...you might as well just get a laptop.

Bugger, I was just in the progress of deciding between the packard bell and the asus and was on my way to PC world to try them out.

I think I'll go for the asus as it does all I want and is a hell of a lot cheaper. also I don't want windows on my machine so why pay for it? My only problem with the all the machines is the screen resolution.

Anyone know if the rumored 10" screen version of the eee is going to be released soon?

An interesting design, but I think people are queuing up to buy the Asus partly because it (the white one at least) is tapping into what Apple are doing, making something you want to be seen with.

...what good is a sub-sub notebook article without a hastily photoshopped Belinea bird? Can she please be a brunette this time?

... there's no pic of it being used in a harsh evironment demonstrating its resistance to UV, sodium chloride, hard silica based grit and sweat.

Yup, a little more, but a full dual core turion , 2Gb ram, 120Gb hdd, 1024x768 12'1" touch screen, dvd writer, bluetooth, wifi, and under 2Kg. Really impressive.

999€ in spain.

Albert

Small, light notebooks are ten a penny. Well, actually they cost a lot more than that. That's the problem.

People keep saying the Eee PC needs a bigger screen, longer battery life, etc, but Asus have probably concentrated, quite rightly, on making the thing as cheap as possible.

However, one new feature I'd really like to see in the Eee PC is fanlessness: if they could get a lower-power processor, maybe an ARM, and lose the fan, that would be excellent and perhaps even worth paying a bit extra for.

Screen needs to be at least 800x600 so dialog boxes fit into it. Battery life is unacceptable in the Eee (it fails the 'just pick up and go' test) and probably just as bad in this one.

I'd still rather buy a second hard X series thinkpad, although that's a rather unfair comparison.

i was looking at laptops on ebuyer earlier for a friend (no, really) and came across this. i'm not sure on the voip phone's placement but the machine and the spec looked ok.

it all points towards a recognition that there _is_ a market for smaller lighter machines at the lower, cheaper end and that they're not just for businessmen anymore.

If it's not being marketed with images of some hot, young, blonde totty using said product on a towel, on the beach - then it can't be very good.

800 x 480 on eee is a tad irritating, but it's acceptable in the context of extreme portability and low cost.

One of the clever features of the Linux installation is that it will automatically resize its screen resolution to match any monitor it sees when booting up. You can also plug in and see instantly recognised a usb keyboard and mouse.

So: in your office and home, as opposed to out-and-about, you can treat the asus eee as reasonably well featured very small footprint PC. You still have a third USB socket available to which you can add a 2.5 inch hard-disk drive (which if it runs FAT32 as most of them do), is also instantly recognised.

And what is the battery life?

It's all I care about. It could have a 480x360 screen with 2 colours as long as I could write documents on a keyboard, listen to music collections and the blasted thing lasted for 10 hours.

Until then it's just a cheap crap laptop.

I wonder if you could bye it without Windows, saving some money, but how much, if possible.

The Cloudbook, an Everex, US-version of this is said to be launching with a Linux OS within weeks.

Battery life is 2.5 hrs (wifi-on browsing)

If it's a light touchscreen, its great to use as a mouse. So fast.

It does lack the cool, me-too, factor though and thats important. Nearly as important as the babe on the beach.

Steve - UMPCPortal.com

Off centre screen with dodgy keypad, what were they thinking?

The screen is the crucial component and the laptop is bulkier and still has the same screen.

You're never likely to want to do much CPU intensive stuff on a small laptop, so the CPU speed isn't important.

Size and weight is crucial, the Eeepc is a compromise in features which many people are prepared to make.

...and what a *stupid* place to put the VOIP phone. If that were screen real estate, it might be worth buying (the higher spec looks good), but not with that stupid chunk of phone kit.

£414 at currys gets you an advent 8112, a 12.1" core2, 1gb, dvd-rw sporting powerhouse, ok so it comes with vista but thats easy sorted with a quick format

also there is 1 redeeming feature for the packard bell - comes with an atheros based wifi card, add linux and you have a pocket sized mobile aircrack-ng suite - now who needs by fon??

Don't like the look of these machines. They're not as sexy as the EeePC and more expensive. If I was spending in the region of about £400 I'd get a normal laptop. Not sure why they put that crappy looking VoIP phone on their too. I'd have thought it would have been better to put a slightly bigger screen on there and a software VoIP phone?

I certainly don't think we'd see Paris Hilton stumbling drunk out of a limo with one of these under her arm.

Rob

how does the bird coming with it look like ?

Does she warrant the hefty gap in the price ?

I'll stick with the cheap n cheerful EEE PC, and its cheap n cheerful mascot :) I can usually wait until I'm at my desk before I do any real number crunching, or leave the big jobs running on the server at home, just keeping in touch with it over the web.

Re: 10hr battery life: I don't care what colour my car is, or about top speed, or number of seats, or interior features, as long as it gets three light years to a thimble of petrol... Heh. Seriously though I've been waiting for ASUS or another runt-laptop maker to take a leaf out of Nintendo's book (a dog-eared leaf from some time ago) and supply an optional external battery. That worked pretty well for the likes of the Game Boy; can just plug into the AC adaptor socket. When you don't need it, you can leave it at home, and it can be small and neat enough to fit into a pocket or bag anyway. Maybe someone will make an aftermarket one, or hack one together out of a more standard Li-Ion battery or something. That would be interesting...

But it remains a flaw you might be willing to put up with on a 200-quid machine, but not necessarily one setting you back £500...........

One thing that occurs to me about the eeepc is that in part at least it's as cheap as 200 this because of its lack of windows.

I wonder how much Asus will charge for a windows version. Will msft be giving windows away? It will be interesting to see how a windows version sells, and at what price. If its £40-80 it may be too much as it would push th eee to base laptop levels. On the other hand, if it's really cheap or a no cost then I wonder if the competition authorities will assuse msft of dumping.

This could be the first time it will become really clear how much OEMs pay for windows.