Asus EeePC 1000 Review

I've been very hyped up about the "netbook" class of computers for some time now, but I've stayed away from the extremely small screens since they just didn't have the resolution I wanted.  However, I recently stumbled across the EeePC 1000 with its 10" 1024x600 LCD.  I snapped one up and was quite anxious for it to come in.  After using it for two days, I figured I had a good enough handle on it to write a decent review.  So, here we go.

Unboxing, Look and Feel

You never get a good idea of how small and light these things are untill you pick up the <6lb. shipping box and realize that it contains everything: Computer, battery, power supply, restore disks, manuals, cleaning shammy and carrying case(or as I like to call it... the manbag). Everything comes out of the box easily and feels like a well put together machine.  The battery is a perfect slide and fit to close up the gap between the LCD and the base.  On first power up, I notice all the pretty status LEDs and brilliantly sharp LCD.  Boot time is incredibly fast and I have no complaints with that aspect.  However, there is the keyboard and touch pad to contend with.

The keyboard really is a good size... however, I usually use the right shift key for all my capitalization.  The first thing I found out is they cut that into a standard letter size key(which isn't bad in of itself) and then crowded it with the Arrow Keys.  I still have trouble hitting that and in a text entry box it can get fairly frustrating having to delete rogue characters and you accidentally press up and a letter when you really just meant to capitalize it.  I can in no way be confused for a "small" person; therefore, when I went to type on the EeePC while its on my lap, I felt the need to lean down to see the screen and pull my arms in tight to get to the keyboard.  This lead to a lot of neck/eye strain and I had to stop using the computer after an hour.  Then we get to the touchpad.

The touchpad is great....  when you intend to do standard "point and click" operations.  However, when your typing you can easily brush the touchpad and send your cursor flying.  Another bone of contention for me is that the manual right-left buttons are barely available to the thumb, are extremely hard to press, and it makes doing any right-clicking down right annoying.  Lots of finger strain and chased cursors with this guy. Now, lets take a look at the OS.

OS

I selected the Linux derivative of the EeePC1000.  Unfortunately after I got it...  I found out their idea of "Linux" is to install Xandros(and a custom one at that!).  For those who don't know, Xandros is a fork of the Debian distribution with an eye on the commercial desktop world.  What makes it worse is that the EeePC version of Xandros is not considered compatible with even the main branch of XANDROS! What does this mean?  Well it means no GCC, no installing custom software that's not approved by ASUS. And, even some of that doesn't install.  Needless to say I went looking in a hurry.  I mainly wanted this thing so that I could tinker around with Linux and do some development without messing up the home computer or frustrating my wife.

Needless to say that with no development tools and no way to get them installed without breaking the OS, I went looking for alternatives and found Ubuntu eee.  Basically this is standard Ubuntu 8.04.1 with a custom kernel and remix of the Gnome desktop targeted to the EeePC.  They have several options for install... including being able to move the ISO onto a SD card that can boot the laptop directly(no need for external optical drive).  Once I enabled the Webcam in the BIOS(it ships disabled), everything was up and running in short order, and I had all my development tools.  After Ubuntu was in place... all was happiness again

Normal Use

Where this guy really shines is in its wireless connectivity.  It has build in Wifi and Bluetooth.  Both work great and I had no problems connecting up to my home or work access points.  I was even able to tether my Blackberry Curve via bluetooth and go trudging around the Internet on an EDGE connection.  Browsing the web is seamless and I easily streamed audio from many internet radio sites.  After installing pigdin, I was able to connect up with all my IM buddies.  I even went out and downloaded the Linux kernel source to start setting up some ARM development I wanted to do.

Summary

Overall, I have to say this is a good piece of equipment.  Most of my hardships are likely due to the fact that I'm a fudge-fingerer and not exactly "tiny".  I have to say, if you've been looking at these, it's probably a good fit as long as you're not wanting to do Internet gaming or high-powered graphics processing.