Actually I forgot one other factor that amazed me... they claim it's shockproof (because it has no hard drive) and I can attest to that...
Mine hit a wooden floor last night after the dog got tangled up in the power cord while he was chasing the cat. (The power cord is white... maybe that's a design flaw!). I heard a loud crash and felt sick. It was only an hour old and still charging and... and... well I don't want to think of how I might have reacted. I picked the Eee up and it just kept on working; no damage to the case, no signs at all of any ill effects. Try that with a regular laptop!. -----Original Message----- From: Daniel Hill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, 1 May 2008 8:20 p.m. To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Asus Eee PC 900 - first impressions I was wonder where did they put the speakers? > I just managed to get hold of an Asus Eee Pc - one of the new ones with a > 20gig SSD (Linux version) & a 8.9" 1024 screen. Just arrived yesterday. Got > it from a eBay seller in Hong Kong - goes by the name of cc-electronicshk. I > probably paid through the nose... AUD620 plus freight. It arrived only 4 > days after I ordered it which is pretty impressive. > > Frankly, I think it's stunning. > > The form factor is exactly the same as the model 700. But if you saw one, > you'll remember there was a large 'bezel' around the screen, and the screen > itself didn't use all of its pixels (I guess that's the technical term...). > With the new version, the screen is physically the same size, but it fills > itself right out to the edge. I get the sense they always intended to go > bigger but just didn't make it in the first version. Looking at it, there > might even be room for them to make the screen bigger by reducing the > plastic bezel, so I guess that could happen in the futuer. The screen is a > good size now (no horizontal scrolling of web pages), and it's sharp and > bright. > > The keyboard is the same as the 701. Yes the keyboard is small and I > wouldn't want to be typing on it all day, but I've found it quite useable. > It will be great for travelling. Earlier this morning I sat in an easy chair > having a coffee while updating a Word document and it was fine. The mouse > pad is clever too with some 'gestures' which after less than 24 hours of > getting used to, I already find handy. > > What I like about it is the way everything just works out of the box. The > supplied desktop is nice - just a collection of big icons to launch > applications and various common web sites. Functions keys and buttons are > nicely mapped. The only limitation I've seen so far with the factory OS is > that you can't just install any new software you like - only stuff supplied > by Asus (and that doesn't seem to be much). I guess it could be hacked, but > I think it will be easier to just install a fresh Ubuntu without all the > Asus stuff over the top ... but then I'm not sure if the key mappings will > be as tidy. I'll give it a go some time and see what happens. > > I'll bring it along to the next CLUG meeting in case anyone wants to drool > ;-) > > - David > >
