Quick first impressions of the Asus Eee PC

James and I had a 45-minute video chat while I got my first look at the new Asus Eee PC 701 4G. Quick impressions in no particular order:

• The microphone port is under the trackpad in the front of the unit. I thought this would be a problem.
  
• With the mic position and the speakers, there is zero feedback on a Skype call. This device just provided me with the best native Skype experience I've ever had on a device; i.e.; with the integrated speakers and mic.
  
• There is about 1.3 GB of free storage space on the 4GB model.
  
• There are instructions to install and optimize XP in the manual. I won't touch XP on this until I've gotten the full experience with the custom Xandros build.
  
• The connection manager offers connection types of GSM/HSDPA as well as DSL, cable and more.
  
• The interface is drop-dead simple; very well suited for folks news to computers and kids.
  
• My kids think it's a cute little laptop.
  
• The webcam is disabled by default in the BIOS (I hope that gets addressed). When I enabled it, it worked just fine, but Skype for Linux doesn't support video yet.
  
• With 512 MB of RAM, the device is relatively peppy.
  
• Shutdowns, restarts, sleep and restore are as quick or quicker than on other devices I have. More details to follow.
  
• I'll show this in a video, but the footprint and keyboard size / layout is nearly identical to the Vye S37. I could touch type on the Vye and I can touch type on the Eee.
  
• The device weighs about the same as my Q1P, maybe a smidge less.

Comments

[JHall]

I am looking to get one for a portable internet device. I am going to wait for the black one. I am also interested in the possibility to install windows 2000. I like it because it is a small install. About 2to3gb with microsoft office installed. i wnder if you can install zinio or a ebook reader on the xandros linux?

I am looking forward to alot of posts about the eee PC.

Thanks,

Joshua A. Hall

[Mike Cane]

>>># The interface is drop-dead simple; very well suited for folks news to computers and kids.

Or people frikkin sick of extraneous stuff!

>>>I'll show this in a video, but the footprint and keyboard size / layout is nearly identical to the Vye S37.

Hello! I HATE video for that kind of thing. PLEASE give us some nice still pix for that comparison! Then you can play Hitchcock (oh, I forget your tender age: Kevin Smith! ).

[tnkgrl]

Welcome to the party, Kevin :)

[Brad Linder]

Hey Kevin, glad to hear your Eee PC has arrived! Looking forward to reading your thoughts. I just made my first Skype voice call today too... you know, to my wife in the other room. but it worked great. I can't imagine a situation when I'll have my Eee PC with me in a WiFi hotspot when I don't have my cellphone. but I guess if my cellphone battery is dead, I can make Skype calls without a headset now. :)

[Rodfather]

Checkout finger is getting itchy now.
BTW, I found a guide that may help you getting your USB modem working.
http://www4.sprint.com/pcsbusiness/support/downloads/index.jsp?internalId=downloads
Choose Linux and you'll be able to download a PDF guide on getting evdo modems working with Linux.
I'm sure it's similar to getting HSDPA modems working but with different dialer settings.