Although I’m a self-confessed geek, it’s never really been about the gadgets for me. I don’t need the latest and greatest mobile phone (my ancient Nokia 3310 still works); the MacBook Air is still a poncy piece of kit (a classic example of a sub-standard spec machine trying to be something it isn’t); and I can buy Chinese knock-offs of the iPhone/iPod for a fraction of the price, without lining Apple’s pockets over nothing more than hype. Yes, yes.. I’m sure you’re all dying to tell me that your iCrap is the best thing since sliced bread and you didn’t buy it to conform to some sort of “cool kid/free spirit” imagery but I don’t care how you spend your money, so you’d be wasting your time.
The closest I have ever been to obsessed over a piece of technology was in anticipation of the Wii. I had never heard of anything so fantastic, and being a total Nintendo fangirl (yep, I buy into marketing hype too) I had to have one. Still, it’s sat by my television gathering dust because I’ve been too tired, too busy, too distracted, too [insert excuse here] to play it. It gets used, but not as much as I told myself it would to justify buying it in the first place.
Anyway… so I’m at my Mum’s, and my brother has a friend stopped over, who’s brought with him an Asus Eeeeeeeeeeeee PC. I’ve heard a lot about them, read a lot about them but not actually had a play with one. Any sane person, given my anti-materialism (hahaha) and aforementioned cynicism towards gadgetry, would assume that I’d dismiss the Eee outright. No, I squealed with glee and proceeded to examine it in fine detail with notion to somehow justifying how I could use one of these alongside my laptop and become a sort of super-efficient God of computing. Or something along those lines.
The Asus Eee PC comes in a few different sizes/different spec with a Linux distro and necessary software pre-installed. However — and this is where I positively love it in comparison to the MBA — it is not a small laptop trying to compete in a big laptop world. It’s not got a hefty price tag and it’s not trying to sell itself with false advertising. It has 3 USB ports, card reader built in and the bigger HD models can apparently be upgraded.
Unfortunately, I had to hand over the Eee back to its rightful owner. Now all I have to do is keep reminding myself that I have no need for one, and bills are much more important if slightly less exciting to pay.
19 Apr at 7:34 pm
I heart the Eeeeee – It’s very high up on my “me wantee” list, I desperately want – no – NEED a green one. :)
19 Apr at 8:11 pm
Oh dear, I must be living under a rock. I have no idea what these eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee things are.
And I totally thought your post title said ‘anus’. -_-
19 Apr at 8:24 pm
I love the name of it. ^^ I still prefer my lovely Mac to it, but I desperately want to see one.
Hey, if you become a super-efficient God of computing, maybe your inbox influx will automatically decrease!
19 Apr at 8:27 pm
That’s my one and only justification right now… I don’t think it’s convincing anyone! ;)
19 Apr at 10:02 pm
Hehe… ‘Anus’ eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. That’s silly. ^_^
19 Apr at 11:29 pm
I’m not sure what one is, but I have to keep telling myself at the moment NOT to buy a new laptop. I’ve only had this one a year, but since getting my new job I know I could afford one if I wanted, and that is too tempting to me…But nooo! I need to save save save! …
19 Apr at 11:35 pm
I think you just like gadgets that end with an “e” sound.
I wholly agree with your assessments, though. :)
20 Apr at 12:56 am
They really are pretty little cretins aren’t they?
very cute and very to the point in terms of what software is on there. Interestingly, they are also priced at being cheaper than the originally dubbed “$100 a pc per child” program, which subsequently is now sitting at about $220.
these things can be found from like $170 for the base model, so budget definitely isnt the issue. My only qualms with it, is the hard drive size. They are not very cheap to upgrade as they use the new solid state hard drives, which are smaller and more expensive than std ones. There is no point in carrying around an external HDD because that simply defeats the point of such a small mobile machine.
But i’m glad that Asus has seen the market share in cheap, practical machines aimed at a much larger consumer base than current laptop target markets.
20 Apr at 4:54 am
I think it’s cute. :D I saw a MacBook Air today. It’s thin, but my goodness that thing is over-hyped. It’s good to see that something (i.e. the Asus Eee) is being modestly marketed. I’m currently in a gadget happy state. I do not want an Asus Eee and nor do I want a MacBook Air. The only gadgets I kind of want is a LG/Cyon Viewty, but the phone is not available in my country so I shall not have it anytime soon. ;(
20 Apr at 6:12 am
I have seen a lot of articles about Asus Eee Pc, but have to say that till today I have probably been under the rock next to Amelie’s.
20 Apr at 6:51 am
Asus Eee was a huge news in the country where I’m from, and most bloggers I know immediately bought themselves one as soon as it got out (and I thought to myself: I thought we’re supposed to be one of those poor poor countries in the world….?)
But, I must admit I salivated over one myself. What I like most about it is its compact form, useful for someone like me who really doesn’t need a laptop but does a lot of typing. AND it’s way way cheaper than laptops, but it does the job.
20 Apr at 9:11 am
I’m like that with my Wii as well. The poor thing has been flashing blue lights at me for weeks so that I would power it up and update it.
I’ve never even heard of the Asus Eee before now. I obviously need to crawl out from under that rock…
20 Apr at 9:32 am
I’ve spent the last two weeks convincing myself I don’t need one! Then I found the cloudbook – also small laptop – but better specs (30gig harddrive for one!) and then I found coloured eees! oh its too much to bear i want one!
20 Apr at 1:36 pm
Wii is so much fun. I limit myself to playing it at other people’s houses though, as the $300 price tag is a little much for me right now.
20 Apr at 4:59 pm
Psssh eeepc looks like a childs play thing. 8.9″ screen, that would drive me mad. The price point is the only real thing going for this machine, i don’t see the need for some ‘ultra-portable’ laptop. There is nothing wrong with a notebook, they are compact enough for what the majority of people do and the eee-pc is just one more gimmick marketed to those who think smaller is cooler.
What i’m interested to see is how the user of an eee-pc holds up after daily use and how good their eyesight is 5 years from now. ;)
20 Apr at 5:10 pm
@Mat: that’s just it, as far as I can see the Eee isn’t trying to be a daily/use it 24/7 for 5 years type of PC. From what I’ve been reading, the promotional marketing/material isn’t saying “go out, buy this, never have to use another PC again”.
I would agree that it probably is nothing more than a gimmick for the majority. But I also know that at Karl’s work, they’re considering the Eee as a portable computing solution so that, on top of their existing suites of PCs, they’re able to roll out these cheap and easy to use mini notebooks to classrooms thus creating “on-demand” computer rooms. This isn’t possible with a huge percentage of the standard notebook market because of the costs involved.
I fell in love instantly because it’s the kind of thing I could plonk in my little backpack and take to work with me, whereas my Dell is too heavy for the walk. Of course, I’ll need to come up with a few more reasons as to why it’d suit me before I could possibly justify buying one, but I’m trying real hard ;)
20 Apr at 5:36 pm
I have an Asus EEE and I love it! It’s perfect for university when the shitty Macs there won’t do. Definitely not a desktop replacement, but that’s not what I wanted it for. I just needed a portable device that was affordable, reliable and efficient.
The only problem I’ve had with it is connecting to the university network. It’s got a WPA2 encryption which my laptop doesn’t recognise. I just have to keep my eyes open for a patch, not that I know exactly where to look :/
Did I mention it comes with the most addictive games in the universe? *coughTetriscough*
20 Apr at 6:45 pm
This seems like the perfect notebook for a college student. I.E. me in a year.
20 Apr at 7:02 pm
I think you should have just pushed him over and ran with the Eee.
20 Apr at 10:27 pm
I too have the same problem, I have no use for an Eee PC (or the HP Mini-Note, which looks even better) but I really want one!!!!
21 Apr at 5:23 pm
I still think the screen’s too small. Will be interesting to see the new models when they come out, although obviously they cost more too…
quite a lot of competition appearing in the ‘pointlessly small computer’ market, heh. maybe this time next year I’ll be able to justify one
22 Apr at 8:29 am
Here at work (sixth form college), we’re part of an mobile learning trial project, and my manager was given the choice of various machines… and chose a hideous Windows Mobile phone/PDA over the eee. As a laptop replacement they’re no great shakes, but as a successor to the Psion 5 I think they are great.
28 Apr at 4:45 pm
Hehe, that name gets me every time.
I do like them though (I’d commit genocide for an orange laptop period, no lie :P), but the only problem is (again) lack of a harddrive. Anymore, all I use a computer for is just web browsing (I know it makes me sound like a stereotypical teeenager, but it’s usually Facebook, LJ, Myspace, and Youtube anymore), word processing and whatnot for school, and listening to music. Kicker is, I have over 15 GB of music, and the Eee just won’t cut it, unfortunately. D:
[phone nerd moment]
How is it that you still use a Nokia 3310 after all those years? I remember my mom got the US version of it (3390) when Qworst screwed up our billing and we got T-Mobile, and that was like 2002! That’s kind of amazing, I’m not gonna lie, especially since aside from my 3220 that just won’t die, no matter what I do to it, none of my phones have lasted longer than about a year or so. D:
[/phone nerd moment]
13 Jul at 4:03 pm
Just got an MSI Wind. its the tops!