Back to My Mac!

Last November, I was lucky enough to be among the first few Eee PC owners.  I enjoyed the little beast immensely and by using it, I was able to brush up my "mad Linux skillz".  It had been my constant companion for months and I appreciated the fact that I get to carry some of my work with me without the risk of getting scoliosis.

Using my Eee, I was able to download and install Linux programs (a finance manager, a wireless network sniffer, Google Earth, etc.)... something I wasn't able to do with the other Linux boxes I used.  I was even able to chronicle my Eee PC experience on a blog called NoypEee.  But after 4 months of using my Eee, the downsides of the Eee finally got to me...  its small screen, small tackpad and small keyboard took its toll.  I'm currently working on a rather massive report which I find too hard to edit on the small screen of the Eee.

But good things never last... yesterday, I sold my Eee PC to my sister.

Now I'm back to working on my old reliable MacBook, which I intend to upgrade to Leopard soon.

As for the proceeds of my Eee PC's sale?  I *might* get one of the following:  An iPhone or a Nokia E90 or a Nokia N95.

Any suggestions?

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All in the Famil-Eee: More Eee Products Coming!

Asustek announces Eee family product lines

Asus decides to ride on the success of the Eee PC by announcing more members of the Eee Family:

• the E-DT, a monitor-less desktop that could run the now-familiar Eee-nterface.  Pegged to be released within the $200-$300 price range.
• the E-Monitor, an all-in-one device similar to Apple's iMac.  Price is set at $499.
• the E-TV, a 42-inch LCD TV integrated with the Eee-nterface set to be priced at less than $200

I am skeptical about the pricing at this point considering how the price of the original Eee PC has increased even before it was released.  But I'm still quite excited about this product line.  I'm personally waiting for the E-TV :)

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Reviving my Treo 650!

For almost a year now, my Treo 650 was in a "coma" -- it suddenly lost its sound. Being the kuripotechie that I am, I decided not to have it officially refurbished by Palm Singapore. During the time that my Treo was in limbo, it was relegated into an eBook reader/handheld gaming platform.

Until last Saturday... I was able to track down a stall at Goldcrest arcade in Glorieta Makati that repairs Palm PDAs cheaply. I had my Treo 650 fixed and for only Php800, my Treo 650 was fixed! The technician simply replaced my Treo's speakers (which incidentally looks like a watch battery) and the "operation" took less than half an hour.

Now, my Nokia E61i is "resting" while I'm re-acquainting myself with my Treo 650.

And here's a bonus: I was able to HotSync my Treo 650 with my Asus Eee PC. Interested in how I did it? See the step-by-step at NoypEee. :D

Asus To Release a 3.5G/HSDPA PCIe Card?

While browsing the Asus Eee PC Support website, I chanced upon an interesting download under "Utilities". The file is entitled "Utility for T500 on EeePC" version 1.0. The file weighs in at around 995.63 Kb and a quick download later, I opened its accompanying documentation. The word document was in Chinese but I found the graphics rather interesting... it shows a picture that says that the program is actually called "Asus Mobile Phone Tool".

A quick Google on the term Asus T500 yielded me results that are more interesting: Apparently Asus T500 is a 3.5G (otherwise known as HSDPA) PCIe Card!




In short, if Asus releases the T500 worldwide, it will give the Eee PC cellphone functions!

Just one question: How the heck would the Eee accomodate the T500 (as shown above)?

crossposted in NoypEee

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You Ask, NoypEee Answers

Aja asks:

I've been wanting to have one as well after I've read your (possibly) first post about the Eee PC. If I may ask, is the 4GB model good enough or would the 8GB model (or the second generation models) be worth the wait?

If you intend to use it for writing (documents and/or blogs) *and* you don't replace the built-in OS to WinXP, the 4GB model should be more than enough internal storage.  I emphasized the word "internal" because I know that the Eee PC can use USB Flashdrives and external hard drives as secondary external storage.

--------------------

MiGs, on the other hand says:

Maybe your friend still has one left.

i'd love to have one.

I'm not sure if my friend still have stocks of the Eee PC because this little computer is literally selling like puto bumbong!  If you are set on buying one, you can visit my friend's brick & mortar store -- Digital Walker at VMall in Greenhills.

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Preparing for My Eee PC

While driving home this afternoon, my good friend Bogs called me (yeah! I know! Talking on the phone while driving is bad!) to inform me that their Eee PCs are arriving today and if I wanted one, I should have it reserved because there are a lot of people on queue for them *and* he is offering it to me at an price I simply can't refuse/ignore.  I told him to give me some time to decide.  Upon arriving home, I decided to take the plunge and place my order for the elusive Asus Eee PC -- which is still a rarity in the local market.

If everything falls into place, I'll have my grubby little hands on the Eee PC tomorrow!

I know what I'm going into... I know that my Eee PC is running Xandros and I have no intention of tainting it with Windows (yet).  What I *will* do with it once I get it is to install my favorite open-source financial application Gnucash.  Anticipating this, I also included a large capacity SD card on my wishlist on my office's traditional "exchange gift".  I already have an 80 Gb external hard drive that I'm pretty sure will work with the Eee so I'm pretty much set.  The only thing that I *might* need to buy is a suitable bag for it.  I've also been lurking around eeeuser.com and I've learned a lot while browsing their forum.

People may ask: why get an Eee PC when you already have a fully functional MacBook *and* iBook?  Well, the Eee PC will serve as my digital "companion" whenever I need to travel light.  This will especially come in handy during my "car-less" days ("coding" in the Metro Manila, Philippines).  Whenever I'm car-less, I lug my MacBook around for around three hours, waiting for the time when I'm free to take my car out of the parking area to get home. With the Eee PC, I won't have to lug my heavy MacBook around the mall.  It will also come in handy whenever I need to do a presentation for my clients using its built-in presentation application.  Oh, and the my iBook is my "stay-at-home" computer and it is the computer that is being used by my kid (see avatar).

Now, all I need to do is to wait...

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Dell Counterpunches Asus with the $399 Vostro 1000

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

Of course you know, this means war! -- Bugs Bunny

It looks like Dell is not taking the Asus Eee PC's sudden popularity sitting down.  As of today, Dell has given its Vostro 1000 model a $310 "instant savings" bringing it the price down from the original SRP of $709 to $399 --  the same pricepoint of the Asus Eee PC 701!

So what will one get for $399 (around Php 18,000)?  An AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core processor (clocked at 1.7GHz), Windows XP Home pre-loaded, 15.4" Anti-Glare XGA LCD screen, 1GB Shared dual-channel DDR2 SDRAM, 120 GB Hard drive, 8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer capable optical drive and an ATI Radeon Xpress 1150.

The only thing that gives the Eee PC a leg up over this competition is its ultraportability (15.4" Vostro vs. 7" Eee PC), other than that, the Vostro 1000 is a more powerful beast.

No too shabby huh?

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Asus Eee PC Finally Launched... in Taiwan

Taiwan's Asustek launches 'low-priced' laptop

Agence France-Presse
Last updated 05:39pm (Mla time) 10/16/2007

TAIPEI--Leading Taiwan computer maker Asustek Computer Inc on Tuesday launched a low-cost laptop computer targeting children, elderly people, and low-income users in the developing world.

Taiwan's Asustek launches 'low-priced' laptop - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Finally Asus decided to launch the Eee PC!  But personally, its two weeks to late for me because I just purchased an iPod Touch (which I eventually hacked to run 3rd Party Apps).  If my funds allow me, I'll probably get one next year as my 3rd laptop -- which I plan to become my workhorse and main mobile unit.  Besides it will take a couple more weeks before this impressive piece of of technology reaches the Philippine shore.

In the meantime, let me continue to enjoy my hacked iPod Touch.

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Asus Eee PC Site Goes *almost* Live

It looks like Asus is prepping up for the much awaited release of the Eee PC.  One such preparation is the Eee PC website from Asus itself.  There's not much to see yet but I sure hope that this will mean that the Eee PC itself will be released a short time later.

In the meantime, here's some more graphics from the official Asus Eee PC Website. Enjoy!

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