Asus Eee PC makes me sad

Alexander Turcic · 06-23-2008, 04:54 PM

Wanted to buy the Asus Eee today, the small one (701 4G). Figured out its screen was a tad too small for me, so I went home with empty hands.

Online, I discovered the larger Eee, the 900 with a 8.9" screen. I was going for the 20G variant with Linux installed. Alas, it's not on sale yet, at least in Germany. Not giving up, I found a few Swiss stores who claimed to have the 900 in stock (grey imports, but who cares...).

I was almost about to hit the order button when Google revealed that Asus was already phasing out the 900 in favor of the newer 901 model, equipped with Intel's new Atom CPU (=better battery performance).

Of course no hint of the 901, neither in German, nor Swiss nor US online stores. And no, I still didn't give up. On Ebay, I found a couple of HongKong sellers who promised to have the 901 in stock and to send it overseas, world-wide. But at horrendous shipping costs, and with a Chinese/English keyboard.

At the end of the day, I spent two hours chasing the ghost of a device that is not even on sale in my country yet -- only to discover that it got already replaced by another device (with no word of a shipping date).

Patricia · 06-23-2008, 05:00 PM

That is annoying, Alex.

I spent ages looking for an eee (4G) before they were available in the UK. Eventually I just gave up and waited until they appeared in a local computer shop. The 701 4G screen is a bit small, but I just put some reading glasses on. It's the tiny keyboard that takes getting used to.

zelda_pinwheel · 06-23-2008, 05:36 PM

oh boy. that would drive me completely mad. some days, i love technology. other days, i believe it is some sort of evil joke played on us by a sadistic god (/alien overlord / squirrels / whathaveyou). i imagine today your conviction is probably the latter.

but the thing about technology is, maybe tomorrow you will get a newsletter from your favorite tech store, announcing new arrival of 901 for next week... i'll cross my fingers for you.

wallcraft · 06-23-2008, 05:46 PM

You probably already found these, but one of the major advantages of the Eee over its competitors is eeeuser.com which has a very active forum and a populated wiki. For other netbooks, the best I have found is netbookuser.com which is not nearly as good.

The Acer Aspire One is shaping up as an inexpensive competitor to the Eee 901, if you don't mind running Linux. How far we have come in 8 months, when an Eee competitor can be described as inexpensive!

RickyMaveety · 06-23-2008, 05:58 PM

You do realize they have also come out with the 1000 and 1000H??

Alexander Turcic · 06-23-2008, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

You do realize they have also come out with the 1000 and 1000H??

Yes, I do! Also very attractive, but for me, the 900/901 seems like the perfect size in regard to portability and usability.

For normal day mobile work, I use a Lenovo T61p... only when I travel it's often too heavy when I don't need most of it's "power".

RickyMaveety · 06-23-2008, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Yes, I do! Also very attractive, but for me, the 900/901 seems like the perfect size in regard to portability and usability.

For normal day mobile work, I use a Lenovo T61p... only when I travel it's often too heavy when I don't need most of it's "power".

Well, it looks like it's pretty easy to get them here. They are in stock at several places. Would you like me to pick one up and send it to you??

montsnmags · 06-23-2008, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

...
At the end of the day, I spent two hours chasing the ghost of a device that is not even on sale in my country yet -- only to discover that it got already replaced by another device (with no word of a shipping date).

In Australia we call that "the way the world works". We're apparently quite often a long, long way from being anything much more than a way to clear out last season's stock.

Cheers,
Marc

TadW · 06-24-2008, 04:02 AM

Alex, you may also consider the MSI Wind U100 which is due to come out these days.

Greg Anos · 06-24-2008, 09:19 AM

To me, netbooks are like BBQ, I'm still looking for a good joint. And a netbook "good joint" would let me rotate the screen 180 degrees so I can fold it over the keyboard with the screen facing out (like a PMP). Then I can use it as an e-book reader or a PMP. But nobody wants to build one that way...

wallcraft · 06-24-2008, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

To me, netbooks are like BBQ, I'm still looking for a good joint. And a netbook "good joint" would let me rotate the screen 180 degrees so I can fold it over the keyboard with the screen facing out (like a PMP). Then I can use it as an e-book reader or a PMP. But nobody wants to build one that way...

MicroSoft won't let WIndows XP tablet edition on a netbook. Vista is actually a good tablet O/S, but way to expensive and resource hungry for netbooks. Linux runs perfectly well on a touch screen, so perhaps we will see a convertible netbook eventually.

Alexander Turcic · 07-02-2008, 05:41 PM

Sooo... I am down to two choices: the Acer Aspire One 150L (8.9", 1GB Ram, 120GB HDD, Intel Atom 1.6) or the MSI Wind (10.2", 1GB Ram, 80GB HDD, Intel Atom 1.6).

The Acer is slightly cheaper, because it comes preinstalled with Linux -- the MSI will only be available with Windows in the beginning. The Acer has the smaller screen, but it's also lighter and I like its design better. On the other hand, the MSI is easier to upgrade (RAM is not soldered on the motherboard). Oh, and the MSI comes out one month later (the Acer is rumored to be released in a week or so in Germany).

Decisions, decisions, decisions... I hate them!

Elsi · 07-02-2008, 05:55 PM

ASUS 901 ships on 18 July according to stuff I found (somewhere) online. Can you wait 2 weeks?

I'm thinking about pre-ordering, but they want immediate payment, which makes me a bit nervous. Would like to have the ASUS in hand by 6 August to take to a computer conference. (Though I will still have to take my IBM T41 with me as well.)

RickyMaveety · 07-02-2008, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Sooo... I am down to two choices: the Acer Aspire One 150L (8.9", 1GB Ram, 120GB HDD, Intel Atom 1.6) or the MSI Wind (10.2", 1GB Ram, 80GB HDD, Intel Atom 1.6).

The Acer is slightly cheaper, because it comes preinstalled with Linux -- the MSI will only be available with Windows in the beginning. The Acer has the smaller screen, but it's also lighter and I like its design better. On the other hand, the MSI is easier to upgrade (RAM is not soldered on the motherboard). Oh, and the MSI comes out one month later (the Acer is rumored to be released in a week or so in Germany).

Decisions, decisions, decisions... I hate them!

So ... why not just get the Asus 901?? Or, am I missing something??

Patricia · 07-02-2008, 07:41 PM

It may ship, but does it ship to Switzerland?
(--which is where Alex is located.)

06-23-2008, 04:54 PM	#1
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,163 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Asus Eee PC makes me sad Wanted to buy the Asus Eee today, the small one (701 4G). Figured out its screen was a tad too small for me, so I went home with empty hands. Online, I discovered the larger Eee, the 900 with a 8.9" screen. I was going for the 20G variant with Linux installed. Alas, it's not on sale yet, at least in Germany. Not giving up, I found a few Swiss stores who claimed to have the 900 in stock (grey imports, but who cares...). I was almost about to hit the order button when Google revealed that Asus was already phasing out the 900 in favor of the newer 901 model, equipped with Intel's new Atom CPU (=better battery performance). Of course no hint of the 901, neither in German, nor Swiss nor US online stores. And no, I still didn't give up. On Ebay, I found a couple of HongKong sellers who promised to have the 901 in stock and to send it overseas, world-wide. But at horrendous shipping costs, and with a Chinese/English keyboard. At the end of the day, I spent two hours chasing the ghost of a device that is not even on sale in my country yet -- only to discover that it got already replaced by another device (with no word of a shipping date).

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06-23-2008, 05:00 PM	#2
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,504 Karma: 8720163 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	That is annoying, Alex. I spent ages looking for an eee (4G) before they were available in the UK. Eventually I just gave up and waited until they appeared in a local computer shop. The 701 4G screen is a bit small, but I just put some reading glasses on. It's the tiny keyboard that takes getting used to.

06-23-2008, 05:36 PM	#3
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	oh boy. that would drive me completely mad. some days, i love technology. other days, i believe it is some sort of evil joke played on us by a sadistic god (/alien overlord / squirrels / whathaveyou). i imagine today your conviction is probably the latter. but the thing about technology is, maybe tomorrow you will get a newsletter from your favorite tech store, announcing new arrival of 901 for next week... i'll cross my fingers for you.

06-23-2008, 05:46 PM	#4
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,975 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	You probably already found these, but one of the major advantages of the Eee over its competitors is eeeuser.com which has a very active forum and a populated wiki. For other netbooks, the best I have found is netbookuser.com which is not nearly as good. The Acer Aspire One is shaping up as an inexpensive competitor to the Eee 901, if you don't mind running Linux. How far we have come in 8 months, when an Eee competitor can be described as inexpensive!

06-23-2008, 05:58 PM	#5
RickyMaveety Holy S**T!!! Posts: 5,213 Karma: 108401 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: San Diego, California!! Device: Kindle and iPad	You do realize they have also come out with the 1000 and 1000H??

06-24-2008, 04:02 AM	#9
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	Alex, you may also consider the MSI Wind U100 which is due to come out these days.

06-24-2008, 09:19 AM	#10
Greg Anos Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,247 Karma: 35000000 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Pocketbook	To me, netbooks are like BBQ, I'm still looking for a good joint. And a netbook "good joint" would let me rotate the screen 180 degrees so I can fold it over the keyboard with the screen facing out (like a PMP). Then I can use it as an e-book reader or a PMP. But nobody wants to build one that way...

07-02-2008, 05:41 PM	#12
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,163 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Sooo... I am down to two choices: the Acer Aspire One 150L (8.9", 1GB Ram, 120GB HDD, Intel Atom 1.6) or the MSI Wind (10.2", 1GB Ram, 80GB HDD, Intel Atom 1.6). The Acer is slightly cheaper, because it comes preinstalled with Linux -- the MSI will only be available with Windows in the beginning. The Acer has the smaller screen, but it's also lighter and I like its design better. On the other hand, the MSI is easier to upgrade (RAM is not soldered on the motherboard). Oh, and the MSI comes out one month later (the Acer is rumored to be released in a week or so in Germany). Decisions, decisions, decisions... I hate them!

07-02-2008, 05:55 PM	#13
Elsi Wizard Posts: 2,366 Karma: 12000 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Texas, USA Device: Kindle; Sony PRS 505; Blackberry 8700C	ASUS 901 ships on 18 July according to stuff I found (somewhere) online. Can you wait 2 weeks? I'm thinking about pre-ordering, but they want immediate payment, which makes me a bit nervous. Would like to have the ASUS in hand by 6 August to take to a computer conference. (Though I will still have to take my IBM T41 with me as well.)

07-02-2008, 07:41 PM	#15
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,504 Karma: 8720163 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	It may ship, but does it ship to Switzerland? (--which is where Alex is located.)

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