As I’ve been a netbook user for about three weeks now, I figure I’d write about it.
I picked up an Asus Eee PC 901 20G (Linux) a couple of weeks ago. I picked this particular model because it includes Bluetooth and uses a pair of SSDs (4GB and 16GB) and shipped with Linux, so I would get more space while avoiding the “Microsoft tax.” As the Linux Asus ships is somewhat neutered, I opted to strip it off and load WinXP on it from an SD card. My general experience thus far can be summed up in just a few words: cramped keyboard, smaller than I thought, much lighter is awesome. I would not want to write a thesis on this keyboard, but for general web surfing and such, it’s not terrible. In fact, I’m writing this post on it.
By and large, until you see these computers in real life, the pictures on webpages are very deceiving as to just how small they are. Granted, I’ve seen a multitude of pics of soda cans, game controllers, etc. on top or next to netbooks, but when I opened the box for mine, I was amazed at just how small it really was. Definitely eye-opening, to say the least.
As with any new and cool piece of hardware, a subculture forms around it that does crazy stuff. In the case of Eee PCs, people add in touchscreens, internal 3G modems, or in the case of mine, HDDs. The very first production runs of the 901 had a ZIF socket on board for HDDs. Mine, sadly, does not, but several people have soldered a connector on and installed a 5mm HDD internally. I plan to do this as 4+16 is a bit cramped, and I can’t be arsed to really do the proper registry hacks just yet, though the next reinstall I may. The touchscreen, as well, appeals to me greatly as a touch-typist. I need to find out how easy it is to drop the Tablet PC functions in, heh. 3G modem would be hot, but I can sacrifice a USB port for an external modem or just tether my phone for 3G.
I’ve bookmarked several threads on eeeuser.com’s forum for all of these future mods I plan to do. This is going to be some rather cool stuff!