My Asus Eee PC and Why I Love It

Friday, May 8, 2009 at 8:20 PM
I have always considered myself to be a power user when it comes to computer. I mainly use my computer for tasks such as browsing, preparing documents, downloading software from the internet, listening to music, occasional gaming and watching videos. Hence, I multitask a lot. So, naturally, till now I have looked down upon laptops. After all, were not laptops slow, delicate and expensive toys meant for those with nothing else to do with their money? In other words, they were status symbols. At least, I thought so.

So, what were those "salient features" of the laptops which led me to believe thus? Well, firstly until a few years ago, laptops were grossly underpowered - for the price at which they were sold. For the same budget, one could buy a far better spec'd desktop compared to a laptop. Secondly, the display quality would be worse compared to an average CRT monitor. Yes, manufacturers claimed that laptops were portable and could be used on the go, and that they also provided battery backup. Now, even desktops connected to a uninterrupted power supply (UPS) could provide comparable battery backup. So, the truly distinguishing feature of a laptop was that it was compact and portable. Even this feature was not without demerits - laptops could not be easily upgraded and had lesser reliability compared to desktops - heat build up in such a compact form factor led to decreased life of electronic chips. So, portability had to be a really major deciding factor for someone to buy a laptop. Even then, a 40cm x 30cm package, a few cm thick and weighing around 3kg could hardly be considered portable. Hence, till now, I had largely stayed away from laptops. Indeed, laptops were considered suitable for only specialized field applications where portability is of paramount importance.

So, what changed? A new category of extremely compact laptops came to market. These were called "netbooks" and were much cheaper compared to traditional laptops while offering formidable processing power. The Asus Eec PC is such a netbook. Let us talk about the Eee PC 1000H model which I own. How does the Eee PC differ compared to traditional laptops? It is what a laptop should have been like - a computer with reasonable processing power in a compact form factor. The Eee PC can run any general purpose software effortlessly. It can even handle Microsoft's latest operationg system - Windows 7 without breaking a sweat. After all, its specifications - 1.6GHz Intel Atom Processor, 1GB RAM, 80GB harddisk suggests so. It addresses the various shortcoming of a traditional laptop quite convincingly. It is quite cheaper compared to laptops, even cheap enough to compete with desktops on the price front. Then, the low power consumption of the netbook ensures long battery backup duration - upto 8hrs. The 10 inch screen is great to watch and never feels small for any general purpose tasks. It is LED backlit and has excellent viewabilty even under direct sun. Owing to the smaller screen size, the netbook is extremely compact - even smaller than some books! Build quality is excellent too. So, it is extemely portable. It can be said that the Eee PC actually fulfilled all the things that the laptop promised to be. So, that is what the Eee PC is - a compact, sturdy, low power consuming device with great battery backup which packs quite a punch under the hood. But, it is not a gaming machine. And considering all the features, it is great VFM - I brought mine at around Rs. 20,000 ($400). Nowadays, I find myself using my desktop less and less.
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5 comments

  1. point noted..........congrats....i am sure it cannot be anyother ABHIJEET....LET ME HAVE THE HONOUR TO BE YOUR FIRST FOLLOWER.

  2. Anonymous Says:

    sorry...mistaken identity....but i found your initial posts very informative ...i will always follow

  3. Thank you and check out my blog often!

  4. Anirban Says:

    ya good piece of work...U should add the anti virus installation part also..coz all antivirus wont run in dis OS

  5. Wait for some days. When Win 7 is launched officially, most of the antivirus softwares will be supported.

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