Comments on: ASUS Eee PC 4G (701) Review

By: Axel_K

Axel_K — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:24:19 +0000

Hi! I installed the EasyPeasy, Ubuntu based system on my 4G / 701. I have to admint that from the OS’s Ive tested on it (winxp, Xandros, even Backtrack and Ubuntu8.1) It is by far the most comfortable one. I like the way it optimises screen usage.
Have a look at it, as I’m curious of what you think.
Good review, regards, Axel

By: aLexuS

aLexuS — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 05:49:34 +0000

Please HELP ME…i reformat my Asus Eee PC 4g. i deleted the partition excluding the c:Partition 1 (bios) [FAT]. i install Windows XP on drive D: after restarting an error occur. “NTLDR is missing” Press any key to restart. Should i delete also the c:Partition 1 (bios) [FAT]? to become 1 partition only? as i know if you install Windows XP it will directly find the Bootloader on drive C: but in my case i install Windows XP on drive D: Please help me on this matter…i need to fix my Asus Eee pc 4g..its been 2 weeks now and i cannot sleep well because of this problem…please email me at acveras3745@yahoo.com

Thanks a lot=)

By: jodiane

jodiane — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:25:48 +0000

im quite frustrated with my asus eeepc which im usin right now, well i do love it coz its so small and i can take it everywhere i go but the problem is i cant use the webcam in chatting. im a flight attendant and i travel around the world and id love to share how the rest of the world looks like but i cant use the webcam. ive tried installing xandros for my skype i researched and followed what i had to do but still nothing seems to work. i badly badly need the webcam. pls pls can somebody help me? i’d really appreciate it. pls email me at jooooodiane@yahoo.com. thank you.

By: Blaufeld

Blaufeld — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:16:15 +0000

I’ve had a 701 4G for almost 2 months – I installed a WinXP SP2 version highly reduced with nLite that occupies only 1.2 Gb on the internal SSD drive, and all other programs on a 8Gb HSSD. In the past I had various laptops to navigate, read mail and do some light work while travelling, but the Asus solution surpasses all of them in terms of practicality. The only things that leave me a little unconfortable is the 7″ screen (but it’s perfect for watching movies), so next month I’ll buy the 9″ version with Win preinstalled (I need to use a specific remote-management software that doesn’t work on Linux).

By: Warner Young

Warner Young — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:45:24 +0000

I've had a 4GB model since November and I've really liked it. I actually installed XP on it and removed Linux, though, because there were too many little things that annoyed me about Linux. Obviously, that's a subjective issue, so your mileage may vary.

The Eee is a great machine if you don't intend to use it as your primary laptop. Or if, like me, you only need a laptop very occasionally, and the small size and weight are more important than the number of features.

By: Isabel

Isabel — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:11:45 +0000

W have two of these machines, my partner does email, internet and ebay only on hers. She loves it and as she never did anything else on the Sony Vaio with XP professional, that she used previously, she actually now prefers the Eee. It should be remembered that these machines were intended for the ‘a laptop for every child project’ and not aimed at sophisticated computer geeks or business users. Its run away sales has made Microsoft a tad nervous. Why anyone would want to run Windows on it beats me. Having used mine for the past three or four weeks it has made me more determined to make the switch from Windows.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:26:31 +0000

There is a Live CD available, and it works great on the Eee. Read the Mandriva section of the wiki at EeeUser.com for a few helpful tips and tweaks. Good luck!

By: Claire

Claire — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:29:12 +0000

Chris,

I remember those ThinkPads. They were quite a feat. In the meantime, I've got an RF wireless keyboard I can use.

The battery life thing I would say is almost directly related to the OS and the BIOS. Linux has notably less reliable, advanced power management capabilities - I'm hoping that running Windows will make some difference in the subpar battery life. Additionally, the BIOS is that last, most basic layer between the hardware and the software - BIOS revisions can have a notable impact on how the operating system sees and manages the hardware, so I think that it could be possible to increase battery life later down the road with such an update.

==========

Geoff,

Thanks for the info! I may try that - is there a LiveCD available?

On the DOSBox front, you'll have to let me know if you get it working well. I never could get the magic config that provided good sound and video performance reliably. The only machine I've gotten DOSBox to work well on was my Dell Latitude D620 I had at my last job. I installed Windows XP SP2 last night, so I'm going to see how it works with that. Seeing as 8GB SDHC cards are only $25 on Amazon these days, I'm pretty sure I'll be getting one to serve as auxiliary file and software storage.

By: Chris McNeil

Chris McNeil — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:43:38 +0000

Thanks for the review - i've been interested in this little lappy since I first saw it in the shops, and thought it was a toy for kids! I personally think that comparing the eee and all the other upcoming small laptops (they shouldn't be called UMPC's incidentally) with a grown up laptop is not fair - we should really compare them with $300 pocket PC + bluetooth keyboard type arrangements (e.g. for lightweight travelling without a laptop bag). With this comparison, the keyboard, price and screen seem pretty impressive. It also makes battery life even more important! I use ubuntu on my portege m100, and it's power saving options are as good as windows, so maybe this is something that could be improved with a software update?

Thanks

Chris

PS imb thinkpads once tried out a "butterfly" folding keyboard to hide a full size keyboard in a small footprint laptop. If someone could perfect this for the netbook formfactor, they'd be onto a winner (weight, thickness and cost would be the problems i'd guess)

By: Geoff

Geoff — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:39:22 +0000

I’ve got a late model 701 4G which shipped with XP, but I removed it (after discovering that 800×480 and 4GB is really too small for an XP SP3 + Office 2007 SP1 installation. That left me with 250MB free).

I installed Mandriva Spring 2008.1 Linux in its place, which has out-of-the-box support for the Eee PC’s webcam, wireless, and Fn+X ACPI buttons. It’s far more fully-featured than the stock Xandros Linux, while still looking fine at 800×480 and leaving more than 1.5GB free on the SSD after installing everything I wanted.

… might even get DOSbox running on it

[Edited at June 09, 2008 10:39:46 AM.]