9 Inch Screen Asus Eee in 2008
Over at CES 2008, there are rumors (likely to be true) that Asus will be releasing an Eee model with 8.9 screens this 2008. Sure, they’re also including WiMax in the possible specs, but it’s the screen size and real estate that most Asus Eee users are interested in.
This year at CES (the big technology show starting next week in Las Vegas) ASUS is planning to launch the new and improved Eee PC. According to the ASUS Web site and various tech blogs, the new Eee PC will feature WiMax and a larger 9-inch screen.
The WiMax bit isn’t so exciting for people in the UK and Asia as there are hardly any WiMax networks in place just yet, but the larger screen definitely gets our juices flowing. No more scrolling sideways to view pages or having to squint at documents.
Of course, the increased LCD size will likely lead to higher unit prices. Or, it could cause the older 7-inch screen models to drop in price. At any rate, this is a welcome development, and with a bigger screen, the Eee can be poised as a better competitor against its more expensive brethren from other brands (like Fujitsu, Sony and the like).
Official Asus Eee PC Accessories Announced
Over at the official Asus Eee site, OEM accessories have been added, including mice, headphones, power adaptors and extra batteries for the Asus Eee PC.
I would agree with EeeUser that the six-cell 7800 mAh battery sounds particularly interesting, especially for those of us who want to get longer battery uptime from our Asus Eee computers.
I haven’t checked with the local (Philippine) distributors, dealers and retailers if they already carry the official accessory line, but I will update here if and once they do, along with price information. For those in other regions, do your retailers already offer these accessories for sale?
Asus Eee Choking on 512MB of RAM
If you think 512MB is enough to run Xandros Linux on, you’re probably right. That is for the average user, though. For someone like me, whose work involves new media (managing a ton of sites via Web and FTP) 512 megabytes is usually not enough. That’s even when running on Linux.
Last night, I experienced slowing down of my system when running these tasks:
- Two Firefox windows with about 15 to 20 tabs each
- Pidgin, with two chat tabs open
- gFTP open (no active transfers)
- Two Kwrite windows open, used for editing files by gFTP
- Popup Notes open, with 4 short notes.
- Konsole with two tabs open (just idle, though)
I have four virtual desktops, where I assigned different main tasks each - two “faces” for one browser window each, one face for FTP, and another for the chat. I say “faces” because I’m used to the desktop cube of Compiz-fusion under Ubuntu (where the cube sides are like faces).
So there, switching across desktops took longer than usual. I wasn’t able to check the memory manager for actual usage, but I’m pretty sure it’s choking on 512MB. Maybe I should enable a swapfile? I’m actually thinking of buying a 1GB RAM stick for the Eee. I’ll wait for word from Asus if this won’t void my warranty here locally.
Shift Key Returned to Original Position
Okay, so I’d been annoyed by the fact that the up-arrow key was wedged in between the ? and Shift keys. It got so obtrusive that when I typed, I would often overwrite the lines above when I accidentally hit the UP key.
So I decided to try the key remapping hack detailed on Eeeuser.com. That meant remapping keys to switch between the UP and SHIFT key, and between the DOWN and RIGHT keys. I then copied over the switching script to my KDE startup folder, so it gets executed every time I boot up Xandros.
Along with this, I decided to actually interchange the buttons themselves. So using a small screwdriver I carefully popped out the keys to switch them across.
So my arrow keys looked like this:
? SHFT UP
LF RT DN
So far so good. Better typing experience, I thought.
But then my navigating experience severely suffered. I was so used to the old layout:
UP
LF DN RT
So I decided to remove the script and return the keys to where they originally were.
Now I’m more used to the peculiar SHIFT key position, and my typing efficiency has improved. In fact, I’m so used to the Eee keyboard that it feels awkward to type on my regular laptop keyboard!
I still miss the SHIFT key sometimes, with disastrous results. But there’s nothing that UNDO or Ctrl-Z can’t fix, right?
I think I better practice using the left SHIFT key instead.
Would You Move Your Shift Key?
One of the things difficult to adjust with on the Asus Eee PC is the location of the right shift key. Sure, the keyboard is small, but pretty soon an Eee user would be able to adjust to the size. But the location of the shift key might prove to be difficult because the up arrow is wedged in between the ? key and the right shift key, whereas in regular keyboards, the shift is right next to the ? key.
Most of the time this would result in mistyping because you would accidentally hit the up arrow instead of the shift key, and your typed characters would suddenly be in a higher line (or another text field, altogether). Believe me, I’ve messed up a handful of documents and blog post drafts this way.
Eeeuser has a solution, which involves remapping the keys such that the shift and up buttons are swapped. This would also swap the down button with the right button. This way the arrow keys would be in a reverse-L position (reminiscent of old Toshiba notebooks).
This way you’re less prone to hitting the up arrow accidentally while typing. Then again, your navigating experience might be adversely affected (up, down, left, right).
It’s a tradeoff, and it depends which is more important to you, or if you can easily adjust to having the up arrow wedged in between.
Oh, and Eeeuser even suggests that you can swap the keys themselves! It’s possible and doable (done here!) but I advise you to be careful.
Is the Asus Eee Underpowered?
There are a lot of drawbacks when you choose a small device over a conventional-sized one. Well, actually you do have an option to get yourself a small but power-packed device, such as Fujitsu-branded subnotebooks. However, there is a big price to pay. So for sub-$400 prices, I would say that the Asus Eee is worth it.
Here’s a good explanation why the Eee makes for a great subnotebook, even with its limitations.
As long time laptop users, our opinion is the primary strength of the EEE PC laptop is as a 2nd unit. A mobile unit for a desktop user. A second more portable unit for a laptop user. The size and weight of this laptop allows you to put it in any bag and not feel the weight. The Price does not make the owner guilty when the item is lost, dropped or damaged. The EEE PC is more economical than the latest Nokia Communicator, yet it is easier to use. The EEE PC in our opinion matches the portability of the Blackberry, yet is easier to use because of the keyboard layout. The EEE PC is ideal for those who want something small and Wi-Fi enabled.
The EEE PC is certainly a very innovative unit. The Eee PC’s “earned” reputation as the Fastest Selling PC in the World comes from the great user expectation as a simple and portable device focused on providing users with the most comprehensive Internet applications based on three Es: Easy to learn, work, play; Excellent Internet experience and Excellent on-the-Go.
These are in answer to some of these pressing questions relevant to the Eee PC:
1. Processor: This unit must be slow, it comes with a Celeron-M processor.
2. Operating System: Can I load Windows XP on this laptop?
3. Hard drive:
a. Is 4Gb of Harddrive Enough?
b. Can I upgrade the Harddrive?
4. RAM: Should I increase RAM to 1Gb?
5. Can I watch DvD On this laptop?
6. Can I use the EEE PC to surf the net and email?
7. Is the keyboard easy to use?
8. How long is the Battery life?
9. Can I connect the EEE PC to a projector for presentations?
10. Can I use a mouse?
11. Is the EEE PC durable? It looks like a V-Tech Toy.
12. Can this laptop replace my desktop and existing laptop?
The CoolToyz article has great responses to each of these!
