Should I put Windows XP on my ASUS Eee PC?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 11 February 2008 10:28

Opinion and Analysis

Given that the Eee PC comes pre-loaded with Xandros Linux and a suite of excellent software, unless you really want one of the smallest and cheapest Windows XP computers around, there really is no need to burden the Eee with XP.

And unless you happen to have a spare, licensed copy of XP laying around, the fact is that you’ll need to buy it, adding at least $100 to the cost of your Eee PC.

Sure, you can download Skype, Firefox and Open Office onto XP, effectively replicating the software suite the Eee already comes with, free of charge (aside from whatever it costs you to have an Internet connection each month with whatever download limit you’re on).

But ASUS have done an incredible job with the Eee as it is. Leave Linux on the Eee, if you buy one, and try using it. Chances are you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Sure, you can run Windows on the Eee PC, but if you’re going to do that, and don’t particularly need a portable computer that’s as small as the Eee, the cost of Windows based notebook computers from major vendors is rapidly approaching the Eee’s price point in retail stores (albeit often with a ‘cashback’ system that requires the buyer to send in the barcode and proof of purchase to receive the money back).

These cheap Windows notebooks naturally come with Windows XP (or Vista) pre-loaded, come with a full size keyboard, a much larger screen, multiple ports and an inbuilt optical drive.

So, unless you must simply have one of the smallest usable computers that can still be touch typed on with Windows XP loaded onto it (unlike other smaller and much more expensive portable PCs like the OQO series), why bother loading XP onto the world’s most popular Linux based PC?

The Eee PC. It’s the computer that doesn’t nEeed Windows, and in many ways that makes it Eeeven more perfect than it already is.