A couple of weeks ago I picked up an Asus Eee PC. For the next issue of Driven Magazine I’m focusing on tech products the business traveler might want to take with them. I would normally get one from the company PR for the photoshoot but they didn’t have any available. I really wanted it in the mag so I figured at the very least, buy it, sell it right after or try and return it to the store.
The Eee PC is meant for young children and its build is setup to be cost efficient in order to support the One laptop one child but here’s the thing. Geeks and business people love it.
I picked up a 4gb model with 512 megs of RAM. You can also get one with 2gb or 8gb of solid state memory. It runs on Linux operating system and comes with a bunch of free software installed including Open Office, an amazing MS Office clone that’s totally open source. It’s super light and can almost fit in my jacket pocket.
IT guys have been telling me their execs and traveling sales force have been asking them to load theirs with XP so they can run some proprietary software needed for their specific business. When I stopped by the computer store they told me these things are selling like hotcakes and they often don’t have any black ones in stock (mine is white).
This past week I’ve been using it around the house and I’ve fallen in love with it. Sure there are some things I’d like improved but that would probably bump the $400 price tag way up.
Personally I’m looking forward to the next time I’m out on assignment and there’s a wireless connection handy. I’ll be able to do the interview/see the presentation, type it up right there and send it off. Yeah I can do this now, but I’ve got a 17-inch MBP and that sucks to carry around a lot. It’s portable, but not pull out in a crowded press conference portable. Even if I had a 15 or 12-inch lappy, it doesn’t beat seven inches.
