This tiny little UMPC has a lot going for it. Asus is truly trying to get this device in just about anyone’s hands with some models rumored to be going for as little as $200. Apparently we have too much money in the US (or something) because we’re probably not going to get that version, but we will get a snappier one for around $400.
You’re not getting A LOT for that price, though. The specs right now read out at a small 7” LCD display, 512 MB of RAM, a flash based hard drive (rumored to be 4 gigs) and WiFi.
Still, the system isn’t designed for a power user, but more for someone who just wants to have a computer with them for traveling, or maybe school, but wants something small and easy to transport.
See more at the Asus official site.
it seems perfect for a systems administrator who needs a light, small, portable pc to run a command line only linux/unix install for configuring boxes, switches, doing maintenance, etc., out in the field.
beats paying for and carrying a full size laptop for a 10 minute job.
it is plenty powerful to run debian without a gui.
iirc, it will be running linux, with a special gui on top that allows for simple selection of the most common functions.
but it will also have a standard kde desktop available that one can switch to with the click of a icon in the gui.
looking forward to it, for i hope to have a setup where my browsing and email is done on a laptop, and this will fit nicely, while gaming is done on a dedicated desktop machine.
I’ve been following this product since its’ inception, and I declare it to be the UMPC of great win and epic success.
Yes, it will come with Linux, a custom distro based on Xandros, including OOo, Antivirus, Palm support, TuxPaint, Firefox, Skype, etc etc. It will incorporate a simple “tabbed interface” similar to the old Apple “At Ease” desktop. However, one can switch to a full window manager desktop if desired. Asus also say Windows XP runs perfectly in their testing.
The screen size does seem to be a bit of a let down, however there will be a 10″ version available (at greater cost), as well as 4-, 8- and 16Gb solid-state disk drives available (as well as a 32Gb for the 10″ version).
Check out the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC
and this hands-on demo that HotHardware played with
http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/Hands_on_with_the_ASUS_Eee/
I really really want one of these things!!!
[...] [ForeverGeeks] asus eee umpc cheapest small travelsPopularity: unranked [...]