Re: Microsoft to limit capabilities of cheap laptops

Martin Rowe wrote:

2008/5/13 Nathan Andelin <nandelin@xxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> Joe Pluta wrote:
> I'm already using Linux with my Asus EEE PC and I'm
> thrilled with it.

Joe,

I've been looking at Asus EEE and wonder if you'd share your impressions
of the 7" screen size and 800 X 480 resolution. For comparison I
knocked my desktop monitor back to its lowest resolution (800 X 600) and
the thing that bothered me off the bat was that so many Web sites target
a 1024 X 780 resolution. Same with Office applications. And while my
own Web applications generally target 800 X 600 resolution, scrollbars
would appear at 800 X 480.

If scaled-back PCs were to become prevalent with students in K-12
schools, it appears that I'd need to change my UI models and gear them
to lower resolutions.

Brochures of Asus EEE also show a black border around the LCD. Can't
the 800 X 480 fill up the 7" screen?

Nathan

The black borders on the Eee PC 701 house the speakers - the full
width of the screen is used. On the new 900 series you get an 8.9"
screen that does 1024x600. It also comes with more storage - 12GB for
the XP version or 20GB for the Linux one. I don't think they are out
in the US yet, though they can be pre-ordered on Amazon. In the UK
they're about £100 more than the 701 (which I'm writing this on).

The screen width is probably the biggest bugbear I have with the Eee,
though most sites resize okay. It's just typical that the BBC revamped
their site shortly after I bought mine, as previously they optimised
for 800x600 and it worked very well. The screen itself is very sharp
and clear, with a wide range of brightness steps. I haven't seen a 900
yet, but that is reported to go even brighter.

I'm now running Ubuntu 8.04 on my Eee as it's easier to install
applications that aren't in the Xandros version of Linux that comes as
standard. So far I've found very few screens that are oversized, and
even then they can be dragged around to access every button.

Regards, Martin

There's not a ton I can add to Martin's comments, except that I am using Xandros. The biggest issue with the EEE is that it uses SSD (solid state disk) and what I didn't realize is that SSD has a finite number of write cycles before it goes casters up. The Xandros version on the EEE is optimized to write as little as possible, which is why I'm sticking with it for now.

In my copious free time, I will partition the machine so that I use the SSD primarily for read-only storage (programs) and then use SDHC chips for my data storage. At that point, I may be willing to switch to Ubuntu for the reasons that Martin points out: it's basically easier to upgrade Ubuntu.

Interestingly, I've used the EEE to VNC into my workstation, which is at 1900x1200. It's actually doable, although not particularly stable - the screen jumps around a lot. On the other hand, I can use Thunderbird reasonably well and have no problem with TN5250. I've also connected to an external monitor and it works fine.

Joe