Asus Eee PC

[Axiom]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC

These are slightly larger pocket PC's geared towards young kids and students. They run linux and for around $450 they're perfect for my needs.

I'm thinking of purchasing one to take to meetings and when I travel. Does anyone have any experience with the model?

I've been reading you can upgrade the ram (It ships with 512), but my concern with the system is there's only 1.5GB of user storage.

Does anyone know if you can upgrade the HD at all?

[Axiom]

Actually, I see it has 3 USB slots so I could easily plug in some more storage.

Any advice would be appreciated...

I'd reccomend eeeuser.com's forums best info on that bundle of joy anywhere

RAM is easily upgradeable but it voids your warranty. I've got 2 gigs in mine.

Storage memory isn't too much of a problem - an operating system will easily fit on either the 2gb or 4gb model, and it has an integrated SD slot - meaning you can stick a 16gb SDHC card into it. I'm personally looking into attaching a 32gb CF card to the spare IDE slot the BIOS reports, so I'll let you know how that goes.

For more internal modding, have a look at "Add everything to your eeePC".

[Axiom]

Yeah, It looks like it's going to be a great product.

I was reading that if you remove the default installed programs for example the Open Office suite, you don't actually free up any space for user data. And if you install it again, it might take up twice the space as required.

Do you know about this? HD is my only concern, right now I'm thinking about paying for the 8gb instead...

[Axiom]

Ok, I couldn't wait.

I purchased the 4Gb, I figured I can always upgrade the RAM myself... These things are so sweet though...

I'm going to attempt to install Debian this weekend..

I installed arch linux on mine.

They're also good for war driving.

[Punk_Rocker_22]

One thing they need to change is remove the touch pad and replace it with the eraser head type mouse. It will make the laptop smaller, easier to use, and cheaper. I see no reason not to do it. Touchpads suck


No touchpad = win

Also, the main point of these is portability. I want something with at least a 5 hour battery life. Something closer to 10 hours is preferable. I'm almost always around my desktop, so when I need a laptop its when I plan on spending 8 hours on a bus, or something like that.

Come on Eee, what the point of an ultra portable if you can go 3 hours away.

All the other specs are fine. Some people have even done cool mods, like adding a GPS or FM transmitter.

edit:
http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=10302

The next generation Eee PC 900 series will feature a 8.9″ screen, running at 1024 x 600 resolution. You’ll be able to store 12GB of data, and will have 1GB of ram to access in a package a bit larger than the Eee PC 701. The cost? $600. Look for it in select countries later this summer.

$600? Can't I already buy a laptop for $600 with a larger screen, larger hard drive space, same ram, and comparable battery life?