Eee Versus U3

[NanLaew]

Just picked up the Eee 8Gb for 500 bucks in Houston.

Also bought an Asus U3 with Vista 'dogsbollocks' at the same time for 1500 bucks.

The Eee charged fully in 15 minutes and a few minutes later, I was streaming BBC Radio 2 via some unsecured wireless network that another laptop (running Win XP SP2) couldn't handle due to low signal strength.

The U3, brand new, IS STILL downloading and installing it's 37th Vista 'priority' update at this time... 4 hours after initial 'setup'. I am on a T-1 connection too.

And some people want to load Windows on the Eee and think it will be better???!!!

I have downloaded Xandros Desktop (linux) and that is going on the U3 manana.

[LILLO]

Any idea on how much is selling for here in Thailand?

[paal349]

Have yet to see the 8GB in Pantip. But 4GB sells for 12500 w/xp and office installed. If you search the forum, there is a thread about the upcoming Eee Pc 900 that is supposed to hit shelves in Asia in april.

[pilou]

Hi

I have never seen the 8 Gb eee version in Bangkok ( which does not mean it is not there ...), a few vendors told me it would not sell ..

I have not seen it in Singapore either. I have bought a 4 Gb a few weeks ago at Fortune, I switched to XP after 3 days and upgraded it ( 2 Gb RAM and 8 Gb SD card ), and so far so good, it is with me right now on a business trip to Vietnam, and I love it.

The 900 version, with a bigger screen and improved features is announced soon, there is little doubt the 701 will go to my GF and that I will buy it as soon as it is available....

Phil

[Pattaya46]

the upcoming Eee Pc 900 that is supposed to hit shelves in Asia in april.

The EeePc 900 is right now available in Taiwan

http://www.xepc.org/2008/04/12/eeepc-900-intro/

[Pattaya46]

Hi,

First tests of the EeePc 900 commercial release :

http://pcmarket.com.hk/hotnews.asp?id=392

[NanLaew]

An update on the 3 new toys.

The U3 (running Vista Business) is finally usable after forking out 25 quid for the special 'migration cable' that MS recommends with their proprietary file migration software when changing laptops. However, the U3 shipped with a dual partition (OS and Data, like Sony does) so after quietly migrating for 3 hours, the program came up with the prompt that the destination is full and migration was NOT completed. Contrary so what the software says, there was a partial transfer. The worst bit about the migration is that MS has tried to make it idiot proof and apart from being able to select/deselect source directories before transfer, it transfers your files to locations where MS sees fit; you cannot select destination folders at all. So, if like me you are 'graduating' to Vista from XP, then you discover that not all the XP directories are is the same place in Vista. Different names and architecture so one has to hunt around and find what was copied and where it went.

Networking doesn't seem to be a breeze when laptops have different OS's either. I had to download and install a MS utility on the XP laptop in order for it to see (and be seen) by the Vista laptop. Great, now they see each other but buggered if I have found a way to make them access the 100% shared folders that I have set up on each machine for transferring stuff that MS's cable/software missed. Eventually, using a USB drive, I managed to copy all my workfiles in another 2 hours. End of 3 days pretty solid effort. Once I have got used to Vista, I am planning installing a 250Gb HD (currently 160Gb), cloning the current config and then installing Xandros Desktop, my preferred Linux distro.

Meanwhile, the Eee and Nokia N810 have been 'point & click' while out and about, easily configuring network access via EDGE/GPRS, Bluetooth or wireless LAN, checking and sending emails and chatting on Skype and Yahoo. Now that the U3 is finally configured, I have time to spend on seeing if the Linux-based toys can handle some of the harder work that I usually do on the bigger laptop.

I note that the 9" Eee is out so the 'edge' is off my 8Gb Eee with the smaller screen already. However, I am still bamboozled by those that want to remove the rather handy Xandros distro that comes as standard on the Eee and install ANY Windows OS. There was an article about how the Eee has opened the eyes of a whole bunch of laptop users who previously thought that you had to be a 100% geek to use the more esoteric distros out there. My recommendation is to give either Xandros or Ubuntu a shot and see how pleasant being on the internet can be... no huge updates, no security patches, no viruses, no spyware.