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The Tiny New Asus Eee PC
Big news this week in the world of PC's. Asus, the maker of many motherboards for enthusiasts and a longtime maker of notebooks, released their highly anticipated Eee PC in the U.S. The official "global" release was in mid-October, but that was apparently limited to Taiwan.
Why was this so significant? The new Eee PC is tiny, fast, AND cheap. Unlike its bigger brothers and sisters, though, the Eee PC's processor is not its "fast" component — it is the Eee PC's solid state drive that provides a big speed increase over conventional notebook hard drives.
At this point, the only version that's available is $399 (USD) for the Eee PC 4G, which has 512MB RAM and a 4 GB solid state drive. Add built-in wireless (802.11 b/g, of course) and 10/100 Mbps Ethernet and you've got communications opportunities. There's a jack for a modem, but review models apparently didn't have a modem installed — I'll see whether there really is one when I get my Eee PC this week.
The 4G also has 3 USB ports so you can hook up your favorite peripherals, such as printers, flash drives and an external DVD drive. Got that -- external.
The unit comes with a DVD to restore the operating system, but it doesn't have any built-in CD or DVD drive, so you'll need an external one. You can either buy an external DVD drive or get an external case and a DVD drive to install in it — that's the option I'll choose.
I've got a 60 GB Western Digital Passport drive that powers from the USB port. I'll be able to use it with my 4G. I can also use a SDHC (SD High Capacity) card to add another "drive."
The 4G runs a special version of Xandros Linux and defaults to an "Easy" mode; however, users can switch to the advanced mode if they like.
Look for my review in next week's issue.
Copyright © 2007-2008 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.
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