Drive Space and Memory Utilization
The "512MB" sticker on the box looks as if it was added as an afterthought, so perhaps ASUS decided to upgrade the unit after initial feedback.
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There's nothing sinister underneath, though. Also, note the 2G Surf does not have an access panel for the memory.
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Drive Space
One question that has been asked repeatedly is: How much of the 2GB storage space is left for the user?
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The answer is, not much. There are ways around the storage constraints, of course, based on your type of usage. Flash drives, online storage, and even external hard drives are all possibilities. For a more permanent solution, many users have been leaving high capacity (8GB and up) SDHC cards installed in the unit's memory card reader.
Memory Usage
A quick look at memory usage in Task Manager makes it apparent why 512MB is important, even for the Linux distro. Close to 256MB is being consumed just at the desktop.
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So how does it do when loaded?
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This screenshot was taken while running Firefox (3 tabs), Skype, Pidgin (Messenger), OpenOffice Spreadsheets, File Manager, and Media Player playing back an Xvid file. The usability of each application was marginal, with significant slowdowns noticeable. Closing Media Player was enough to alleviate the problem and allow reasonable use.
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New City Vegas - Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - link
7 embedded video reviews - ASUS EEE PC (one in German)length: 2 to 25 minutes
http://lasvalley.com/mixx/asus-eee-review-video.ht...">http://lasvalley.com/mixx/asus-eee-review-video.ht...
laok - Sunday, January 6, 2008 - link
As customers, we need a little competition in the market.laok - Sunday, January 6, 2008 - link
As customers, we need a little competition in the market.Schugy - Friday, January 4, 2008 - link
The Kohjinsha is more expensive but it has some nice features like LED backlight, scroll buttons next to the display and more. It would be even cheaper without the microsoft tax.Maybe you can make a real UMPC overview with Sony, Everex, OLPC and others including hardware support tests under Ubuntu, XP and VIsta.
LEKO - Friday, January 4, 2008 - link
The Asus eee is a very interesting beast. It is on my "wishlist".I think the concept is perfect for people who mainly use a Desktop and sometimes needs a laptop for casual out of the office meeting or couch surfing/mailing.
From your review, I would suggest a few things to Asus:
- Have a memory slot for possible upgrade
- Have 1024 pixels width LCD panel (to match most applications/web sites).
- Have an SD card reader (To compensate for the SSD small size)
- Have at lease 2 USB port (Plug a mouse, MP3 player, external HDD)
For the rest, the concept is great!
mmntech - Friday, January 4, 2008 - link
There are plans for Asus to put a 1024x600 screen in th Eee PC. That will solve issues with programs that require an 800x600 res, especially under XP.http://www.dailytech.com/ASUS+Prepares+Next+Genera...">http://www.dailytech.com/ASUS+Prepares+...+WiMAX+L...
Just like a car, it's usually a good idea not to buy the first model year. Gives them time to iron out the kinks. Eee PC 2.0 looks promising, especially with WiMAX support built in.
My big wishlist for this system is still HDD space and battery life. I'm curious is 2.6h is the average or maximum. If it's the max, it's too short compared to some larger models. The MacBook for example gets about 4-5hr and I'm sure PC laptops with similar hardware are the same.
DanaGoyette - Saturday, January 5, 2008 - link
1024x600 sounds like a really odd aspect ratio.1024x640 would be better -- it's a true 16:10 ratio.
Oh, and I still wonder why the heck ASUS decided to use a runs-at-full-speed-all-the-time (and thus power-wasting) Celeron instead of something like even an old Pentium M.
betaluva - Friday, January 4, 2008 - link
for all your answers go to http://forum.eeeuser.com/">http://forum.eeeuser.com/ its a REALLY good eee siteLEKO - Friday, January 4, 2008 - link
Oups! Just noticed that the ASUS eee already supports external memory cards (like SD).elpresidente2075 - Friday, January 4, 2008 - link
With the exception of the panel, all of your concerns are taken care of with the non-surf models. There are rumors of a new model in the march/april time frame, so time will tell if that gets addressed.