Why an ASUS Eee PC?

This is a summary of my purchasing and usage decisions with the $360 Eee PC laptop I just purchased.

Here's what I use it for:

1. Remote data recovery (I fix a lot of dead hard drives, the eee is much lighter than my 12 lb gaming laptop)Vacation photos/video (I have a 20GB portable drive I ues to copy my camcorder's and camera's flash cards to)
2. Google Docs/Calendar anywhere with WifiTimeshare Travel (There's always wifi, but I've been afraid to take my $1k laptop with me... not to mention 12lbs is a lot for a day bag. The Eee PC is shockproof and weighs in at 2lbs.)
3. Open office docs & spreedsheets (I can view and edit my budget and personal notes(songs in progress, bible studies, tips & tricks for ...) anywhere.)
4. Daily mail & news (I open up and sync Thunderbird before I leave the house in about 30 seconds from boot to shutdown. On the bus and at lunch I can read and respond to all of my rss feeds and mail offline.)
5. Around the house Cloud Computing (I want to use the media center, so I pass the Eee to Cheryl so she can read her mail, surf facebook, and do all that non-resource intensive stuff she likes to do)
6. Random Entertainment (For trips or Dr's offices, I can watch the DVDs I've ripped to Xvid, or play flash games online)

Why the 4G instead of the 8G or 900? Price point and battery life. The 8G is $500 where the 4G is only $360 (Windows or Linux). The 900 has a 9" screen instead of a 7" screen, but that takes the battery life from 4 hrs to 2.2 hrs.

Why Asus Desktop (Xandros derivative) instead of Ubuntu or Windows? Speed. Plain and simple... With Asus Desktop, the Eeepc boot time is 17 seconds from off to surfing the web. Asus desktop recognized my A-HD camcorder, Canon 700is Camera, 3 different USB flash drives, portable hard drive, and every wireless network I've put it on so far without a hitch (including WPA).

Why the 4G 701 instead of the 4G Surf (401)? I wanted the webcam to talk with my brother via skype. In the 701, you can upgrade the RAM to 2GB, where the 401 (Surf) has soldered RAM.

Why scale the processor back to 667 MHz from 900? Apps launch slowly (2-3 seconds), but I get 4.5 hrs of battery life with wifi instead of 3.

Eee PC & Skype

I've got a crazy new laptop on which I'm writing this blog. This 2lb wonder gives a whole new meaning to ultra-portable. My nifty new toy has a webcam. If you have Skype, send me an email with your user, or call me. My SN is 'ultimadj'.

Vacation

Injuring my leg was a great thing. I've had a solid two weeks of royal treatment. Cheryl's been taking care of all the running around, while I've been left to enjoy her cooking and entertain Annabelle while Cheryl's busy with stuff like... the dishes GASP!!!

I've had a productive streak at work that has been unparalleled... one that has been enhanced by the brilliant streaks of my coworkers. I LOVE WORKING WITH BRILLIANT PEOPLE!!!

Cheryl recently purchased a walking toy (kind of like a shopping cart) for Annabelle. I put Annabelle behind the toy and placed her little paws on the padded bar. It was as high as her head, but she didn't mind. She stood there for a while, laughing and smiling at us to let us know what an excellent new trinket we'd given her. Then she leaned in to grab the little spinner near the middle of the toy. It started to roll forward.. her eyes got wider and wider as the toy rolled further from her! She stood there for a full 5 seconds, willing her little arms to hold her weight as she avoided succumbing to gravity... but... ooooh... sliiip thump. She just wasn't strong enough. (Actually, no one is. Try putting a chair out in front of you, then holding your own weight near vertical with your hands outstretched over your head... you'll see what I'm talking about). She gave me the pouty face (ie: Daddy, I didn't like that) but when I set her up again, she was right back to smiling with enough joy for every man woman and child in New York. The toy started to roll again... oh boy, she nipped that one in the bud! She placed one foot in front of the other til she'd run into the sofa on the other side of the room. Amazing! My 6mo old says Mamamama, Dadadadada and semi-walks like a pro!! Booyah!

Another Bad Injury??

What the heck!? I'm not an injury prone guy, I've just had the weirdest streak of ugly... the food poisoning, rectal bleeding, hitting a bus on my bike, and now a severe hematoma...

Yesterday, my soccer team played against the Xerox team. The last time my team played this team, the goalie broke his foot. This time, Tim ended up in the hospital, with a broken wrist and 7 staples to stop his head from bleeding. (He opened up that back of his head pretty badly.) Me? I got kicked in the thigh so hard that my body dumped nearly a pint of blood into it. My leg was so swollen that I couldn't even pinch the skin (it was stretched so tight). After speaking with the doctor, I'm on a tight icing regiment. Unless the healing process goes well, I'm headed to the permanent disability list. There's a reason this team is on the bottom of the stack. They're clumsy. Oh the drama...

So send some love as I'll be on the couch for the next 3 days (moving as little as possible, including rationed bathroom stops). Email me with good flash games, send me a message telling me how awesome your schooling, teaching, and general tom-foolery is going, and I'll keep you posted on the progress I'm making with my miraculous recovery ;)