EEE PC - the best businessmans companion ever!!!!!
I'm a pretty average business user of computers, with one exception, I fly an awful lot, about 4 times a week to be exact. So lugging a massive notebook aorund with me isn't an answer, and I feel sorry for those that have to. So I gave up the good old Fujitsu Siemens Amilo. After all I did have my Blackberry Curve for emails, plus an Ipod Classic for music and the occasional movie - if you have good eyesight! I used to log into the internet at various places, including the overseas office, to pick up my email and attachments from our Zimbra collaboration tool.
Well, now I dont have to worry - I am an EEE PC convert. This dellightful little notebook is the answer to a travellers prayers. I bought the 7" half gig memory, 4 gig flash drive Linux version in an attractive white for just over £200 in Currys and have never looked back.
It didn't take me long to realise that Linux wasn't for me though. I was too used to Windows and used a lot of Mircosoft business tools (including mobile broadband) which I was unable to get from Linux. Linux is OK for Geeks, that is people who enjoy messing about in the root of computers, I dont! Don't get me wrong Linux and especially Open office is pretty good, just not for me. I want functionality without any messing about.
I upgraded the memory to 2 gig, bought myself a 16 gig sd card as a secondary drive, grabbed a cheap USB disk drive, and an "official" version of XP home (SP2) and basically followed the instructions in the EEE PC manual.
Sure it took a few hours but now I have XP up and running, have installed Office Pro, McAfee Virus protection, MS Project, MS Visio, Mind Manager, Adobe Reader and Quick Time Player for my MP4 videos and have at least 1.5 gig free on my flash drive!
It took a little jiggling about and one or two re-installs with some programmes (especially for some reason Quick Time), but I finally got everything working OK and I'm delighted. People next to me on my flights are usually amazed when I remove the little darling from its case and power it up to watch a video. Mobile broadband with wi-fi access completes the picture. This was one of the reasons I went to XP as Linux was unable to support mobile broadband without some massive programme writing in Unix, something I wasn't about to try.
Asus have produced a marketing miracle with this notebook, the build quality of which is excellent and comparable to the Sony's, which at around €1000 are a scam. Even the add ons haven't cost an arm or a leg. OK the battery time is not quite as good but acceptable and the small keyboard quite useable. The main reason they have been able to produce this little miracle is the relaisation that most laptops are only big because of the hard drive and dvd recorder. Doing away with those, plus the use of large capacity memory sticks and sd cards complete the picture.
My only grumble? That's not with Asus its with the movie makers. Why can't they sell movies on memory sticks? Don't they realise that DVD's are a thing of the past?
The EEE PC is the best buy yet...and certainly the best businessman's companion ever!!!!