Home > Consumer Reviews > ASUS Eee PC 4G (7-Inch Display, Intel Mobile Processor, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB Hard Drive, Linux Preloaded) Pearl White

This is an ultra-portable laptop with Linux and wireless Internet access.

* Can mount Windows SMB shares.
* Plays DivX, MP3 and YouTube videos. The Firefox already had a MPlayer plugin.
* You can install and run RealPlayer for Linux on it if you want. There are web sites that show you how to add Windows audio and video codecs so you can play WMV or other Windows format audio/video files.
* Mine already had Java 5.0.
* The location of the Right shift key needs some getting used to. Keys are quite small and I can't keep typing on it for an excessively long time.
* Was able to login to using my Skype account and make VoIP calls right out of the box. There are green and pink jacks for the headphones and mic.
* Dictionary was set to Chinese language by default but you can set it display English.
* The E-book reader is able to display Plucker format e-books from Project Gutenberg.
* It displays PDFs using Adobe Acrobat Reader and the displayed text is quite readable especially in Full Screen mode.
* Setting up wireless internet connection was very easy.
* You can plug in a USB stick and it gets automounted. A "Flash disk" window automatically comes up with the contents of the drive.
* The E-Book icon gets lost after you do a Software Update but there are web sites that show you how to put it back.
* Ctrl-Alt-T launches an xterm. Running konqueror gives you a bunch of useful utilities.
* GNU Emacs and MIT scheme both are not installed but they can be installed if you need them and they do run well on it. Read about adding Xandros repositories and pinning repositories first before attempting to install software using apt-get.
Check out the unofficial EeeUser wiki site for photos and a lot of useful info.
* It is possible to NFS mount shared filesystems. Just add nfs entries to /etc/fstab and they'll be mounted when the wifi interface comes up. You'll probably want to unmount them manually though before shutting down the eeepc: sudo umount -t nfs -a.

Back story
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I'm a cautious consumer of electronics. Unfortunately, some items (like this one) were not in any physical stores near me, and I didn't know anyone who had one. So even though I really wanted to buy an Eee, I hesitated and read as many reviews as I could. I read all the Amazon reviews and all the NewEgg reviews. I watched YouTube videos about the Eee. I read professional reviews and blog entries.

One thing I always wonder when reading positive and negative reviews is how exaggerated the positives are and how much the negatives matter (are they deal-breakers?). Unfortunately, one can't know until one tries it.

Finally, I took the plunge, and I don't regret doing so.

There are cons (life is pain, Highness). Anyone who tells you differently is selling something.
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* The placement of the right Shift key and the numeral 1 key is non-standard relative to the other keys, and that takes getting used to. Even though it didn't take me hours to adjust to the small keyboard, even after hours of use, I still sometimes hit the Up arrow instead of the right Shift key.

* The screen dimmer (lower brightness) key is too close to the key that turns the wireless on and off.

* The Control key and the mouse buttons are hard to press... or, rather, you have to press down on them rather hard in order to get them to respond.

* The keys in general feel pretty cheapy-plasticy compared to the solid build of the rest of the Eee.

* Security is terrible. No matter what username you think you're picking, the OS understands it as "user," and you can assume administrative privileges (using sudo) without password authentication, which essentially means you're running as root, which every Linux user knows is a no-no.

* As others have noted, if you connect through Wireless Networks, you will have to enter your key every time you connect. The trick to automatically connecting is to connect through Networks. How anyone would know this intuitively is beyond me.

* Battery life isn't stellar, but it isn't pitiful either.

Those are the cons. The pros really outshine them.
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* It's visually wow-ing. Even though the mouse button was a turnoff to her, my wife (a Mac lover) loved the look of it at first glance. I did, too. No matter how many pictures you see of it next to Nestle bars, larger laptops, large hands, or other objects, you will still be surprised at just how small and cute it is once you see it in person. Some people have described it as being the size of a hardcover book, but if it is, it's the size of a small hardcover book. (Think Sarah Vowell instead of Stephen King.)

* It gets right down to business. Even though it comes with a manual, you don't have to read it. Just plug in the battery, and while charging, hit the power button, answer a few questions, and within seconds you'll be up and running. The simple default interface is very easy to get used to, whether your previous computer experience is with Mac, Windows, or Linux.

* 800x480 is actually usable. I thought I'd have to do a lot of side-scrolling and squinting, but all the webpages I've visited have fit on the screen just fine. No one is going to say, "Hey, that screen's huge!" but it was a genuine concern of mine that the screen size would be unusable, and it is quite usable.

* The sound isn't bad. I'm not an audiophile, but I can tell tinny laptop speakers when I hear them, and these are not tinny. To most normal people, the sound quality should suffice.

* Things just work. Maybe this isn't a big deal to you Windows and Mac users who have always bought preinstalled operating systems, but to a Linux user who has had to download, install, configure, and troubleshoot every Linux installation I've done over the past three years, just having all this ready to go without tweaking was an amazing experience. Webcam worked (didn't have to enable it in the BIOS - must have been a problem Asus fixed from earlier releases), wireless worked, Flash worked, suspend worked. It all worked. I'm still allowed to tweak as I see fit (such is the right of every Linux user).

* Despite Asus' public statements that the sticker's message wasn't their policy, previous versions of the 4 GB non-surf Eee apparently had some sticker over the RAM door saying that removing the sticker voided the warranty, but mine didn't have that sticker, so that issue seems to have been resolved, so I upgraded to 1 GB of RAM, and the upgrade process was very smooth.

Bottom line
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I got it for the portability of it and the functionality of it. If you need a large keyboard, a DVD burner, a large screen, a killer graphics card, and a fast processor, then you need a regular laptop. If you need a portable and cute web appliance, you need an Eee PC.

I bought it for my daughter's gift, but surprisingly it's perfect for my business travel. Why? It's very, very fast. Thanks to Linux OS, starting up takes just only 10-15 seconds, shutting down takes only a second! Firefox web browser is great, it's much better than IE in terms of stability. OpenOffice is comparable to Microsoft office, so you can read and write Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. OWA (Outlook Web Access) works well, so you can access to office mailbox. Skype also works well, so you can easily do video conference. For kids, there are many pre-installed educational software, it's easy to use and fun. Easy to bring, durable, and super value. I can't believe it's only $399! It enough for me. iPhone? there's no keyboard. MacBook Air? it's super expensive. Windows PC? so many problems (slow, freeze, security issue.) I believe ASUS Eee PC is REVOLUTION. I don't need Apple, Microsoft, and Dell. PC eco-system is changing. Try it. Believe me.

This was my first laptop and I couldn't be happier. I didn't need some expensive bulky machine, because if I needed to do some sort of critical, powerful task I would use a desktop. The eeepc meets and exceeds my needs. It comes installed with an impressive amount of software. There is something for everyone, whether it be a media/music player, office software, games, or a web related program. There are also many applications installed that do not show up under any of the tabs but can be accessed by typing there names in a terminal(ctrl + alt + t).

It is incredibly light-weight, and looks very nice. It has a very nice build, and is durable. I wouldn't say that it looks cheaply built at all, which considering the low price is quite the achievement. Also, you can look at 100's of pictures, but without using it hands on you can not picture how small this laptop is. It has a full keyboard, which takes a little time to get used to. The most annoying key is the right shift key. It is one over to the right of where it normally is, so you will constantly find yourself hitting the up arrow key.

Considering the amount of software included and the small form factor, this laptop is a steal for this price. There is no "bloat-ware" installed, and everything is fully functional, no office 30 day trials, etc.

The default operating system is a customized Xandros distribution. It's debian based and is very easy to use. I am a linux user, however, the way the OS is set up anyone can use this machine, regardless of whether you are a windows user or not. Everything is simply categorized under different tabs and doesn't take long to get used to. For the linux users, you can still do all the fun things in the terminal, and activate advanced mode, which is basically a KDE desktop. Or you can install other flavors of linux on the machine(this I haven't attempted, but many others have successfully done).

Also as a side note, many people had been complaining about the yellow sticker on the bottom of the machine stating that if it was removed it would void the warranty. Unfortunately it covered where the ram goes, so you couldn't upgrade w/o voiding your limited warranty. However, this has been resolved and Asus's official stance, is that this will no longer void your warranty(http://usa.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=9223).

I can not give anything but praise for this machine, and would highly recommend it to others looking for an affordable, portable laptop.

I have had this about a month now and love it. As everyone says it gets attention anywhere you go, if that is important to you. The mobility factor is my #1 reason for liking it; if you carry a laptop now mostly to check e-mail one the run and aren't spending hours typing on it, it is light and perfect. I am fine with the keyboard size and no CD/DVD drive. The wireless range for hotspots is better than any laptop I've owned before, great for the traveler & finding hotspots.

I also carry a wireless mouse and roll up flexible keyboard on the road but find 80% of the time for brief e-mail replies I don't use them. Yes its small, and internal storage just ok, but I also carry an external USB 160 g drive to address that. There is lots of help on the internet at the [...] community - they have instructions on how to open the existing Xandros O.S. to the full desktop, how to add more opensource software safely, & help with standard solutions to the common issues. I'd recommend visiting that site to see the comments before purchasing if you are concerned. Also, about any operating system imaginable has been loaded on this if you decide you want to switch, but I'd highly recommend sticking with the stock Linux distro and giving it a good shot; most of the time when you have problems an answer is available at eee-User. Some Windows programs will never wotk on it, though for my intended use that doesn't matter.

Things I have been able to do recently include accessing my home Windows network and trading files, hooking a Sony hard drive cam-corder to it through one USB port and making a backup of movies directly to the 160 g external drive (great backup option while on vacation), copying SD card pictures to the external 160 g drive, remotely accessing/controlling a Windows computer through it using [...] free software. My kids borrow it to watch streaming videos usnig the headphone jacks quite frequently/I need to track them down to get it back quite often. They love it.

At home I just plug in a USB keyboard, wireless mouse & full size LCD monitor and use it just like a full size desktop. I have an external USB DVD drive if needed but so far I haven't used it. I also bought 2G of RAM for < $[...] with shipping, but the stock OS only recognizes 1G (XP & other distros will see the 2G) and frankly the stock 512 was so fast that I haven't noticed a real difference. This is a pretty powerful little machine !

This version (of Linux (Xandros) is not leading edge or the most secure (still feel safer than using XP in the open), but it has proven stable and good enough for what I'm using this for. I turn of the SMB file sharing program when out in public to be safe. It boots up in about 25-30 seconds, then off in about 10 seconds; great for when you are on the go at an airport/other hotspot. Surfing is quick, and it doesn't get slower over time as Windows computers are prone to do. That alone is a great selling point for me. There are no known Linux viruses in the wild and that isn't just because the OS isn't widely used as some try to say - linux is designed to be more secure from the ground up& why most internet servers run with some version of Linux.

I've got a new VISTA computer that I haven't turned on in 2 months running 2G RAM, but it is not as fast than this on 512. I'm actually having fewer problems with Linux ccompatibility than expected and ironically better luck than I was with VISTA. I figured if I was going to have to go through another learning curve anyway, why not try open source ? Wow, has it improved dramatically over the last 5 years. So, if you are open minded this might be a good time to give it a shot. The folks at ASUS have hit the target for my use, and I'm sure I'll buy another one when the larger screen is available. It has been perfect for my needs.