Asus EeePC - the consumer friendly laptop with Linux preloaded

Asus is a Taiwan based hardware manufacturer which is known the world over for their superior motherboard designs apart from many other products they manufacture. It has been ranked No.1 by the Wall Street Journal Asia for best quality products in Taiwan. Recently Asus grabbed the news headlines when it unveiled what is now known as the EeePC, which is a 7" screen laptop notebook with a slew of technologically advanced features built in. But what is most important and exciting is that it is pre-loaded with a customized version of Xandros Linux. The three E's in EeePC stand for "Easy to learn", "Easy to work" and "Easy to play".

You can choose between 4 models of EeePC depending upon the size of hard disk and memory. The EeePC feature a built in card reader, an integrated web cam (this depends upon the model), speakers and microphone which helps clear up a lot of wire clutter. It comes with a shock proof design. Has a standard 4 cell battery (replaceable by the user of course) which gives anywhere between 2 to 3.5 hours of uptime depending upon the model you choose. It has a built-in WiFi 802.11 b/g that automatically detects and connects to the internet at any hotspot. As far as its storage space is concerned, it has a solid state hard drive in sizes of 2GB, 4GB and 8GB. The EeePC also comes with either 512MB or 1GB memory depending upon the model you choose.

Fig: Left side of EeePC contain an ethernet port, firewire port, a USB port and interfaces for voice in and voice out.

Fig: The right side contain a card reader, two USB ports and a VGA port.

Because there are no moving parts, there is less chance of data corruption when moving around and it is dead quiet when in use.

Fig: Specifications of the EeePC laptops

As I said earlier, the EeePC comes loaded with a heavily customized version of Xandros Linux desktop. It has a specially designed intuitive graphics interface which makes use of tabs. The interface is very cleanly laid out with pretty icons. You can also switch to a traditional KDE interface if that is more to your liking.

Fig: EeePC comes preloaded with a variety of games.

The applications bundled with the EeePC are an eclectic collection of open source software which allows the user to do just about any thing he or she intends to do on a PC. For instance it has the latest Firefox, OpenOffice.org, a plethora of games, Skype to make calls from your laptop, WebCam software and much more. Check out the screenshots of the EeePC GUI below to get a fair idea about what to expect.

Fig: Internet tab of EeePC GUI

Fig: Play tab of EeePC GUI

Fig: Settings tab of EeePC GUI

Fig: Work tab of EeePC GUI

Lastly we come to the most important criteria when choosing a laptop namely the price. It is surprising that with all these features (hardware and software) included, the EeePC ships with a price tag in the range of $299 to $450 which is very cheap when you compare the price of an average laptop. It weighs a measly 0.92 Kg and can be comfortably handled while on the move. Having seen its specifications and the fact that there is a waiting time to get your EeePC laptop when you order online due to heavy demand, one can correctly deduce that laptops with this form factor and with such rich features have a huge demand in the market and Asus having made the plunge is already reaping its benefits.

There is also a rumor floating on the net that Asus has plans on the anvil to unveil an 8.9" EeePC laptop sometime this year (2008).

Here is thumbs up for a people's laptop.