I've sold my Asus Eee 4G. What now?

Open Thinkering Technology, ASUS Eee PC, bluetooth, decisions, edtech, educational technology, eee, gadgets, HP 2133, Linux, MSI Wind, Netbook, One Laptop per Child, review, subnotebook

I’m a bit of a sucker for gadgets. I keep telling myself that I should hold out for the second generation of things, but I just get carried away again and again. That’s not to say that I don’t buy quality stuff; quite the opposite in fact. Yesterday I sold my Asus Eee 4G to @moodlehotpotato (Mary Cooch) after a brief Twitter chat, Skype chat and Paypal payment. It wasn’t because it didn’t serve a need – it was because there was so much potential there I wanted something that could fulfil that need to the max! 😀

There’s many sites and blogs that have waxed lyrical about the Asus Eee 4G. From a teacher’s point of view, this is what I liked about mine:

  • The size and weight mean I can carry it one-handed from one classroom to another. As I teach History in my classroom and ICT in various other classrooms, this is great.
  • Internet connectivity is great: wi-fi is painless to set up
  • I could take it to meetings instead of a pen and paper.
  • My use of it makes staff and students alike want one. It makes the school purchasing a set more likely.
  • It runs a version of Linux customised for that particular device. Anyone who’s used OSX on an Apple computer knows the difference this makes… 🙂

So if it’s so great, why have I sold it? Well, three reasons:

  1. The screen, whilst useable, is a bit small. Newer models have 8.9″ screens instead of 7″ which enables them to utilise a 1024 pixel-width resolution. This makes all the difference when web browsing. Who designs sites for 800×600 in this day and age? (my web stats show that less than 2% of visitors to this site, for example)
  2. It hasn’t got Bluetooth built in – I purchased a micro-USB dongle, but it was a hassle to setup. I want things to be straightforward. Newer models have Bluetooth built-in.
  3. Battery life, whilst acceptable at a shade under 2 hours in normal use, could be better. Newer models, based on Intel’s Atom processor, promise to drastically improve on that.

So what am I going to buy? Well, a post about 4P Computing over at OLPC News (Price, Performance, Portability and Price) showed that only three met the criteria for a true Netbook:

4PC Name Power Perform Portability Price

Asus Eee PC No Yes Yes Yes

Classmate/2Go PC No Yes No Yes

Elonex One Yes Yes Yes Yes

Everex Cloudbook Yes Yes No Yes

HP Mini-Note PC No Yes No No

Norhtec Gecko Yes Yes Yes Yes

OLPC XO-1 Yes Yes Yes Yes

Of those, the Elonex One only actually has a 300mhz (must have been a mistake), the OLPC XO-1 is garish and not easy to come by in the UK, and the Norhtec Gecko only has a 7″ screen. It was obvious that I was going to have to cast my net wider, which is where the Low-Cost Laptop Cheat Sheet over at Laptop Magazine proved helpful. I’ve taken off the column about US availability as well as removed any that aren’t available in the UK (at least not according to Google Product Search). Finally, I took off any that had 7″ screens, changed the price to GBP, added the Asus Eee 900 and HP Mini-Note, and reproduced what’s left of the table below:

Laptop Name Price Operating System Processor Storage Display Size Webcam

Asus EeePC 900 £329.99 Linux/Windows XP

900 MHz Intel Celeron-M ULV 353 12GB SSD (WinXP) 20GB SSD (Linux)

8.9″ 1.3 megapixels

HP 2133 Mini-Note £349.99 Linux/Windows Vista Via C7-M 1.2Ghz 120GB HDD 8.9″ 0.3 megapixels

Asus EeePC 901 £499.99 (pre-order price, likely to be c.£400) Linux/Windows XP

Intel Atom 8GB SSD (WinXP) 12GB or 20GB SSD (Linux)

8.9″ 1.3 megapixels

MSI Wind £334.95 Linux/Windows XP Intel 945GMS Atom 80GB HDD 10″ 1.3 megapixels

I paid £219 for my Asus Eee 701, so as you can see my next purchase is going to cost me at least 50% more. But which one shall I choose? Here’s the main positive/negative points about each one as far as I can see:

Asus EeePC 900

Advantages: Available now, multi-touch trackpad, lightweight, same size as 701.

Disadvantages: No Bluetooth, 901 coming out shortly.

Reviews:

  • TrustedReviews
  • PC Advisor
  • CNET
  • NotebookReview.com

HP 2133 Mini-Note

Advantages: Sleek metal body, WXGA screen, huge hard disk, optional Bluetooth, available now.

Disadvantages: Some users complain of fan noise, processor quite slow.

Reviews:

  • Laptop Magazine
  • Brighthand
  • Gizmodo Lightning Review
  • Notebooks.com
  • jkOnTheRun (video-based review)

Asus EeePC 901

Advantages: Bluetooth, Intel Atom processor (improved battery life).

Disadvantages: Potentially expensive, not available now (early June).

Pre-release specs: I4U (unconfirmed)

MSI Wind

Advantages: Bluetooth, 4-in-1 card reader, 10″ screen, Intel Atom processor (improved battery life).

Disadvantages: Not available now (early June), likely to be significantly bigger than Asus Eee.

Pre-release specs: PC Advisor

The Verdict

It looks like if I’m going to buy now, it’s the HP 2133 Mini-Note or the Asus EeePC 900. If I can wait until mid-June, I’ve got the option of Netbooks with the new Intel Atom processors – namely the MSI Wind and Asus EeePC 901.

I’ll probably wait. But if I don’t, then here’s the HP and Eee 900 head-to-head:

Feature HP 2133 Mini-Note Asus EeePC 900

Dimensions (WxDxH) 25.5 x 16.5 x 3.3cm 22.5 x 17 x 3.4cm

Weight 2.63lbs (1.27kg) 2.2lbs (1kg)

Screen size 8.9″ WXGA 8.9″

Processor Via C7-M 1.2Ghz Intel Celeron M ULV 900Mhz

Memory 1GB 1GB

Operating System Linux or Windows Vista Linux or Windows XP

Battery Life c.2 hours c.3.5 hours

Storage 120GB HDD 12GB or 20GB

Bluetooth Yes No

WLAN 802.11a/b/g 802.11b/g

Keyboard size 92% 80%

Multitouch trackpad No (scroll zone) Yes

Webcam 0.3 megapixel 1.3 megapixel

ExpressCard/54 slot Yes No

SD card reader Yes No

Case Anodised aluminium Plastic

I reserve the right to make a carefully-considered, well-researched impulse purchase… 😉