This morning saw a small number of us at LT Scotland getting our hands on the Asus EeePC. My thanks to Peter Murphy from RM for bringing a collection of them along for us to try out. Having read (and watched) just about everything I can find on the net about this machine, it was great to finally get my hands on one.
The burning question I had was this: is the EeePC a game changer?
My answer to that is yes.
For the vast majority of users, the EeePC will adequately meet your needs. If you are looking for a device that will allow you to perform office tasks, video conference and surf the web, then look no further than the EeePC.
Is the EeePC my ideal laptop then? No.
Despite being a brilliant laptop, it doesn’t do everything. For a start, its solid state replacement for a hard disk means there is precious little room to install other software. The screen is a relatively small 800×480 pixels (although perfectly usable), making doing any type of graphics work limited. You’re not going to do much video editing on this either. If you are beginning to be put off by these factors then hold it right there.
I would buy this machine in a heartbeat. I would encourage others to buy this machine. Ask yourself what you use a laptop computer for. If it’s surfing the web, keeping in touch with others with Skype, reading and sending email, working on the odd presentation, document or spreadsheet, watching videos and listening to sound files, then this machine is ideal for you. It comes to life in seconds, and is extremely useable. The user interface is probably the simplest thing I have ever seen. Lovely big icons on the tabbed interface take you promptly to whatever you have selected. We noted with delight the icons for iGoogle, GoogleDocs and Wikipedia. If you’ve got access to the internet, then here is the simplest and possibly cheapest way to collaborate online with others.
Unlike many reviewers I’ve read online, I didn’t feel cheated by the black border that holds the speakers and webcam. The screen is bright, clear and very useable indeed. Sure, the resolution means that you’ll probably have to scroll to see most websites, but that’s a problem I’m prepared to live with for the price of this machine.
Although the keyboard is smaller that a conventional laptop, within a few minutes you’ll find it fairly comfortable. If you are considering this for use with children, then it is actually more suited to their size of hands than a full size adult keyboard is. Compare this to any handheld device that uses a thumb keyboard or on-screen keyboard and there is no contest -the Asus will win hands down.
Some reviewers online have been critical of the build quality. Whilst it remains to be seen how this would fair over time, my first impression was that it has been very well assembled. Frankly, I’ve had laptops up to 8 times the price that didn’t feel as robust.
Why is this a game changer? The entry level model is only £169 – for this, you’ve got a fully functional laptop. It’s got a keyboard and trackpad just like any ‘normal’ laptop. It’ll let you do the vast majority of what you want a laptop to do effortlessly. If Apple and Microsoft aren’t worried by this device, then they should be. I think Linux is about to make a very explosive entry into the education market.
Photo courtesy of edublogger.
