The Eee Trend
by Daniel Wolfe Posted in Gadgets, PCSo everyone is getting really excited about the new trend of cheap UMPC’s a la Eee PC from Asus.
As far as I’m concerned, they have 2 of 3 factors that are hits and one that is a miss.
– Form factor: winner. The people who complain that it’s too small are the wrong demographic. A 7″ screen and a cramped keyboard are not for your grandmother.
– Price: winner. $450 for a 3lbs laptop is perfect pricepoint.
– Specs: loser. How does the Celeron or Atom stack up against a Core2Duo… not well. I realize that what you’re paying for is the form-factor rather than processing power, but at the end of the day, if the cute little laptop that goes anywhere can’t get the job done – then what’s the point?
I’m looking forward to the new Asus laptops with the embedded Linux instant-on features. Sure they’re heavier, but they offer something that the Eee just can’t – horsepower.
And for those of you who will smarmaly state “it’s a web browsing machine!”, I will simply say that a used Toshiba Portegé can be had for $300
2 Responses to “The Eee Trend”
By Jesus on Jun 20, 2008
I think that the Eee PC is meant for baby boomers – they can check their stock quotes, get email, send email, browse the web, and not worry about lugging around a bit laptop that will heat up, weigh down their briefcase, and need a 3-pound AC adapter…
I support the Eee PC, and might buy one… For now, I’m happy with my OLPC XO Laptop.
By Phil on Jun 20, 2008
Make sure your baby boomers have their reading-glasses handy, that 7″ screen is tiny…