Cyro - Asus eeePC - First Impressions!

Asus eeePC - First Impressions!

Wednesday, 28. May 2008, 18:21:12

I bought it last week, here comes the review.
First thing, I replaced Xandros with Ubuntu Hardy Heron. Why? Because Xandros is not the best choice. XP was another option (There is a CD with the XP drivers on it). But I picked up Ubuntu because I knew there were tons of customizations to get the best experience.

Hardware:
Processor: Celeron 900 Mhz in overclock mode (650 Mhz is the default);
Memory: 2,048 GB (expanded from the original 512 MB);
Storage: 4GB internal (flash), 2GB external (SD card), 16GB Pendrive;
Video: Intel, 800x480 (wide). There is an external VGA output to connect to an external monitor;
Sound: Yes, integrated;
Mike: Yes, integrated;
Camera: Yes, integrated;
Battery life: 3 hours & 50 minutes (w/ Wifi turned on);
Network: LAN & WLAN;
Bluetooth: No, but I've got a bluetooth dongle which is working;
USB ports: Three.

Outside:

So, I've connected an external CDROM drive and booted the ALTERNATE version of Ubuntu Hardy Heron, which is way better than the Live CD version. I also didn't create a SWAP partition, since I'm not interested in hibernation and it's pointless, since I have 2GB of RAM and there will not be enough room for it. Then, I've followed the instructions on several websites on how to install the drivers correctly, and how to optimize the battery and some other minor tweaks like small fonts, and window resizing (since the resolution is low).

Then, of course, I removed Firefox. Why? Because I don't like it.
Besides Opera, I have OpenOffice.org 2.4, Filezilla, PuTTY, Compiz (always enabled), Pidgin (temporarily because I hate it as well), Skype Beta(Camera enabled), Totem (with all plugins), FrozenBubble, DosBox, and many others. Since it's installed in the 4GB internal drive, I only got 1,5 GB left. But that's ok, because I have the external storage drive and the pendrive as a last option for documents, videos, games, etc.

Inside:

The Dancing CTOUbuntu Intrepid Ibex theme on Hardy Heron

Comments

lamarca # 30. May 2008, 13:55

that was a wise decison to prefer linux over winxp. do you have the firewall on?

Cyro # 30. May 2008, 20:56

Yes, I do.

TuPLaD # 27. June 2008, 13:30

It's a beautiful thing man

My girlfriend is getting one of these aswell in 2 weeks.

trin20t # 14. July 2008, 01:16

Great post!
I want one myself. Insread I got a GOS laptop.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7754614

annafil # 23. July 2008, 17:06

have you tried running compiz on it?

i hear you can get some decent compiz performance out of an eeePC, minus the blur and water effects!

I'm curious - why did you pick the eeePC over all the other netbook options these days? There's so many choices even where I'm from, where we don't have all the options.

How's the keyboard?

Cyro # 23. July 2008, 17:53

The keyboard is fine, you can get used with it even if your native language has accents.
The performance is awesome, but when I bought it I asked for 2GB (of RAM) on it, so I can't comment on the 512MB one.
Compiz & emerald run pretty decently, and you can leave it on all the time.
No, I haven't checked the NetBook interface yet, because it's experimental and English-only.

Quinnuendo # 6. August 2008, 20:55

seems like a nice very portable device, with no real compromises in terms of pc-compatibility

I think a proffesor of ours also has one. He said it's great, you can for instance watch movies in bed, no need for glasses, and then when you're tired, you just put it under the bed.