Minds Eye

Work has purchased one Asus EeePC (Linux version) as a prototype to be used for short stints of travelling, presentations, overnighters, off-site meetings and the like. Short term loaners really and these are my first impressions on the EeePC after using it for a week.

It must be noted that I believe this device is not targeted as a laptop or desktop replacement. That being said the EeePC in its default configuration has been capable of performing 90% of the tasks which I require on a daily basis. Those areas where it has not suited are what I would
consider to be outside the scope of the normal/basic office worker functions.

The EeePC is a device which works extremely well in a web centric environment. If the majority of your work is web based including web applications, email, instant messaging then this will suit no problems at all. If you require specialised software or integration into other non-standards compliant enterprise systems then this may not be the ideal solution (without a Windows install). This clearly places this device into the stand in, short term, portable and easy to use niche.

After using the default installation for a day and finding limitations which would have caused problems for the uses which I had intended I looked at alternate system set ups. The current system I am using (which may change again) is eeeXubuntu with additions which enable the use of a USB Telstra NextG wireless adapter, the latest stable version of OpenOffice and OpenVPN to enable secure remote office connections.

I have been able to use the EeePC as my primary machine for the whole week (excepting some web log file analysis) without trouble. I found that the speed was not an issue and being mindful of not having too many applications open at once helps (I am used to using 4Gb RAM and a dual core 64bit machine).

Pros

• Small and lightweight
• Fast booting time from cold start
• Fast suspend and resume
• Longish battery life 3hrs+
• Good set of default applications all preloaded and ready to run
• Little to no configuration from install
• Easy to configure applications and system settings
• Has wireless and wired LAN
• Has video/camera built in
• Has good sound and a good local microphone

Cons

• Keyboard slightly smaller than normal - I adjusted quickly and even found myself over compensating and hitting 's' when wanting 'a'.
• Small screen - OK when considering the target uses - also good resolution 1024x768 for external VGA
• Limited on board storage - which makes configuration important
• Default
  system limits additional applications which can be installed. This was
  overcome by installing different operating systems.

All in all I couldn't rate this highly enough. Almost to the point of recommending the EeePC, outside of my initial ideals, as a possible full time alternative for a basic machine and a web centric user. I am really considering one for home which we can easily take away in the caravan.