's hardware would be useful. Then there are all the mods that can be done to the little bugger. (Internal BT, touch screen, 3g, gps... you get the picture). There have been quite a few good suggestions but I think that there is nothing wrong with the original question. That there are other issues involved, uh, yeah.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

And who can say he manipulates an Oracle as job? :D:D:D

There Is No Spoon

SQL>drop user sys cascade;
ora-3113: end of file on communication channel

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

sgosnell: Hey man, I've been a vegetarian for 15 years, ramen and lentils are right up my alley when I was broke. :) (Actually, 5 cans of beans and a can of stewed tomatoes and you've got a week's worth of veggie chilli for a few bucks, plus it's more nutritious.)

polossatik: I'm embarassed to admit it but I know little to nothing of Oracle. SQL Server here (sigh). I'm awesome with T-SQL but much to my chagrine MS is moving towards giving everything .NET cancer so I get to deal with developers who attack SQL like they would C. Different worlds.

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

I have a Nokia N800 with a 16 gig card. I am having vision problems and cannot see the screen on my 800. I am thinking about the Asus Eee 2g model. Anyone have any thoughts pro or con?

Re: EEE PC or Laptop
 

I have a Nokia N800 with a 16 gig card. I am having vision problems and cannot see the screen on my 800. I am thinking about the Asus Eee 2g model. Anyone have any thoughts pro or con? Can the card work on the Eee?