Hardware > Buying & Owning Hardware

The Asus EeePC: The Miracle Mini Laptop

By Morgan Killick

The ultra-portable, 7” laptop first arrived the UK in December 2007 and sold a reputed 300,000 units worldwide by the end of the year. That’s an incredible uptake rate for a device with no pedigree, made by a brand that few would recognise.

So why the fuss?

For a start, any miniature laptop, selling for £250 is far cheaper than the competition. In fairness though, the EeePC may represent something more substantial than simply 2007’s ‘must-have’ gadget. The device’s motto - Easy to Learn. Easy to Work. Easy to Play -  has genuine merit and the EeePC may have the potential to become the simple, affordable computer that millions are crying out for.

Here we take a closer look at the basic features of the EeePC (4G 701 version). It is important to stress at the outset that with very little internal storage, no CD or DVD Drive and only a slim chance of being able to install your favourite Windows applications on it, the EeePC is not intended as a replacement for high-end systems. Nevertheless, thanks in part to its Open Source software, it may yet have some other role for you.

Hardware, Mouse, Keyboard & Screen

At less than 9” by 7” the EeePC occupies about a third of the space of a conventional laptop and weights less than 1Kg. All you need to do to get it going is fit the battery and plug it into the mains with the supplied charger. The EeePC boots in about 20 seconds.

That performance is a refreshing change from other laptops. But this is nothing to do with clever technical wizardy. On the contrary, the EeePC is openly low-tech when it comes to RAM, Hard Drive space and processing power (with just 512Mb, 4Gb and 900Mhz respectively). In fact what makes it so quick to power up, load programs and shut down is its innovative software (see below).

Unsurprisingly, the screen is small and not of stunning quality. But it is just big enough for those with good eyesight to be able to work even whilst sitting on the train. The keyboard, touchpad and mouse buttons are just big enough to be operable and after a short learning curve, I found it possible to operate the EeePC at close to my normal accuracy.

Connectivity & Ports

The EeePC comes with a monitor port (VGA) and three USB ports, so if you do plan to use it at your regular desk, you can easily plug in an external monitor, mouse and keyboard. These also offer the potential of connecting other peripherals such as printers, external CD/DVD drives and memory sticks.

The EeePC has a Memory Card slot, built-in speakers, webcam and microphone and headphone sockets. It features the usual networking options – a dial-up modem, Wired and Wireless Networking. The Memory Card slot is very handy for extending the storage capability beyond the tiny 2Gb of free disk space.

EeePC Software

The EeePC is interesting because Asus really have thought hard about what people actually use computers for. Their conclusion is that – in many situations – you simply don’t need half the stuff that Windows can do. The EeePC then does almost as much as a full laptop but for the price, speed and ease of use of a PDA.  Using Open Source software, the EeePC comes with a suite of familiar programs that are easy to access. The highlights here are a web browser, email program, instant messaging/skype, a Word Processor, Spreadsheet program (see below), PDF reader and multimedia software for photos, videos and music.

This interface is so easy to use that it could be operated by the most technophobic of people. Moreover, there is nothing to install, configure or for that matter ‘break’, making the EeePC ideal for situations where you need to allow multiple or unsupervised users to borrow a computer.

The EeePC runs OpenOffice, for more information about Open Office take a look at the Knowledgebase article Open Office 2: A Free And Open Source Productivity Application

Email & Internet

The EeePC comes with links to popular email services such as Gmail and Yahoo and also has the popular Thunderbird program to connect to more corporate mail servers. Don't expect full 'Outlook' type functionality though – this is email only! Many will be familiar with it's Firefox web browser and for those who aren't, this presents no barriers at all if you only use Internet Explorer. One compromise in having such a small screen is that most websites involve some element of scrolling. Thankfully, the cursor keys allowed me to do this without any additional configuration.

Speed & Battery

The speed of the EeePC for everyday tasks is one of its greatest strengths. Simply put, it will run as fast, if not faster than, your regular PC.  Sadly, I was disappointed with the battery life. Despite attempts to save power, I was unable to get more than about 2 hours from it. That’s a bit of a pity given that the device is so handy to carry around, and I hope that future versions will focus on this.

Advanced Features

Behind the ‘Simple Desktop’ described above, lurks a full blown operating system. For the majority of users, there is no need to access it, but for the technically-minded, the Xandros distribution allows them to access an even larger range of software and modify and customise the EeePC for novel uses.
Enabling The Full Desktop
‘Power users’ will want to activate the Full Desktop to tweak the EeePC and there is plenty of advice on the EeePC forums explaining how to do this. Once in, the familiar icons are replaced by a menu driven Operating System with an impressive array of additional software and handy tools. The transition does come with a few drawback including losing password protection, bootup time being longer and battery consumption higher.

Useful Utilities & Updates

Within Full Dekstop is the all important Synaptic package manager. Those familiar with Windows update will appreciate the ease of updating the EeePC from the Simple Desktop. Within the full desktop however, Synaptic is used both to update the EeePC's own software and also (with a little tweaking) to grant access to any Open Source program, many of which can be easily located and installed for free.

Integration with a Windows Network

This topic deserves an article in itself, but there are three quick points that can be made here.

1. The EeePC does not necessarily need to integrate with Windows. It will simply plug into a LAN or use WIFI to access the internet, and will not share files or resources.
2. With some tweaking, the EeePC has the potential to become part of any Windows network. It uses Samba to share files and Cups to use Windows printers.
3. You can install selected Windows applications on your EeePC (as with any Linux system) using a third party package called Crossover Linux. I even managed to install Outlook 2003 and hook mine up to an Exchange Server!

So What Can It Do for Us?

The EeePC is so versatile, there are many situations in the VCS where it could come in handy. The following list presents just a few examples:

• Taking notes and recordings in meetings
• A cheap, portable word processor/emailer for regular travellers
• Running a specific program whilst making site visits e.g. with clients
• Remote access to work in conjunction with mobile phone modem
• Portable Videophone (skype comes installed as standard)
• A simple introduction to computing
  
• A device for in-patients or residents to be able to access the internet or play simple games
• A toy to occupy children or teenagers (the EeePC is fairly rugged and there are few security concerns with it)

Conclusion

Even if the headline fact about the EeePC – 7” laptop for £250 - does not grab you as particularly interesting, there are two main reasons to learn more about the EeePC and what it can do for you.

The first is that it has wide appeal. From those who are excluded or alienated from computers, to the most tech-savvy, the EeePC has something to offer.

The second point is this: for more than two decades, the IT industry has been driven by an assumption that the market wants faster, more sophisticated technology. A desktop PC of today has more processing power than the room-sized supercomputers of only a few years ago, requires an unparalleled level of expertise to set up, and is expensive to keep secure, and acquire software.

For more information about how to get the most from the eeePC have a look at eee user, there is also the EeeUser Wiki community documentation project for the Eee PC.