When I first read about the Asus Eee PC 4G Notebook it struck me as the ideal second laptop. Weighing in at just over 2 pounds, and priced at around $400, this is an ultra-mobile PC that doesn’t have the price tag of other diminutive laptops.

Half the size of a regular laptop, it features a full QWERTY keyboard and a 7-inch 800 x 480 Active Matrix LCD screen with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of solid state flash memory. It also has a DVD drive, built-in stereo speakers and built-in microphone. It runs a modified version of the Xandros Linux distribution, which I had the privilege of beta testing before its first release in 2001. The bundled software includes OpenOffice.org 2.0, a Microsoft Office compatible suite. You can also install Windows XP on the Asus Eee PC yourself. A version with 8Gb of solid state flash memory is scheduled for release later this year and a version with Windows XP pre-installed is also planned.

What makes this notebook so compelling is that as well as 802.11b/g WiFi for internet connectivity, the solid state flash memory is more robust than a hard drive, and also uses less battery power. If you need additional storage, there are 3 USB 2.0 Ports available, so an external hard drive can easily be added. For a notebook this size one of the Western Digital External Passport Portable Hard Drives would be ideal.

Posted on December 3rd, 2007 by mervyn