Discussion
After a few months of considering the standard eee and having concerns about not being a Windows based machine I have just found the new eee 900 is for sale in the Uk with Windows XP fully Installed, Almost a 9" screen rather than the 7".
As it was a business purchase excluding VAT it was £ 290.00, fair price I think.
Has anybody else got their hands one of these yet ?
The big attraction for me was how small the original eee was as I did not want to be carrying around a full lap top bag.
I know the 900 is slightly bigger so Im really hoping its not so much bigger that it loses the original appeal, I cant seem to find anywhere orignal size Vs new size but at still less than 1 kg im hoping it has the same smallness.
As it was a business purchase excluding VAT it was £ 290.00, fair price I think.
Has anybody else got their hands one of these yet ?
The big attraction for me was how small the original eee was as I did not want to be carrying around a full lap top bag.
I know the 900 is slightly bigger so Im really hoping its not so much bigger that it loses the original appeal, I cant seem to find anywhere orignal size Vs new size but at still less than 1 kg im hoping it has the same smallness.
FunkyNige said:
There's a new one coming out based on Intel's new Atom processor, so it may be worth waiting until June to see if that's a big performance boost.
It's fast enough for me as standard in the old model for the sort of thing I'd want it for...Question is - do I need one - the Macbook Air is too precious for 'chuck in the bag and surf anywhere' stuff and the iPhone fulfils this function already...
Answer - errr yes I'm cyberface and I need it
Order will be placed asap...
cyberface said:
It's fast enough for me as standard in the old model for the sort of thing I'd want it for...
Question is - do I need one - the Macbook Air is too precious for 'chuck in the bag and surf anywhere' stuff and the iPhone fulfils this function already...
Answer - errr yes I'm cyberface and I need it
Order will be placed asap...
If you hadn't of said that, I'd have slapped you! Question is - do I need one - the Macbook Air is too precious for 'chuck in the bag and surf anywhere' stuff and the iPhone fulfils this function already...
Answer - errr yes I'm cyberface and I need it
Order will be placed asap...
It's technology, you always need it, there is no such thing as want!
I could certainly be tempted with that over the smaller one. I have a bit of a hankering for a Linux-based machine for a bit of a play
Laptops direct I got mine from and they did do th enon windows version too, I got the heads up from www.eeeuser.com
cyberface said:
FunkyNige said:
There's a new one coming out based on Intel's new Atom processor, so it may be worth waiting until June to see if that's a big performance boost.
It's fast enough for me as standard in the old model for the sort of thing I'd want it for...or you could buy both as they come out
eyebeebe said:
I thought the big deal with Atom was much improved power consumption, rather than performance. That would be worth waiting for.
or you could buy both as they come out
Yeah, you're right or you could buy both as they come out
I don't think Intel are claiming anything other than very low power usage and TDP.
I doubt it'll really make much difference in the eee and it'll probably make it more expensive anyway.
LukeBird said:
cyberface said:
It's fast enough for me as standard in the old model for the sort of thing I'd want it for...
Question is - do I need one - the Macbook Air is too precious for 'chuck in the bag and surf anywhere' stuff and the iPhone fulfils this function already...
Answer - errr yes I'm cyberface and I need it
Order will be placed asap...
If you hadn't of said that, I'd have slapped you! Question is - do I need one - the Macbook Air is too precious for 'chuck in the bag and surf anywhere' stuff and the iPhone fulfils this function already...
Answer - errr yes I'm cyberface and I need it
Order will be placed asap...
It's technology, you always need it, there is no such thing as want!
I could certainly be tempted with that over the smaller one. I have a bit of a hankering for a Linux-based machine for a bit of a play
Anyway Misco had one so I've ordered it.
My old one (I will switch the RAM sticks because I want 2 GB in the new one, so the old one will have 1 GB ram rather than the standard 512 MB) is now up for sale. Do you fancy it Luke? Going cheap?
mcflurry said:
How much do you want for the old one?
Around £150, negotiable... it's upgraded to 1GB ram and is in perfect condition (I haven't used it much other than to run OS X on it for fun!). It's the proper 701 model with 4 GB SSD, UK keyboard (with £ sign on 3) and black case.Email me if you're interested, I'm willing to negotiate on price as I have no idea how much it's really worth. On one hand, second-hand PC laptops tend to sell at very low prices (unless it's an Apple, which I'm used to) - but there still seems to be over-demand and under-supply of even the basic £180+vat models. Expansys have my exact Eee for sale but want £290 for it, which is a bit pricey given that the new 900 isn't much more than that (assuming you can find someone with one for sale)...
cyberface said:
Anyway Misco had one so I've ordered it.
My old one (I will switch the RAM sticks because I want 2 GB in the new one, so the old one will have 1 GB ram rather than the standard 512 MB) is now up for sale. Do you fancy it Luke? Going cheap?
Yeah, I could be tempted!My old one (I will switch the RAM sticks because I want 2 GB in the new one, so the old one will have 1 GB ram rather than the standard 512 MB) is now up for sale. Do you fancy it Luke? Going cheap?
Although as the chap above was first in the queue, I shall see what happens!
LukeBird said:
eyebeebe said:
I thought the big deal with Atom was much improved power consumption, rather than performance. That would be worth waiting for.
or you could buy both as they come out
Yeah, you're right or you could buy both as they come out
I don't think Intel are claiming anything other than very low power usage and TDP.
I doubt it'll really make much difference in the eee and it'll probably make it more expensive anyway.
Noger said:
Depends on what version of Atom, Silverthorn or Diamondville. The one out now (sort of) is a single core, and reckoned to be about the same speed as the Menlow/A110 800Mhz. For a Linux MID it will be nice, Windows XP too, Vista is rather slow. But the dual cored Diamondville coming later in the year will be the one for a Netbooks like the eee. Tasty.
From someone who has had an acceptable internet experience running off a 1 GHz Crusoe in a Flybook, I've come to the conclusion that the important thing is to make the software fit the hardware, not the other way round.Put Vista on a current Eee and it'll run slowly, and people will complain that it's slow. Put Win2k on it and it'll be a rocket. It's bloody fast with a slightly-stripped-out distro of Ubuntu Linux and that's hardly Slackware or Gentoo in terms of minimalism. As expected, the UI on the Eee is slow with OS X, but the underlying OS runs very fast (the unixy bits).
The argument that one should wait for ever-more-powerful CPUs in UMPCs to allow them to run over-bloated crapware like Vista assumes that bloated crapware like Vista is an appropriate OS for UMPCs, which are fundamentally limited by screen size and input devices.
I'll say the same thing about Apple. OS X is f
king beautiful on a big screen (and is utterly exquisite on dual 30" screens) and their new laptops have iPhone-sized trackpads that do all the same st that an iPhone does. Unless you make the screen the trackpad (one for you, Noger) - Eee-sized notebooks simply don't have the area to have a usable keyboard *and* a decent sized trackpad. Yes, I got OS X working *properly* on the Eee 701, and have proof, but it wasn't usable due to the 600 pixel vertical resolution, which OS X didn't support in Cheetah let alone Tiger or Leopard! As a result my Eee now runs a customised Xubuntu Linux, and is snappy as hell.I've cut down the Linux install to the fundamentals I need in a device like the Eee... and as a result, it's faster (read more responsive) than my Macbook Air, which cost a little bit more than the Eee
Yeah, the MB Air is a superb bit of kit but it's got lower-power components running a full version of Leopard. What do you expect (actually, the Air does brilliantly given its limitations... truly incredible really).The Eee and machines like it really need to have their OSes tailored to the limitations of the device. I'm not a Vista user but from conversations with
it, similarly to OS X, assumes a large screen resolution and takes up lots of space with sidebars, docks, transparent info windows, etc. Just like OS X does. OS X sucks on small screens, and it was ste on the Eee, however much I rant that OS X is the best OS, it's not. It's the best OS on Apple hardware and any PC hardware that is similar to Apple hardware. Tiny sub-notebooks... well the rules have changed.Why do you think there's no Dock on the iPhone? Apple aren't stupid.
Currently only Linux has the flexibility to hit this 'middle ground' hard. OS X works great on full-size laptops (even the MB Air) and above, whereas iPhone OS X is made for phones / iPods / etc. Windows Vista works great (?) on full-size PCs, and for handheld devices, Windows Mobile is a different OS. Sure as hell though that Windows Mobile isn't suitable for the Eee and devices like it.
What is an option is an older version of Windows - one which was designed when many people still had 800x600 resolution screens, etc. - the dialogue boxes fit on the screen, and the OS is usable. If I had to run Windows on my Eee then I'd probably run Win2k because that one was faithful to me.
Noger - question for you - you run UMPCs with Windows operating systems - do you run Vista on any of the handheld devices with 600 pixel max vertical resolution? I'd be interested to hear your opinion on this, because it's the biggest factor in OS choice for me with the Eee.
My new Eee 900 with the 1024x600 screen (similar to the C1 Picturebook Sony that I paid £1600 for many years ago before I saw the Apple light) will beat the living s
t out of the Sony without trying for considerably less than a quarter of the price. But it still has 600 pixel vertical resolution. This means OS X is sub-optimal, and I don't want an old version of Windows full of exploits (most of which are now available to the kiddies and the zombie bots). The Xubuntu with Compiz works so well on the old Eee that it almost has to be the standard choice, whether Vista works on the Eee or not.Surely it's time to look at what the Eee really did when it shook up the market - it had a customised, stripped down OS that contained only the functions that one was likely to use the device for. You can run XP on it, yeah. And with an external hard drive you can probably install Solidworks on it, but who the f
k is going to do industrial 3D design on an Eee????? Fit for purpose, the Eee rocks.I'm in no hurry to wait for improved CPU performance for my next Eee so I can run Vista. In fact, the screen resolution was the only thing that was a niggle. I've had (expensive) ultraportables before and the CPU has been too slow for full-sized desktop OSes (the Sony C1 was fine with Win2k but rubbish with XP, which is what it was supplied with, and getting 2k onto it was a nightmare - Linux would have been brilliant but after 3 months of trying I gave up. Never buy a Sony laptop ever, I ended up smashing the C1 to smithereens. The Flybook came with XP but was dog slow with the full install - I installed a decent Linux distro and it was fast and responsive and what you *need* out of an ultraportable).
Unless we all grow better resolution eyes, 1024x600 is pretty much the most sensible resolution for a screen the size of the Eee - question is - do you want to complain about the machine not being fast enough for a desktop OS that was never designed for such low vertical resolutions.... or instead install / customise an OS that can happily deal with the 600 pixels?
As I said in earlier emails - getting Xubuntu with Compiz running on the original Eee was difficult due to the dialogue boxes being taller than the screen. So even Linux has trouble in this regard. But OS X and Windows are worse. There's a middle ground between the desktop OSes and the Mobile OSes, and apart from the obvious 'use an old OS like Win2k' and face exploit city and lack of support for some modern devices, there is no competition. Is there??? What have I missed?
Noger said:
Depends on what version of Atom, Silverthorn or Diamondville. The one out now (sort of) is a single core, and reckoned to be about the same speed as the Menlow/A110 800Mhz. For a Linux MID it will be nice, Windows XP too, Vista is rather slow. But the dual cored Diamondville coming later in the year will be the one for a Netbooks like the eee. Tasty.
Oh right, when I read over the details of Atom, I didn't see anything about a dual-core.I thought they were going as high as 800MHz, but only on a single core.
I know Intel are pushing it as a platform (which is pretty much where everybody wants to go), for eee-a-likes. Be interesting to see how it does. But at the higher-clocked models, a stripped down Celeron is going to give bigger bang for your buck
Cyberface - Q for you...
I have just spent the last four days in and out of airports
- having perused a few of the shops there and getting a go on the EEE it seems to me that Apple missed a trick with the Air. It is a full sized, but incredibly thin notebook, right?
Stirkes me though that most people want v. small and chunky when they travel. Wy didn't Apple make the Air something more akin to the EEE; i.e. emphasis on the size of x,y dimensions, rather than the thickness? I looked quite enviously at the guys on 13" MBs this weekend compared to my 15" MBP. The EEE for the use when travelling and leaving the full-sizer in the suitcase out of harms way, looked, to me, to be the best solution and i reckon as the EEE gets more exposed in the marketplace that is the way of the future.
What do you reckon? Do you think Apple would twig it? Sometimes, considering their roots, they can seem a bit slow on the uptake...
I have just spent the last four days in and out of airports
- having perused a few of the shops there and getting a go on the EEE it seems to me that Apple missed a trick with the Air. It is a full sized, but incredibly thin notebook, right?Stirkes me though that most people want v. small and chunky when they travel. Wy didn't Apple make the Air something more akin to the EEE; i.e. emphasis on the size of x,y dimensions, rather than the thickness? I looked quite enviously at the guys on 13" MBs this weekend compared to my 15" MBP. The EEE for the use when travelling and leaving the full-sizer in the suitcase out of harms way, looked, to me, to be the best solution and i reckon as the EEE gets more exposed in the marketplace that is the way of the future.
What do you reckon? Do you think Apple would twig it? Sometimes, considering their roots, they can seem a bit slow on the uptake...
cyberface said:
Noger - question for you - you run UMPCs with Windows operating systems - do you run Vista on any of the handheld devices with 600 pixel max vertical resolution? I'd be interested to hear your opinion on this, because it's the biggest factor in OS choice for me with the Eee.
Yes, although 1024x600 (WSVGA) seems to be standard on UMPCs now, the 1st Gen ones came from 800 x 480 which wasn't good at all - although the HTC Shift is native 800x480 but interpolates to 1024x600. No problem with Vista at 1024x600 That is it's minimum resolution anyway. For my old man eyes I need to fiddle with the default font size on a 7" screen.Agree with you about Vista etc on these things. But the anoying things is that for pen/touch computing Vista has a lot of advantages over XP Tablet edition. And at the moment the Linux touch based stuff is some way behind. I think this will all change with Ubuntu Mobile, from what I have seen of it so far it looks very impressive, and makes Origami Experience 2.0 (which is actually pretty good - the finger based Internet Explorer is nice) look under featured.
Buffalo said:
Cyberface - Q for you...
I have just spent the last four days in and out of airports - having perused a few of the shops there and getting a go on the EEE it seems to me that Apple missed a trick with the Air. It is a full sized, but incredibly thin notebook, right?
Stirkes me though that most people want v. small and chunky when they travel. Wy didn't Apple make the Air something more akin to the EEE; i.e. emphasis on the size of x,y dimensions, rather than the thickness? I looked quite enviously at the guys on 13" MBs this weekend compared to my 15" MBP. The EEE for the use when travelling and leaving the full-sizer in the suitcase out of harms way, looked, to me, to be the best solution and i reckon as the EEE gets more exposed in the marketplace that is the way of the future.
What do you reckon? Do you think Apple would twig it? Sometimes, considering their roots, they can seem a bit slow on the uptake...
Probably a misnomer for the Macbook Air then - if that was Apple's intention for a 'travel' notebook, they missed the mark somewhat because you need a small laptop bag (it's nowhere as small as the Eee). But you can use a Macbook Air as your main computer 8 hours a day, I do and it is phenomenal for this. It's a *proper* machine with no ergonomic compromises that is as light as they could get it.I have just spent the last four days in and out of airports
- having perused a few of the shops there and getting a go on the EEE it seems to me that Apple missed a trick with the Air. It is a full sized, but incredibly thin notebook, right?Stirkes me though that most people want v. small and chunky when they travel. Wy didn't Apple make the Air something more akin to the EEE; i.e. emphasis on the size of x,y dimensions, rather than the thickness? I looked quite enviously at the guys on 13" MBs this weekend compared to my 15" MBP. The EEE for the use when travelling and leaving the full-sizer in the suitcase out of harms way, looked, to me, to be the best solution and i reckon as the EEE gets more exposed in the marketplace that is the way of the future.
What do you reckon? Do you think Apple would twig it? Sometimes, considering their roots, they can seem a bit slow on the uptake...
Which, for me, is what I want. The 12" Powerbook (hitherto the best in this regard) was heavier. The Air is so light (and also so damn solid and tough) that you don't care about carrying it everywhere (assuming you carry a bag, it's unlikely the bag will be too small for an Air but big enough for an Eee and a magazine, etc.).
Bottom line is that for regular use, you need a proper sized keyboard and enough screen to do work. The 12" PB had the keyboard right out to the edge of the laptop - it couldn't be any smaller without putting a smaller (and therefore unusable as a daily computer) keyboard on it.
The ultraportables use tiny keyboards which are usable at a pinch but not for large documents. The Eee is perfect for web browsing and media stuff whilst travelling, but if you have to *work* when you travel i.e. type large amounts of text, whether it's serious emailing or analysis documents, you'll hate an ultraportable very quickly. The Macbook Air has the same keyboard as the full-sized laptops and the desktop keys.
I don't think they're aimed at the same market... which is why I have both. The Air for general work (train commute and office work) and an ultraportable for travel where work isn't as intense.
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