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Tiny But Functional
After some delays the EeePC was officially launched here in India.

The EeePC is a laptop with a 7-inch screen that’s powered by a mobile Intel Celeron 900 MHz processor, 512 MB of memory, Xandros—a Linux distribution—as the OS. The interface has been customised with the most essential applications neatly sorted into categories. This makes the EeePC extremely easy to use, even for people who have never used a computer before.

The keyboard layout is compact and the keys and touchpad are smaller than conventional laptops. Those used to normal laptops and desktops will find the ASUS EeePC slightly painful to use. The build quality of the keyboard and the screen hinge is a lot better than we expected. The inbuilt WiFi (802.11b/g) and 10/100Mbps LAN port take care of connectivity.

So what’s not to like? There’s no optical drive, so installing applications is going to be a bit of a problem. You can’t upgrade the inbuilt memory either. As for hard drives, we got the 4 GB version, but 2, 8 and 16 GB versions are available as well. Windows versions of the EeePC will be launched soon. The laptop is silent, but heats up after a while.

ASUS might promote the EeePC as a children’s PC, something like the OLPC, but we’re thinking ultra-portable! Since regular laptops with 80 GB drives and standard screens are available for around Rs 22,000, and ultra compact laptops cost over Rs 75,000, the ASUS EeePC might fill a void here. At Rs 18,000, it’s a steal for something that weighs under a kg—as long as you don’t plan on playing games or watching HD movies on it.

Specifications
Intel Celeron-M 900MHz, 512MB DDR2, 4GB flash drive, 7-inch screen (800x480), 10/100Mbps Ethernet, 802.11b/g WLAN, Weight: 0.92kg

Contact : ASUS Technology Pvt. Ltd.    
Phone : 022-67668800
E-mail : media_india@asus.com
Web site : http://in.asus.com/
Price : Rs 18,000