Should I buy the EEE 900?

I need a laptop for school, and larger ones are difficult for me to carry around. I'm unsure about the fact that it doesn't have a DVD drive, and the 3.5 hour battery life would probably kill me (I could always buy a second battery for 75 bucks, though.) but I really don't see another laptop of this size at this price point anywhere else. I'd be primarily using it for basic internet and word processing functions.

I small person with a small laptop would look hilarious.

Only if he had an office like the one in that Mike Myers movie.

not as hilarious as a small person with a HUGE laptop.

Don't know about Kirby, but I'm now convinced.

Battery life sucks, but it is REALLY portable (we have one at my work.) My hands are too big to type on it efficiently. But you... uh... should do right as rain... >_>

The UI that comes with the laptop makes me cringe. What is the program for word processing? Is it Open Office I assume? Would it struggle with video over the internet?

damn for the price, could be a cool car pc

They released the EEE 1000 in Europe, maybe it will show up here? It has 10" screen, faster, more storage, etc.

A better question is the XP version or the Linux one

and are you considering just the 900 or the 4G or any of the other kinds?

The 900 is everything I want at the perfect size. The price of the others doesn't warrant their minor improvements.

Also, I have 3 legal copies of XP at my house, so I'm not concerned with the distro.

To be honest, I'd hold out for the MSI Wind in Septemberish. It's a little bigger, little heavier [as it uses a mechanical hdd vs solid state, so 80G vs 4-8 with negligable differences in speed and consumption], but is supposed to have much better battery life and more usable keyboard. Ships with SuSe on the Linux one vs Xandros but that's easy enough to change if you want.

I have the EEE 701 and it's nice for shlepping one-handed around the apartment if I need to plug something into a router or type a bit in my chair [or for cataloguing stacks of books], but usually I just leave it plugged into an external dvd drive and my projecter and watch movies on it.

Don't get it. The 900 is basically a transition model that gave customers something to chew on while the 901 was being developed. Main reasons not to go for a 900:

1) Still too-cramped keyboard. If you haven't actually tried to type on one of these, don't buy it until you have and you're certain you can deal with it.

2) Weak battery life. The 6-cell on the 1000H nets you more than double the battery life; plus, the 1000H just got a price drop to $549 US, which is only barely more expensive than the Wind.

3) Celeron processor. The Atom on the 901, 1000H, Wind, and all the other upcoming netbooks may not necessarily bring better performance (according to some benchmarks they're basically the same), but they run at lower power/temperature and help extend your battery life. Plus models like the Wind have an overclock on/off switch.

4) There are a bunch of netbooks coming out soon (like Dell E in august and 6-cell Wind in September) that may cause the price of existing netbooks to drop even more, so it's worth it to wait it out and at least get a better selection

5) Acer Aspire One can pretty much compete with the 900 (it also has terrible battery life) but it's $100 cheaper to my knowledge.

(BTW, the Wind is already out -- it's just that if you want the 6-cell model you need to wait until September).


1000H has been out in the US for a little while but it's pretty much sold out everywhere. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220370&Tpk=eee%2b1000h


Also Kirby, the EEE and the other netbooks are NOT FULL FEATURED LAPTOPS. Nobody could use them as a primary/every day laptop. They're designed for light work (note taking or word processing) and web browsing and not intended or built to be like a Lenovo X61 or Sony's new 11.1" or other ultraportables. I know you said you only wanted to use it for just that, but just be forewarned that if you're expecting a normal laptop experience you're not gonna get it. They're more like a mobile typewriter with internet than anything. A compromise between a phone/PDA and a laptop.

I don't see how kirby is going to use such a little keyboard.

I'm really interested in one of these kinds of laptops.

They're like super perfect for school/coffee shop action.

I'm considering waiting for Dell's eee pc rip off to come out in November. Apparently they can put Linux on it too. I don't remember the spec though.

I just want something that fits into my backpack, does internets, and you can type on it and maybe run some light softwares.

Oh, I'm also considering the Dell deallie because I get a massive discount I bet.

Yeah, students get a discount for it. I forget how much though...10%? Not that it cost a lot to start out with.

I'm pretty sure I get both my UPS discount and a student discount now.

I have to go mccheck when I report to actual work wednesday morning.

None of your points really bother me, phoenix. I've typed on one, I'm going to buy 2 batteries, and the size difference between the 900 and the 901 really does bother me.

I AM going to wait until September to see what else comes out, though. It'd be nice to do some comparisons. I still really want something under 11 inches, though.

You could try hitting on SAJN if you needed like sub 2.

Having 2 batteries sorta doesn't make sense if you consider the additional cost of that versus the additional cost of a 1000H or something.

that tickles me

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}