Asus EEE PC Review

[Pathik]

Asus EEE PC Review

So, finally, after giving it a lot of thought, I decided to go for the EEE PC.
As the black one didn’t appeal much to me, I went for the Pearl White one.
It looks damn cool and sleek.
After getting it, I was waiting to reach home and start some RnD on it.
Got it for 16.7k in Mumbai.


Specs

Model Name- Eee PC 4G
Price (INR)- 16,700.
Memory (RAM) 512 MB (DDR2 SO-DIMM)
Solid-State Drive- 4 GB (soldered
Built-in Webcam-VGA (640×480) @ 30 fps
Battery- 4 Cells: 5200 mAh, 3~3.5hrs*
Storage Expansion- External MMC(plus)/SD(HC) slot
Display- 7”; WVGA (800×480) @ 133.3 PPI
CPU- 900 MHz Intel Celeron M ULV 353 @ 630 MHz
Operating System- Custom Linux OS (Xandros
Wired Networking- 10/100 Mbps Ethernet
Wireless Networking- 802.11b/g Wi-Fi (PCIe)
Internal Modem- External RJ-11 connector present but internal MDC board not populated
USB Ports- 3 external
External Display- VGA D-SUB (up to 1600×1280)
Audio- High Definition Audio with built-in stereo speakers and built-in microphone
Weight- 0.92 kg


First Look

It comes bundled with a customised Xandros distro.
I fiddled with it for quite some time.
It’s very zippy and fast. No lags.
Browsing the web, Playing some mp3s, movies didn’t seem to stress it much.
The TouchPad is quite responsive, again better than many lappy’s I ve used.
The keyboard is also very usable. It’s amazing as to how Asus has crammed a fully functional keyboard in this space.
The sound volume is too good. Better than most lappy’s I ve heard.
The Wi-fi works like a charm, and the Webcam gives a decent FPS of 17-20 when capturing video @ 640*480.
The UI, though babyish, is ideal for beginners to get acquainted with computers.
My Mom, on first seeing it went “Ooooooooooooohh! It’s so cute.” Even though She was never interested in computers, she looked eager to use this one.
The UI is veryyy intuitive (read: N00bish ) .
Finally I got too bored, (never liked Xandros anyways.) and was thinking whether to try out
Full Desktop Mode in Xandros, or install XP on it.
I decided on the latter as I was curious to see If this baby could handle XP as good as it is made out to be.


Installing XPeee

I had my own apprehensions as how will the EEE run XP on just a 630mhz proccy/512mb RAM.
So I trimmed XP PRO SP2 a bit using NLITE to a 331mb Setup size.
Then, as I didn’t have an external IDE/SATA casing, I used a 1GB Kingston DT to install XP on the EEE.
Followed this guide: http://www.eeeguides.com/2007/11/ins...usb-thumb.html
It’s quite easy, So I won’t elaborate on that.
So after about 40 mins I had XP up and running.
Removed the Pagefile, turned off System Restore, and Removed the Recycle Bin to get some extra space on the measly 4GB SSD.
Installed the drivers from the bundled Asus DVD.
So now I had 3.17GB left with just the OS+Drivers installed. That’s quite decent IMO.
Then I installed some Apps like Opera, Firefox, Trillan, Office XP, VLC, Foxit, Winrar, Klite Codec Pack, Relo with Borland, TC, JDK 1.6, Netbeans 5.5.1, Matlab etc.
After all this I had about 2.24 GB left.
Coming back to the performance part, XP runs like makhhan on this. It is so light and zippy that you ll have to see it to believe it.
You can easily Multitask 3-4 apps without any lags.
The Sound quality is loud and clear and Video (Divx/Xvid) playback is light as well. Though don’t expect it to do 720p.
The 630mhz proccy does exceptionally good, maybe due to the presence of a SSD.
Netbeans and Matlab, very unexpectedly, runs fast enough on it.
Also when you are on AC, You can OC the proccy to 900mhz using EEECtl/EEEClock to get some extra power without losing battery life.
You can use the AstrayPlus utility to get better resolutions. They are working on 1000*600 currently.
Will try eeeXubuntu and eeeDora on it as soon as I get time.
Can’t wait to see Compiz on this.

EDIT: My chip can do 973mhz(107*9) max. BSOD at 108 FSB

Final Thoughts.

The Asus EEE PC is a very viable option for students and regular travellers who need a right mix of portability and power at a cheap price.
It is good for casual usage (Movies,MP3s,Browsing,Office,Downloads).
The small SSD may seem to be a hindrance, but it is very manageable. I still have around 1.5gb space left with all my stuff(Some Apps, Flash games, Songs,) in it.
It might be handy to have a 4/8GB Flash Drive/ SDHC around for extra storage.
Will run a few benchmarks on it soon. (Didn’t want to humiliate it by posting the SuperPi 1M score here )
PS. Get used to a lot of stares whenever you use it.

PROS:
Very Portable
Cheapest Functional Laptop
Shock-Resistant
Sleek and Sexy

CONS:
4GB SSD Size
630mhz proccy (But you don’t expect a beast at this Price/Size, Do you?)

Images
BTW, Sorry for the Ultra Grainy pics. 1.3MP.














http://eeepcindia.blogspot.com/

EOF

[gxsaurav]

Get a new camera

I would prefer buying a SE W960i or Nokia N82 anyday instead of EEE PC anyday. Few days ago I saw the HCL Mileap 201 Ultra Portable in the market. it has a tablet PC like input system & I was flat on it in 2 mins , but no support for aero is a no go for me. Aero is not just a cool looking UI anymore, it adds to the functionality.

[j1n M@tt]

hey Pathik, EEE PC seems really cool and cute

I ws planning to get one soon, and I ws planning just like u did........to install customized XP of my own on it. Pleased to hear XP runs without any trouble on it.....am gonna get a 16GB Corsair Voyager along with this for extra storage.


EDITED :hmm sry Pathik, ur name is corrected from Patik to Pathik

[Pathik]

The name is Pathik.
BTW yea go for it.
It runs Dota and CS decently too.

[Edburg]

on what chipset is it based on ?? since i wanted to know what IGP is present so low end games will work....

also how did u manage increase the display resolution since the LCDs cant handle more than the resolution it is made for ???

[kumarmohit]

Intel 910 chipset, GMA900 prolly.

I saw it in Croma (Rs17100) and there is a shop of Asus (authroised maybe, may be company itself) in Nehru Place (Rs18000).

Personally I would wat for the EEE PC 900 to come in India. It would take an year or so according to the people in ship in NP, but wud be worth the wait.

[Pathik]

Yep It has a GMA 900 IGP with 64mb VRAM.
And you can use the 800*480 and 800*600 using the official Astray and other resos using modded video drivers and Astray plus.

[harsha]

Good to read the RE-View how ever still would advocate for Acer 5315 compaq c702tu type lower end mainstream notebook

ohh.. forgot to add, congrats finally I can literally see a Dream Come true as if I remember correctly, you were keep posting, "My dream to own a lappy would never come true unless OLPC / EEEPC comes to india" from the date some one posted a news about the sub USD 199 Notebook

[Pathik]

^^ Hehe.. Thanks.

[harsha]

Originally Posted by Pathik

^^ Hehe.. Thanks.

waiting for some better pictures

[NucleusKore]

Nice review
I am worried about that "soldered" word mentioned near hard disk (solid state). Does it mean we can't change it? Or the connectors may be fragile?

[Pathik]

Nope you cant change it. Except in the case of the 8G. But you can get a high speed pendrive and permanently connect it to a usb port internally.

[The Conqueror]

Nice Review

[infra_red_dude]

So Pathik.. you finally got EEEPc eh?

You mebbe interested in this: Eee PC Internal Upgrades

[ThinkFree]

Thanks for the review

[ray|raven]

Congarts Pathik, and nice review.

[DigitalDude]

nice review

I 'm waiting for the 9inch one it looks very sexy



_

[aku]

@prathik... congrats dude, on your new gizmo.
btw. can ya post some screen shots of the native resolution and the enhanced resolution?

how much is the 9"er gonna be?

[acewin]

Originally Posted by infra_red_dude

So Pathik.. you finally got EEEPc eh?

You mebbe interested in this: Eee PC Internal Upgrades

LOL, what was that, whole wiki thread seemed to me like Two Fast Two Furious car racing thing, heehe, the guy structured everything , but I am damn sure it would have become a PC and not a real portable after that much of troubleshooting and rebuilding, except for the screensize of the lappy.

[Pathik]

Thanks evy1. More Images and screenies coming soon.

[MetalheadGautham]

Get us a screenie of you browsing this forum.

And try OpenArena on it and see how much you can push that game on the book.
Same For Unreal Torunament Goty, Counter Strike and Urban Terror and FIFA 2005.

Its supposed to manage those games decently.

And yes, congratulations.
Did you try installing another distro on it ?
Does it run Compiz Fusion ?

[Pathik]

Yup it does run CF decently.. I ll try eeeXubuntu and EEEDora in a week or so.

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by Pathik

Yup it does run CF decently.. I ll try eeeXubuntu and EEEDora in a week or so.

Xandros must be good enough right ?
Have you tried the full desktop mode ?
What about KDE ?
What about Gaming ?
Any game running tests on your EEE yet ?
You got a PenDrive for that EEE Slogan Contest, didn;t you ?
Did you make good use of it on your Eee PC ?

[praka123]

thx for the review pathik there may be distros which are optimized for eeepc.try that!also waiting for some decent pics

may be I'll go for this if they ever have a 8GB model available in India.

[Asfaq]

nice review!

[Pathik]

Imo the default Xandros sucked. Even with the full desktop mode.. So i switched to xp on the 1st day itself. Tried dota on it wit a reg hack. Worked good. No other game. Tried many ides on it.. Most worked great.. No lags even at 630mhz. And my eee is stable at max 963mhz.
Yep praka eeexubuntu and eeedora are custom mods of xubuntu 7.10 and fedora 7. Wait 4 the eee900.
Thanx asfaq.

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by Pathik

Imo the default Xandros sucked. Even with the full desktop mode.. So i switched to xp on the 1st day itself. Tried dota on it wit a reg hack. Worked good. No other game. Tried many ides on it.. Most worked great.. No lags even at 630mhz. And my eee is stable at max 963mhz.
Yep praka eeexubuntu and eeedora are custom mods of xubuntu 7.10 and fedora 7. Wait 4 the eee900.
Thanx asfaq.

try hardy alpha(or beta) if you can.
try some mainstream distros like Mandriva and PCLinuxOS if you can.

they will be the main deciding factor for future prospective buyers.

do you think Vista Basic will work on it ?

[praka123]

^

[infra_red_dude]

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

try hardy alpha(or beta) if you can.
try some mainstream distros like Mandriva and PCLinuxOS if you can.

they will be the main deciding factor for future prospective buyers.

do you think Vista Basic will work on it ?

All distros work on it quite fine, only thing is that they are not optimized for the small screen.

Even Vista Basic works, rather flies if tweaked properly. The only hitch is that you need to put in a larger flash drive or install it on an external hdd.

[Gigacore]

w00t!

Nice review