Just about a month ago I purchased a laptop. Most of my time with computers has been with desktops, but I know how convenient the mobility of a laptop can be because I had one at my last job. I’d never owned one, though, until now.
Mobility was important, but so was low purchase price. The new “netbooks” have both advantages. I chose the Eee PC 900 because it met the requirements of mobility (two pounds) and price ($400), but also for a few other reasons.
Earlier versions of the Eee PC had screen resolutions that were only 800 pixels wide. I knew that I needed a screen width of about a thousand pixels for the websites that I work on. The Eee PC 900 has a width of 1024 pixels.
The Eee PC comes with Linux. That means that I didn’t have to pay for a Windows license that is included in the cost of most new computers. It came with a custom version of Linux, but I installed my favorite distribution, Ubuntu, within a day of receiving the laptop.
I’ve been using the Eee PC for a month now and I like it a lot. There are a few drawbacks, but I only spent $400 so I can’t complain too much. I’ll just let you know what they are in case you are considering buying an Eee PC.
The wireless reception is a bit weak. I used a MacBook in the same places and it usually showed full signal strength. The Eee PC’s reception is much weaker, making the “hotspot” a much smaller spot.
The right shift key is small. And next to the up arrow. This can cause a little frustration when using the terminal (command line interface) because the up arrow recalls the last command entered and removes the command currently being typed (the down arrow returns to the current command). An inconvenience.
The vertical screen space is also small. Small enough that on some websites, only the header is visible. More scrolling. Not much I can do about that, except use full screen mode (F11 in Firefox).
I’ve done a lot of writing on the Eee PC and I’m happy I bought it. Of course Dell came out with a similar machine a month after my purchase that is more pleasing to the eye.
I’m still glad I bought my Eee PC 900
