Asus Eee PC sails into Australia - part 2

Stan Beer
Sunday, 04 November 2007 06:09

Opinion and Analysis

My last commentary on the new Asus Eee PC Linux sub-notebook raised so many hackles among its fanboy users that I was amazed. First, I didn't realize the Eee PC has a fanatical fan club in Europe and second, how much they resemble some Apple fans in behaviour. As I received so many vitriolic comments, I thought I would clarify further why I think the Eee PC falls short of the mark of what's needed by users. For a start, I should correct anymisunderstandings about my comments on Windows Vista. Perhaps becausemost of the posters were from Europe, they didn't get the intendedirony of the final two sentences of my last story.

As a user who is in the process of migrating all my office systems fromWindows XP to Ubuntu Linux, I can assure you that the last thing Iwould want to see is an attempt to run that overbloated operatingsystem Vista on a sub-notebook like the Eee PC. Heck, many desktopsstruggle with it.

What I was referring to with my remarks was the fact that Asus itselfhas indicated that it plans to release a version of the Eee PC withVista. For me, that seems totally stupid and would simply add to thecost and processor overheads of the device - just think of theadditional security overheads that would be required for a start.

Now, let's move on to my two main criticisms of the Eee PC. It doesn'thave enough storage and it doesn't have a DVD player. Yet, Asus ismarketing the Eee PC as a device for work, entertainment and education.

I can almost feel the fanboys' hackles rising!

Sorry guys, but 4GB of storage for a notebook PC - even a sub-notebook- just isn't enough these days if you want to put some seriousapplications and files up, not to mention downloads. Yes, I know youhave the card reader and three USB 2.0 ports, but we're talking nativestorage. Even the iPhone and new Nokia 95 smartphone now provide 8GB -which still isn't enough for a notebook. I would think that 64GB wouldbe about right if we're talking Flash RAM. I can almost hear the screams of protest resonating from the ether! Why?