Saturday, April 25, 2009

Eeeeeeeee!

In case you can't tell from the post title, that was an excited squee of joy.

When roomie was googling about the intarw3bz the other day, she found a deal on an Eee PC 900 at Woot.com, and she snagged one for me. Guess what was waiting on the front porch when we got home today?

This is exactly what I needed; tiny and light (even compared to my beloved PowerBook 2400c, which can only travel as far as its extension cord these days), yoinks of battery life thanks to its flash RAM "hard disk", and running Linux so I won't be tempted to use it as a portable gaming rig... Oh, I see lots of writing in my future. I can take this thing out on the front porch or to the Brew Pub or Sam's Gyros...

Whee!

Plus, it's such a cute little thing; barely larger and heavier than a paperback novel. I think I'm in lurve...

24 comments:

FatWhiteMan said...

I came close to buying one of those but I found a case of large rifle primers that got in the way. I'm jealous.

Overload in Colorado said...

I also ordered one from Woot, and it arrived today. Got it charged up and connected to my home wifi. Impressions:
quick to start up.
great for typing prone (laying on the bed) as the screen is near your face, as it's a little small.
speakers are worthless.
2/3 of SSD space already filled, but seems to have everything I need preinstalled.
Still getting used to the small keyboard; I'm doing hunt and peck for now.
Youtube played smoothly.
Getting used to the touchpad. This is my first laptop, and touchpads are setup for right hand use. I'm used to mouseing right handed, but not yet touchpadding righty.
I'm thinking of using one of the online storage options to give me a larger amount of storage. Looking at Zombu and Amazon S3. I thought Asus gave me online storage, but I can't find it in the manual, but there seem to be articles about it. Other models maybe?

AnarchAngel said...

You might be even more in lurve when you figure out how easy it is to install OSX on the thing.

Overload in Colorado said...

found it!
http://www.eeestorage.com/

Tam said...

USB thumb drive maybe? I dunno, I haven't really poked around on it much yet.

Personally, I'm not planning on using it for anything but writing, and the Great American Novel can fit on a floppy or two, so given the minimalistic uses for which I plan to use it, it's perfect... (Although, yes, the keyboard is a tish cramped.)

Tam said...

"You might be even more in lurve when you figure out how easy it is to install OSX on the thing."

Color me intrigued.

Email me wit details? My computer skillz are far from 1337.

Roberta X said...

I shoullda bought two -- it's way smaller than my 1000HA.


Plus, this is way better than an intercom -- HEY ROOMIE?!

;)

alan said...

Welcome to the Eee club Tam!

Jeff said...

Just got one at work today, I haven't had much time to play with it yet though. Its so tiny its a bit scary.

Shermlock Shomes said...

You need a bag for it? Check with me wife later today. ;)

BryanP said...

They're cool, no? I picked up a 1000HE recently, and while I like it a lot, it is a fair bit larger than your 900. Everything is a trade off.

Plus, since it's easy to hook up a full sized external keyboard / monitor / mouse setup, you can use it as a desktop when you get frustrated with the teeny keyboard.

Enjoy your new toy.

Tam said...

I think I'll just keep using my desktop as a desktop... ;)

Tango Juliet said...

LINUX!!

Drang said...

So, are Eee Bloggers going to be a sub-set of Gun Bloggers?

As I noted in response to Roberta's post, I picked up a 1000HA; yes, it's a little larger than the 900 series, but not that much, ands I'm a poor enough typist I need the extra keyboard space...

And, yes, the touchpad is touchy.

BryanP said...

Oh, I will keep using my desktop as a desktop to, it's just nice that in a pinch I could turn my netbook into a desktop substitute.

Anonymous said...

You'll have to keep us up to date on how you like the keyboard. I borrowed a co-worker's the one time, and I was content with its performance but the itty bitty keyboard would probably require some time for adjustment. Ditto linux; I popped the red pill about a year ago and haven't looked back.

One thing I noticed is that its zip-up case will fit into a 9x12 zip-up binder like it was meant to be there. A Pelican-type case to fit shouldn't be too pricey a thing either.

Jim

(Feel free to delete this one if it is a duplicate; Blogger is being a numpty today)

Shane said...

I just got my other half an Acer Aspire1 and it's sweet. It doesn't have the battery life because of the 160Gb hard drive and it runs XP, not Vista. She needs it to drive a projection monitor at business seminars and has to be compatible with the software her employer uses and it beats the heck out of the full size laptop she was using before. BTW, it's pink so our kids won't use it. Both daughter and son detest pink.

Billy Beck said...

A year and a half on, I just couldn't be without my 700 model. I didn't carry a computer while traveling for years because every ounce counts when you're doing it for a living.

It goes from a standing-start to XP Pro in about forty seconds, and I tested AutoCAD in the thing: it worked just fine.

To be able to carry that kind of power around in that size & weight at that price, is a big deal to me. Very, very happy. I think you will be, too.

blogger said...

I'm quite frankly mystified as to how to load OS X on the thing, and am not sure I would create such a FrankenMac if I could.

However, eeeBuntu is super easy to install, is dead stable, has few security problems (it's Linux), and is optimized for small screen size and memory footprint of the eee.

#1 Son has become a big fan. So much that I can hardly get the thing to use once and a while.

AND, the current release of Banshee will do all your iPod maintenance for you, although you need to use MP3 format.

mariner said...

Check out the eeeuser forum for answers to all your eeePC questions.

Gewehr98 said...

Tam, check out what Breda's done to gussy up her Eee - courtesy of GelaSkins.

https://www.gelaskins.com/skins.php?Skin=133&Category=14

Also, more stuff here:

http://www.decalgirl.com/browse.cfm/2,278.htm

If I didn't already have a Dell Inspiron 6000 with burlwood skin, I'd jump mightily at an Eee PC.

atlharp said...

The Eee has been calling me as of late as well. I dig my A135 Toshiba laptop has been good to me as of late, but that little bugger is just sooooo cute! Who knows Tam, maybe you can fit it in a range bag and liveblog Range Time. LOL!

Tam said...

Billy Beck,

"To be able to carry that kind of power around in that size & weight at that price, is a big deal to me. Very, very happy. I think you will be, too."

You couldn't be more right.

I was just musing this morning about the fact that my little PowerBook 2400c, which is definitely one of the spiritual forefathers of the little Eee, cost nearly $4,000 when it debuted about ten years ago; the price of a good used car. My refurbed Eee 900 was $150, which is dinner & drinks for two at a fancy restaurant...

Billy Beck said...

"I was just musing this morning about the fact that my little PowerBook 2400c,..."I still have my Vaio 505TS, for which I dropped something like $2400 in '99, I think. Less than an inch thick, less than three pounds: it was a great deal of what I had in mind for a traveling rig. All the outboard gear made the reality a bit less.

The whole thing about what the Eee has done is the integration of size, performance and price. Take any one of those three out of the picture and it doesn't make sense. In that pocket, though, it's perfect.