The ASUS Eee PC: A Pint-Sized (2 lb) Dynamo Of a Laptop

The mobile computing world has been abuzz in recent weeks about the arrival of a diminutive new laptop from a little-known hardware manufacturer: ASUS's Eee PC. The 2.0 pound laptop is marvel of miniaturization, but is the Eee PC worth all the hype?

ASUS, a manufacturer based in Taiwan, is a virtual unknown in the consumer electronics venue, having built its reputation on component hardware, like motherboards. The Eee PC, however, is a radical departure, a consumer-friendly miniature laptop.

The Eee in the laptop's name is short for ASUS's tagline for the product: "Easy to Learn, Easy to Work, Easy to Play." The laptop fits a niche for the most part unexplored by other computer manufacturers: a tiny, ultraportable computer with a similarly tiny price-tag.

Perhaps spurred by the example of the One Laptop Per Child Project (sometimes referred to as the $100 Laptop Project), ASUS has created a low-cost computer that has broad appeal, and the capability to run the most-commonly used applications: word processing, web browsing and email.

The price tag is perhaps the most groundbreaking aspect of the Eee: the base configuration retails for just $299, while the high-end model goes up to $499. While the Eee PC certainly has less horsepower under the hood than most laptops on the market, the price differential is notable: most ultraportable laptops retail for more than $1,500.

The Eee PC is available in a variety of configurations: the 2G and 4G models both have 512 megabytes of RAM, and differ in the amount of hard-drive space available (2 or 4 gigabytes, as the name suggests). A 'Surf' version of the 4G comes without a webcam and a smaller-capacity battery (the 2G model is only available with the 'Surf' option). The 8G has 1 gigabyte of memory and 8 gigabytes of storage space.

ASUS has managed to keep the cost of the Eee PC down by using free and open source software: the operating system is a variant of the Xandros Linux distribution (stripped down and optimized for the student and non-technical market); the web browser is Firefox, and all of the bundled software is free and open source, and there is already a thriving community of Eee users.

But how is the experience of using a computer only slightly larger than a DVD case? This review will cover the Eee PC 2G Surf, the cheapest and most-minimal configuration. Surprisingly, the chiclet-sized keys on the keyboard take only a little adjustment to allow touch-typing, and though the 7-inch display only outputs a resolution of 800x480, the screen is crisp, bright and readable.

Wireless performance is excellent, as is response time to the solid-state flash memory hard drive. The minimal operating system makes the Eee PC feel much snappier and responsive than beefier laptops with Windows installed. The default interface to the Eee PC is simplistic, almost childish, but has access to virtually all of the bundled applications. Instructions are available various places online to enable the 'advanced mode,' a full dekstop implementation of the Xandros distribution, which allows all of the functionality of a Mac or Windows PC.

While the performance of the Eee PC 2G Surf is impressive, there are drawbacks: the tiny hard drive ships almost completely full, with only a few hundred megabytes free for additional programs or documents. Advanced users will almost certainly feel the need for the additional space in the form of an SD card (via the Eee PC's integral card reader), or a USB flash drive. With the price differential between the 2G and 4G Surf models, the need for additional storage makes the minimal configuration somewhat less appealing.

While wireless performance is excellent, the wireless configuration often takes more than 30 seconds to reconnect after waking up from sleep. That is an annoying software glitch, which mars the otherwise excellent internet capabilities of the Eee PC.

Keyboard and trackpad are usable, but not comfortable. Touch-typing is definitely possible on the Eee PC, but the space demands mean that some keys are in unexpected places: it's altogether too easy to accidentally hit the up-arrow key instead of the right shift. The trackpad is small, but responsive; the button, however, is stiff and takes quite a bit to press.

In total, the shortcomings of the Eee PC are forgettable, and pale in comparison to its many virtues. Without a doubt, the Eee PC is the most fun, most affordable, and interesting gadget to emerge in years. With the software and support available from the Linux community, and the flexible, hackable nature of the Eee PC, the possibilities are endless for the Eee. The notion of paying thousands of dollars for a top-of-the-line ultraportable seems positively quaint in light of the marvel of engineering and usability that comes in the Eee PC's tiny package.

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"Asus." Wikipedia