The laptops both run on Intel Pentium M 650MHz to 900MHz chips and weigh less than a kilogram.
The lowest cost Eee PC available runs on a Linux OS from Xandros, carries just 2G-bytes of NAND flash for storage and sells for around NT$7,999 ($261).
If you guessed the new MacBook Air, guess again.
Five of the 10 best-selling notebooks, including the top three models this weekend do not run Windows or Mac OS X. In fact, they are different models of the same dimunitive notebook the Asus Eee PC—that runs on Linux.
The signifiance of this development is easy to miss, particularly if you have your head buried in the Windows or Mac OS X world. (The other five models on Amazon’s list over the weekend were versions of the MacBook; there were no Windows machines in the top 10.) For the first time, a Linux-based consumer product is making waves, not just among geeks but among buyers.
Measuring only 6.5 by 9 inches, about an inch thick and weighing less than a kilo, the Asus Eee PC is an ultraportable in every sense of the word. Its tiny 7-inch LCD screen (measured diagonally) is matched by a small keyboard that touch-typists with big fingers will find challenging. After playing with it for one morning, however, I quickly learned to adjust to the smaller keys and was able to hammer out this column on it without too many visits to the Back Space key.
The Asus Eee-PC uses a 900-MHz Intel Celeron mobile processor and comes with 512MB or RAM and 4 gigaybtes of storage. It doesn’t have a hard disk, using flash memory instead to hold its operating system, programs and data. This makes the device lighter and more resistant to shocks, since there are no moving parts.
The device, which lists at P19,800, includes built-in Wi-Fi support, a Web cam, a serial port to connect an external monitor, a slot for reading MMC and SD cards, three USB ports, an Ethernet port and a modem port.
Battery life was decent about two hours and 45 minutes on one full charge during my tests.
The overall dimension is small with only 22.5 x 16.5 x 2.13.5cm and very lightweight at only 0.89kg. Why so light? According to ASUS, the special solid-state disc design based on built-in flash-memory gives the EEE PC a great shock-proof advantage over traditional notebook PCs allowing extra flexibility and a worry free mobile computing experience.
The flash memory present in this laptop accounts for its very light weight. You might find it hard to settle with the 4GB version of this laptop if you're so comfortable in having 200GB to 750GB worth of storage in your notebook or desktop PC. But the low flash drive memory assured ASUS the capacity of delivering a low cost laptop. Don't fret; you can always add an external storage drive to the laptop.
The display is only 7 inches, decent enough if you're only viewing web pages. The processor is provided by Intel mobile CPU and chipset. Users can choose from two operating systems - Linux and Microsoft Windows XP. But Linux is ASUS' choice OS.
Connectivity features are impressive, with 10/100 Mbps Ethernet; 56K modem and WiFi 802.11b/g. Memory is 512MB, DDR2-400 and storage capacity ranges from 4, 8 and 16GB flash memory which accounts for the laptop's very lightweight character at only 89 grams.
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