rs-px sees some good points and bad points with the Eee PC. Fair enough. Everyone will see the unit differently. But I don't agree with a couple of his points.

Firstly, to say that the Eee PC is a 'crap laptop' isn't fair, unless your definition of laptop means multimedia powerhouse and replacement for your desktop PC. But then, most people buying the Eee PC in N. America are not buying it as their primary or only PC. They're buying it for a number of reasons (see this thread on eeeuser.com forums). And many of them in fact want it because it is small, light, simple and cheap, not in spite of that. In fact, the Asus pres. came up with the idea of the Eee PC after hearing about the OLPC: he wanted to make a similar device for adults.

I'm not starting an Eee PC versus n800 battle here. Each of these devices has its own merits. Buyers of either one should really understand their motivation for buying one or the other, or they'll be disappointed. And, they'd better understand the pros and cons of each machine, so rs-px is right to point out the features and shortcomings of the Eee PC. Of course, one man's con is another's pro, so I'm here to offer another view.

I strongly considered buying an n800 after the price drop, but chose the Eee PC instead. Why? Not because the n800 is inferior, but the other device appears to meet my needs better. YMMV. I want a portable internet machine. And yes, the n800 and n810 are way more portable. But I realised what I dislike about my Palm and my Windows Mobile PCs are the tiny screens and the slow input method. I wanted a keyboard, and I'm typing this note on a Eee PC. It's actually pretty workable, and I'm close to 75% of my regular typing speed. One minor irritation: the right Shift key is not where I expect it, and I tend to hit the PgUp key instead. This post explains how to switch them around.

I considered buying an n810 instead as it has a keyboard, but after using a UT Starcom for a while, I suspected that the n810's keyboard will be too small for touch typing - it's only half the size of the Eee PC's, after all. This essential difference alone will lead many people to buy the Eee PC over the Nokia. Yes I know I could use a bluetooth keyboard with the Nokia, and I do own one. In my case, I don't want to carry around another accessory. YOU may be okay with that, in which case the Nokia is a better choice. However, most portable BT keyboards require a flat surface to perate on; forget about typing on a train with the n800, but you could do it with the Eee PC.

Next point, screen resolution. Both Nokia and Asus have the same native screen resolution. One useful feature on the Eee PC as rs-px points out is the possibility to plug in an external monitor. I tried that and posted pics on flickr.com.

I want to talk a bit more about screen resolution. rs-px mentioned that the small screen on the Eee PC means that many apps won't fit. He feels that the n800 doesn't have this problem since all its apps have been designed for the 800x480 screen. That's true. The question you'll have to ask yourself is whether you're happy with the limited selection of apps available for the n800 compared to the vast universe of apps available for desktop linux (and thus available for the Eee PC). For me, this wasn't a clear deciding factor, since I don't plan on loading many apps on my Eee PC. If I want to, say, do photo editing, I'll use my MacBook Pro instead.

More on screen resolution. One issue with Eee PC that rs-px didn't mention is that some of the apps that are installed (like kwrite and kate, available from the terminal if you are in Easy Mode, or else from the menu in advanced mode) have some dialogs that are bigger than the screen can display. I cursed this until I read that you can simply Alt-click on any window and drag it to where you want it, i.e. until you can see that hidden OK button.

[edit]: One more thing about screen resolution. rs-px complains that with Firefox, there's not many lines of content visible on the screen because of all the space taken up by the menu bar, address bar, etc, and you can't zoom in like on the N800. That's true. But since it's Firefox, there are a zillion extensions available for it, including Fuller Screen, which not only puts the browser into Full Screen mode, thus hiding the menu bar, but also hides the address bar, tabs and status bar, thus significantly increasing the vertical space available for content.

Another dislike of the Eee PC that rs-px mentions is the fan, which he says is like a Harrier jet. Now this is just dishonest reviewing. Over on the eeeuser forum, he posted an item saying his Eee PC was defective because the fan was so loud. But over here, he's saying that his defective unit is the norm. Honestly, I never thought about the fan noise on the Eee PC until he mentioned it. On my unit, the fan noise IS discernible in a quiet room, though it's not much more noisy than my MacBook Pro under normal operation, and certainly way quieter than most PC fans (and way quieter than any Mac laptop when they spin up to max speed). If your ears are over 30 years old, you probably won't notice the fan in most environments. But if you're the sensitive type, by all means choose the Nokia since it has no fan at all.

But where I differ most with rs-px is with his claim that the Eee PC will ruin the concept of a mobile internet device; people will be disappointed with their experience of the Eee PC and give up on the whole shining ideal that the one true example of the concept (the Nokia) offered. What a load of horse-pucky! I could just as easily say that the Nokia will ruin the concept of a small useful computer for many people. They'll buy an n800, or n810, only to discover that it can be used for practically nothing since there's so little available software (and support for the OS is dropped when a new model is released), and they'll wrongly conclude that all small computers are like that - when in fact if they'd only chosen the Eee PC they would have realised that they had all of linux available to them.

At the end of the day, the arrival on the market of the n800, n810, Eee PC and others can only be a good thing, since it means more choice. Some of us may even choose to buy more than one device, right rs-px?

My major complaint towards getting the Nokia Tablet, I have both 770 and N800 and probably will get 3 more N800s for my family members, is the horrible maintenance of the repository. Because of that, most of the installation/revision is worst than teaching a pig to dance. Whereas the eee, ownership of 48 hrs, and has since installed several apps have encountered zero problems with repository.

However, I still recomend the tablets for my family members because of the form factor. Yes, the repository is painful, but not enough for hire and fire. BTW, I have rdesktop/VNC of the two, eee into N800 vice versa, it is real fun.



bun

That's a very bold statement to make and I'm not sure what evidence you're basing it on

My issue with the Eee is that all the marketing material is pitching it at the ordinary user. The sales projections are extremely ambitious, meaning that Asus see this as a general user device for the man on the street. That's the evidence behind what I say right there.

What I think will happen is this: the ordinary user will see the Eee as a $400/£200 laptop, and think they're getting a bargain. It even looks like a full-scale laptop in the pictures because there's nothing to show scale. The spec will say "7-in 800x480 screen" but that's meaningless to most people.

But what they're getting is a specialised computer, not a general purpose computer. Yes, it can do general purpose stuff, but it requires compromises that the ordinary user might not be willing to make.

I don't think the Eeeuser.com forum reflects the average buyer of this computer. I think it reflects a geeky subset of the user base. Do you really think ordinary people who buy the Eee (students, kids, mom, pop, grandma) are going to look up a special forum and join a community, where they talk about internal specifications and how to hack Linux? I don't think so.

So don't take the views of eeeuser.com forum members as typical of Eee users If you know what I mean.

We're agreed that everything is pretty good on the Eee apart from the keyboard and the screen. The keyboard is just about usable but some keys are in the wrong place. I cannot type a question mark without stopping typing and repositioning my hand. And if I hit Enter when I should have hit the apostrophe one more time I will murder somebody...

But if they put in a 1024x800 screen in there, then it would be excellent.

Or you can just select Full Screen from the menu This does help a lot but the point is kinda that Asus doesn't enable this by default, or install the plugins you mention (they're open source, so why not?).

The Nokia tablets include a full screen button and zoom buttons. The Nokia tablets are just better thought out. The Eee feels rushed by comparison, although I know that a lot of work went into the Linux distro it uses.

You've been so diplomatic until this point I'm offended you think I'm deceiving anybody. Look at the time and dates of the relevant postings. I didn't think the buzzing fan was a fault when I wrote my review. I thought that was just the way it was. I then posted on the Eeeuser.com forums to find out if it was a fault when I realised it probably wasn't right. Check the first message if you don't believe me.

I've arranged for a replacement to be sent to me and have been waiting to post here that I'd made a mistake and that the fan was broken. But the company concerned have been sitting on the package for the last few days (RM in the UK) so it hasn't arrived. I can't post until I have evidence. That would be dishonest.

To sum up, it looks like my Eee is faulty and has a buzzy fan. From what I've read, most Eees have an audible fan, but not one that's noisy. Most of the time they're genuinely silent. I'll confirm this when my replacement Eee arrives tomorrow (hopefully).

I believe that people will buy the Eee under false pretences, which will turn them off small Internet devices. When the prophesied fifth Nokia tablet arrives, as perfect as it is, people will think: "Well, I'm not too sure how usable portable Internet devices are. After all, that Eee I bought was really hard to use. A 800x480 screen just doesn't work."

Of course, they're ignorant of the fact that the Nokia tablets have an extremely high res screen, negating this issue, and also that they're optimised in functionality for a small screen (zoom controls, click and drag panning etc).

I almost agree here I think it will be interesting, although I can't say it will necessarily be good. But hopefully other companies will try to compete, and there will be a decent marketplace of cheap and small computers. That can only be a good thing.

The second-generation Eees are already slated for the Spring (G1 and G2 release timing sound familiar to anyone?). If the rumor still holds, it may not have a fan.

I'd also point out that the ITT crowd isn't a cross-section of n800 owners either; unless it truly is a geek-only device.

when you're comparing the Eee to the n800, you're comparing a "Fresh baked" system with one that is about to receive it's fourth major OS revision. Yes, the Eee will look rough now; Asus needs to build into the brand before they try to mass produce.
The thing has a use, and a role to play, any time you've got a flat surface available, and want to go through booting up a PC.

Actually, I'd say these forums do reflect typical Nokia tablet users And I'd also say the eeeuser.com forums represent Eee users right now.

But the difference is that Nokia is still flirting with geeks as part of their five-stage world domination plan, while the Eee aims for massive sales and non-techie users from the get-go. Apparently the Eee designers passed it around family and friends before final manufacturing to ensure they found it easy to use. The Eee is no geek toy. It's computing for the unwashed masses.

So the eeeuser.com forum won't represent typical users in, say, six months time if everything goes to plan. And, if Nokia's plans work out, this forum won't represent their typical users in two/three years time

You may well be right, but I'd rather not, as these here forums are a lot more informative, entertaining and generally full of interesting people, than what I've seen of eeeuser and similar eee-related boards so far...

when I look at the box the thing comes in, I see the following pics: a woman using it on a beach, two kids using it, a couple using it on a lawn, a woman by a lake holding it to her chest (it looks tiny in that picture). I do not see any pics of people using it in an office. And in the on-line description at Memory Express, I also see a pic of grandparents using it. the whole emphasis is on ease of use, not power. They clearly state it only has a 7" screen, and runs a simple version of Linux. I don't anyone is being deceived. But no doubt some people will try to do more with it than intended, and end up being disappointed.

I believe you. Now, how about going back to your original post and clarifying that the noise you heard is the result of a bug or fault? Not everyone is going to read through 5 pages of forum comments to get to this point.

So, that res screen doesn't work on the Eee PC but does on the Nokia? I actually don't see much difference. If the res is wrong,it's wrong on both machines. In fact it's worse on the Nokia since the screen is so small that the pixels are tiny - older people will find it very hard to use. If they hold it too close, it will blur (without their glasses), and if they hold it further away, they won't be able to see it. Sure you can zoom in and out, but all of that zooming and unzooming is a crutch to compensate for the too-small screen. I see the same problem with the iPhone, in fact. Having said all that, I'd love to see a Nokia-quality screen in the Eee PC. with the higher pixel density, you could achieve a 1024x768 res in the 7" screen. Or even higher in the rumoured version 2 with a 10" screen.

On the other hand, the Eee PC is not too small for some people, it's too large. It won't be portable enough for them. In that case, they should choose the Nokia.

You had 800x480? When we were young we only had 40x8 AND we only had characters, none of those fancy pixels:



http://oldcomputers.net/trs100.html


I actually thought this form factor was pretty good. You could type while sitting in an airline seat and still have room for a coffee cup.

Yeah, those things were awesome! What did it have, 16k and a single-density floppy disk? Still, absolutely cool, and a real keyboard.
In all fairness, the screen was 320x64, but only supported 8x8 ascii characters.
(Man, I need to dig one of those out of the attic)

Maybe they are just bored out of their minds because the device actually works properly without any bugs so far and have no need to have threads after threads of bugs and people complaining about lack of apps or waiting for apps to be ported which never happen and if they do they never get out of beta or another OS like "2008" - everything needs to be ported once again. i think i'll just compile one of the millions of x86 linux apps now on my eee. No point in waiting for things to be ported here. openoffice anyone? haha good luck.