Travel light
Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 08:34PM Travel light in life. Take only what you need: a loving family, good friends, simple pleasures, someone to love, and someone to love you; something to eat, enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink for thirst is a dangerous thing. —Unknown.
I've had my ASUS Eee PC 701 now for about 24 hours. So far so good. I am using it to create this blog entry. (May help me be brief.)
There is a lot to like about this little sub-2lb, flash-driven computer. Wireless (worked on both home and secure school networks), good open source software (opened Word, Excel, PDF, AVI files), bright screen, excellent track pad with tap to click and scrolling built in, and easy-to-use graphic interface. Hooked up fine to external monitor. Skype works great. Built-in speakers (pretty cheesy, but fine for voice), internal microphone and even camera. Also inputs for mic and headphones. Nice. External USB mouse worked by just plugging it in.
Still getting used to the very small keyboard (typing slowly helps), smaller screen, managing files. Couldn't get my big honking PowerPoint files to open. Can't figure out yet which new version of Skype to download and how to do so. Some of this will take some time. Not sure what software is available for this flavor of Linux.
I am really planning to use this as sort of a dumb terminal to the Internet when I travel. It really struck me how little one needs a computer hard drive with Google Docs, del.icio.us, web-based mail and calendaring, RSS feed reads, etc. I am going to see if I can't use SlideShare.com to do presentations too. My working docs I can also carry and run off a flash drive that the Eee recognized just fine.
If this puppy were half the price ($200 instead of $400), it would make a great 1:1 student machine. Battery lasted a long time today and with a flash memory instead of a mechanical hard drive, I hope it will take some bumps.
I weighed my regular computer bag/back pack this morning: 17.8 pounds (without a book in it) and this only carrying the little Mac 12" PowerBook. The Eee will fit in my suit coat pocket and weighs less than the hardback book I'm reading.
Get yourself one for Christmas! Travel light in life.
Reader Comments (7)
What happened to Get 1, Give 1, Doug!? I mean, you get one, then give me one!? Sigh.
Oh yeah, weren't you the one who said he wasn't going to go into debt to buy both an OLPC XO as well as an Asus Eee?
Jealous,
miguel
Hi Miguel,
Well, my OLPC OX is also on order. I thought it would be fun to compare the two. It is the Kindle I am waiting to order until I see my post-Christmas VISA bill!
Miguel, while we Minnesotans sometimes view Texas as a developing nation worthy of OPLC's efforts, I am a little surprised that you do as well ;-)
Have a good one,
Doug
Kevin Jarrett posted some interesting additional sites and info about the Eee:
Fresno School District busy 1000
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/v-printerfriendly/story/187043.html
http://www.eeeuser.com/
http://wiki.eeeuser.com/
I found this one:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/11/06/eee-pc-tips-a-crash-course-in-linux/
Kevin like to hack. I am going to use mine for a week before I break it.
Doug
Hey Doug, been living vicariously through you wrt that little bitty 'puter. I love the idea of how small it is but for $400 I can get a low end Dell laptop with more features. Like you said, if it were half the price... I'm starting to like the idea of throw away computers and if the price is good, it might make 1to1 more digestible to the powers-that-be.
Hi John,
Yup. I saw a Black Friday sale on a regular (low end) laptop somewhere for $229, I think. Although you probably had to be in front of the store by midnight to get one.
I am guessing that once the newness wears off on these ASUS eee computers the price will drop. They were originally marketed as being a $200 machine. Pre-Christmas profit taking?
I do like the idea of flash drives instead of mechanical drives for machines kids will use. Seems more rugged to me.
All the best,
Doug
Doug,
Perfect little machine for a staff holiday gift guide. I am interested to see how schools, especially mine, would adapt to using a Linux-based OS, especially when they ask the question: "How do open my PowerPoints?"
Interested to see your comparison between the two when the XO arrives.
Hi Patrick,
Right now kids who have the latest version of PPT for the PC are having a tough time opening any Office documents on our Macs with the current version of Mac Office. No one seems able to remember to save to the older version.
I've had more problems with PPT on this Eee than anything else. The fact my PPTs run 80mg and include movies, animation etc., may be part of the problem. Smaller PPTs work fine but I have to adjust font sizes.
I seriously debate whether to buy the newer version of Office for the Mac for our Mac labs.. I am really liking the Open Office software that comes with the Eee. Seems less feature glut. Kids could have copies on home computers - Open Offfice or Neo Office. Maybe it i a good time to make the switch?
Thanks for your comments,
Doug