Asus Eee PC

Time magazine named iPhone invention of the year. Probably, I would call it product of the year (it does not look like the invention or something), but this is not the point. It is difficult for me to agree or not, because all its restrictions disallows even a opportunity to get it in Lithuania. Of course, I can get the one unlocked from AT&T in black market, but it would be overpriced there and you can't update your software. However, there is another product which a little bit surprisingly became a great success and can be called a product of the year too (IMHO). This is an ultra-portable laptop called Eee PC and made by Asus. It is cheap (though it will become even more cheaper in the future in my opinion), very small but still enough capable and comfortable (not to small), beautiful (it resembles Apple Mac laptops probably), extensible and fast. Linux (customized Xandros distribution) or Windows XP can be installed by default. Linux boots in less than 10 seconds and shut downs in 5. You can never get these numbers with standart PC. It is possible that this product will revolutionize laptop's market and other manufacturers will try to introduce similar products with the similar price tag (some similar alternatives are much more expensive and not broadly available these days).

Of course, nothing is perfect in this world and Eee PC has its minuses too. A small SSD hard drive (4 GB or 2 GB flash drive) requires to buy external storage (in flash or external hard drive form) if you plan to use it extensively and keep files in it. There is no CD/DVD drive, so installation of some new programs, especially in Windows, can be more painful (or once again you need an external CD-ROM drive, but it with additional storage will rise a price of the notebook to not such great point) . Even installation of new OS can't be done in standard way. The keyboard isn't very great too (from the reviews). The last but not the least if you want to upgrade RAM your warranty will be void. This is the biggest minus for me...

Why am I writing this? Yes, you guessed right. I ordered it too and should get it today or tomorrow. Because of this you can expect one more review from me either. I will confirm or deny advantages and disadvantages of Asus Eee PC and will try to see if it is really such great or it was just a hype and good marketing.

Update (2007-11-08 16:37):
I will get it only after one week at best probably (it's sad because I hoped to give it for my mother as present after she returned from abroad this week).

Update (2007-11-09 14:06):
I got it today :). Yahoo!