Although its title is about as obscure as Nintendo's Wii, there is a clear and definite purpose to the naming of ASUS's new, ultraportable notebook, the Eee PC.
Its title and slogan are one and the same; easy to learn,
easy to work and easy to play, or Eee, sums up this little nugget fairly well. However, it could also have been called the Eeee PC, adding 'easy on the wallet' to the end.
It is possibly the cheapest firsthand notebook you'll get your hands on, but it doesn't resort to cheap or old technology. In fact it is one of the few notebooks currently available that uses a solid state drive, even if it only has a 4GB capacity. Solid state memory is advantageous in terms of speed and also for data safety. With no moving parts there is far less risk of causing damage to your drive with a knock or drop.
The Work tab opens up 15 different applications, ranging from standard Office-type software to a dictionary. The documents, spreadsheets, and presentations icons all lead to their respective applications in the free, open socuments, spreadsheets, and presentations icons all lead to their respective applications in the free, open source office software suite Open Office. The Eee PC even comes with its own Anti-Virus software and in the learn section, has a typing and a painting program. Asus plans to include more open source education-related office software suite Open Office. The Eee PC even comes with its own Anti-Virus software and in the learn section, has a typing and a painting program. Asus plans to include more open source education-related software when the Eee PC hits the market later this year, but didn’t give any more information on specific titles.
According to ASUS representatives, Standard mode was made to be “Windows-like” and looks and feels just like a typical Windows OS. The Windows Start button is replaced by a Launch icon, and navigating through files and applications is just like Windows. Even the minimize, maximize, and close buttons in the top right of each application window on the Eee PC 701 look identical to that of the Windows XP Silver style theme we run on our own standard notebooks. It seems as though ASUS is trying to bring as much “Windows-like” functionality to the Eee PC as they possibly can. With Windows in mind, ASUS has said that the Eee PC has already been tested to work on Microsoft’s Windows XP, but to keep costs down it will not come pre-installed on the Eee PC.
At the heart of the Eee PC is the Celeron M 900 MHz processor. This is an ultra-low-voltage model with 512KB L2-cache. Released in September 2004, this CPU is based on the Pentium M microarchitecture. Although it is a couple of generations behind the latest processors found in some ultra-portable notebooks (such as the Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 and T7500), the machine nevertheless felt quick and responsive at all times. The machine booted up in 14 seconds, and most applications opened up without any significant delay.
Although the processor is rated at 900 Mhz, the BIOS shipped with the Eee (0401) limits the speed of the front size bus. This has the effect that the CPU is actually running at a mere 630 MHz, significantly slower than its advertised speed. Of course there are positive benefits from having the processor underclocked (such as longer battery life and less heat being generated). Furthermore, the machine still has more than enough grunt to handle CPU intensive tasks. For example, playing video files (divx, xvid etc) only consumes about 25-30% of the CPU.
Nevertheless, I trust that Asus will address this issue in a future stable BIOS release (or kernel module) so that the true horsepower of the machine is realized.
The Eee (Model 701) ships with a single 512MB memory module. If the machine had been running Windows XP as its operating system (perish the thought) the amount of RAM could present a problem, especially if, like me, you run lots of applications simultaneously. However, the customized Xandros distribution is much more efficient, with the 512MB of RAM supplied being more than sufficient. Note, there's no swap file or swap partition.
For anyone thinking that they'll just replace the memory stick, be warned that the RAM access panel has a tiny 'warranty void if seal broken' sticker covering one of its screws. However, voiding the warranty by performing a RAM upgrade is likely to be enforceable in law in many countries (assuming that no damage is caused to the machine during the upgrade itself).
