Several months ago I purchased an Asus Eee PC 701 4G mini-laptop (or netbook). It cost about $400 (normal retail price).Asus is marketing this laptop as a second laptop for people already owning a larger full-featured laptop, but may not want to have to carry the big laptop everywhere. They are also marketing it as being a good laptop for children.
Features
* 7" widescreen format (16:9) screen 800x480 pixels (note: 9" models are now available)
* ports: 3 USB 2.0, MMC/SD memory card, monitor, LAN (RJ-45), microphone, headphone
* 4 GB solid-state drive, of which about 1.6 GB is actually available for storing documents, pictures, etc. (some of the 2.2 GB is dedicated to providing a recovery partition)
* 512 MB memory
* built-in webcam
* built-in WiFi wireless networking (802.11b/g) supporting WEP and WPA encryption
* customized Linux (based on Xandros)
* support disc containing recovery data and Windows XP hardware drivers
* pre-installed software includes: Firefox web browser, OpenOffice office software suite, games for kids and adults, some educational software, music and video file player, picture organizer, and more
* note: there is no optical drive, nor is there a PC Card slot
Things I Liked
* small - takes up very little space (about the size of a small book)
* very light-weight - only 2 lbs!
* having a recovery partition greatly simplifies restoring the laptop's factory defaults
* very hackable :)
* nice mix of pre-installed software
* runs very quiet, and does not get too warm
* graphical interface is easy to navigate (large icons for software, organized into tabs by function)
* fast start-up time (about 20 seconds)
* music & video files all play okay, including online videos
* the solid-state drive is less susceptible to mechanical shocks (such as accidental drops) than a standard hard drive, and it generates no sound
* easy support for external USB keyboards and mice
Things I Did Not Like
* keyboard can be difficult to use and get used to due to its small size and some odd key placements, though people having smaller hands may experience fewer problems with it
* due to the screen size, viewing some web pages may be challenging
* battery power lasts fewer than 3 hours
* managing wireless network settings is not obvious
* existence of recovery partition causes the data partition to fill up quickly, especially when updating/installing software
* included software is older than what is available now in mid-2008 (especially noticeable with Firefox and OpenOffice)
* not easy (though it is possible) for non-technical people to install new software (note: this is an intentional feature)
Conclusion
The Asus Eee PC 701 4G laptop is a great choice for anyone wanting a physically small lightweight laptop to primarily provide mobile Internet access at a good price. And it contains enough additional software to meet many people's needs for light work, especially when away from home.
This laptop would also be a good choice for those who are technically inclined, and would enjoy spending their free time "hacking" (in a good way) to try to get this laptop to do all kinds of crazy things it was never designed to do. See Eee User wiki for ideas.
However, this laptop would NOT be a good choice if you expect this laptop to be able to do everything that a full-size laptop can do (e.g. play DVD movies, edit video files, play audio CDs, anything requiring lots of processor power or heavy-duty 3D graphics), or if you need a large laptop display.
Bottom line
Though I would prefer a slightly larger screen and keyboard, I nonetheless really liked using this laptop, and would readily recommend it to others.
Links
Asus Eee PC official web sitehttp://eeepc.asus.com/global/
EeeUser.com news site
http://www.eeeuser.com/
Wikipedia article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC
