The Eee – a week later

It’s not difficult to get overexcited about a new product when you first buy it, especially if it’s been one you’ve been eyeing for months. Now that it’s been a week, and I’ve had time to use the Eee extensively and tweak it some, I can honestly say I’m happy with my purchase.

Are there things that still annoy me? Hell, yes! But for a product relatively new to the market (think iPods of 2003 or cell phones in 1999), it’s pretty solid. I have finally gotten used to the placement of the right Shift key, but the numeral 1 being so far to the left still throws me off. And, yes, the keys on the keyboard feel as cheap in construction as they did last week, but I’ve noticed that the Eee’s keyboard isn’t as susceptible to cat fur infestation as my old desktop computer’s keyboard was. Plus, for the non-keyboard part of the Eee, since our cat is mostly white and the Eee I bought is black, it’s very easy to notice right away any fur that drifts on to the screen or casing, and I can blow it away immediately.

Through extensive web browsing, I have finally come across some websites that require horizontal scrolling, which has prompted me to install Opera (which allows you to scale pages to fit the width of the screen). I may end up doing a little back and forth switching between Opera and Firefox.

I’ve also realized that I really don’t go out that much to coffee shops and such. It was handy having the Eee with me while I did laundry; but when I’m hanging out with friends, I don’t really need an internet appliance. Mainly, I just use it at home on the couch while watching TV, and it’s nice to have a computer that doesn’t take up so much space (my old desktop had a tower, separate speakers that needed to be plugged in, an external monitor, an external keyboard, and an external mouse). When we do end up traveling (if airlines’ flight prices go down), it will be nice not having to haul a huge 5″ laptop around.

This Eee will serve me well for a while, though it’ll be interesting to see what’s on the horizon for subnotebooks / “netbooks.” HP is supposed to have one coming out soon with a slightly bigger keyboard (with spill-proof keys) and a much bigger hard drive. I think Dell and Acer are supposed to have things in the works, too, to compete with the Eee. And Asus itself will be releasing a new version of the Eee soon, too (larger screen, higher resolution webcam, larger hard drive, more memory, higher price).

5 comments

  1. You have a laptop on your lap while watching TV? Why?

    Why not just watch the TV, or if it is not gripping enough, do something instead of two things half-arsed.

  2. He doesn’t come into your house and tell you how to enjoy yourself. Extend the same courtesy. If that’s his thing, it’s his house.

    I hope you enjoy Opera, I personally love it. I recommend you keep FireFox around still, however, as some java based sites don’t play well with Opera, and many sites (annoyingly) check your reffer type and forcably deny you unless you’re running a certain version of FF/IE.

    Sadly, the coolest feature of Opera won’t be very practical on a touch pad; mouse gestures are great.

  3. Hey, I just found your blog through Lifehacker. So glad I did – it looks like we have quite a bit in common! I replaced my 15.4″ laptop with an EeePC back at Christmas. Turned out to be too much of a size difference to me. I loved the size for travel, but it was just too small to be practical. I sold the Eee and got a 12.1″ Toshiba instead. Best to you and the EeePC.

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