Over the last couple of days I’ve spent a few hours exploring the potential of the EeePC. This has been a fairly easy task as I have just used the EeePC at home in the same way that I would use my desktop, it’s also been out and about with me around East Lothian. I’ve used it to surf the net, email, call people, up-load photographs, record audio and type up some of my next SQH assignment.
Here are some of my observations:
Battery Life – this could be a bit of a problem. I managed to get just under 3 hours out the EeePC that has been lent to me. Hopefully as new versions become available the battery life will start to improve.
Memory – Although the EeePC has minimum
built in memory. This is not really a problem. My USB stick worked fine and it also
recognised a cheap 2GB SD card that I bought in Aldi! I think the key with these
machine would be to try and encourage on-line storage.
Keyboard – there is no doubt about it the
keyboard is small but you quickly get used to it. The question is would I want
to be typing a long document on this machine. Possibly not – but I’m not sure I
would be using the EeePC for that. I did wonder if my roll up USB keyboard
would work with it but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Has anyone else tested
this?
Trackpad – A few people seem to have
experienced problems with the trackpad on the EeePC. It was quite difficult to
use a first – mainly due to its size. I found it easier to use by adjusting the
sensitivity of the trackpad. If I was using the trackpad of a long period of
time I would use a USB mouse (as I do with my laptop normally). I plugged in a
spare USB mouse and it worked fine.
Sound and Video – Excellent (a lot better than I
expected). It has a built in Microphone with pretty good record quality, it recognised
my USB microphone no problem and also has a microphone jack. There is a
head[phone socket for when you need to work quietly, or if you wanted to
connect some external speakers.
Web Browsing – Fine. I checked out all of my
regular sites and could view them with no real problem.
Screen Size – small, but I quickly got used to
it. I didn’t find it hard on my eyes and the resolution was remarkably clear. However,
I’m not sure what the long term effects of prolonged use would be. Remember you
can plug the Eee
PC into a larger monitor or data projector.
Operating System – Linux is great and easy to navigate,
I really liked the short cut icons to Google Docs and iGoogle. But if we use
these machines in East Lothian Schools I need to see how the machine performs
with XP.
Other USB Devices – It recognised my Digital Camera
with no problem.
Questions
Storage / Charging – Does anyone know if there is a
storage and charging solution available yet for a class set of these machines. I
guess this is something that RM could be working on
What next?
I need to
get it in front of some children. But with our wireless network currently down at MGS
this is going to be tricky. Maybe its time to get creative!
Thanks for sharing this OB.
I have set up a wiki so that anyone in or out with EL can share their thoughts centrally. I have added your site.
Tess :-)
Posted by: Tess Watson | February 03, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Ooops,
I forgot to give you the link!
http://asusdiscussion.wetpaint.com/
:-)
Posted by: Tess Watson | February 03, 2008 at 12:08 PM
RM have something called the Notebus. It's a secure storage trolly for laptops that has charging ports inside. Even comes in school colours.
May go someway to solving the battery problem. I'm sure that a low power CPU will soon extend the battery life anyway.
Posted by: Doug Semple | February 04, 2008 at 09:02 AM