Asus Eee PC and World Peace is All I Want for Christmas

Asus Eee PC and World Peace is All I Want for Christmas: Recently, I posted several useful tips on choosing the right laptop. From there, I wrote about the importance of knowing your financial limit first before getting a laptop computer.

There’s a newly released Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC), particularly a netbook, that might be ideal for those of you who are living on a tight budget. It is made by Asus and Intel, and its name is Eee PC.

The Eee PC is an ultra portable but rather powerful computer with an advertising slogan "Easy to learn, Easy to work, Easy to play", thus the triple E name. Its 0.92kg weight, 7” display, and 3.5 hours battery life makes it ideal for those who are always on the go. It comes with three USB 2.0 ports, VGA output, microphone and headphone, built-in camera, Secure Digital card reader, Realtek ALC6628 Hi-Definition Audio 5.1 CODEC, 10/100 Fast Ethernet, and 54g Wi-Fi (802.11b/g).

Looking at the photos, you might think that Eee PC is just for the kids. Believe me it’s not. Eee PC is pre-installed with Xandros operating system, a Linux based distribution. But no need to worry as it has a specially designed, user-friendly and intuitive graphical interface. It uses a KDE dektop with bundled software that includes OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox, Skype, Tux Paint, E-mail and Internet radio applications, Google Docs and Wikipedia look-up tool, and other educational and entertainment software. Apt-get can be used to install additional software, simply by using Debian repositories. Asus does not include Windows XP, but the drivers and instructions necessary to install a separately-purchased copy of Windows XP are included in the package.

At present, Eee PC has an 8GB, 4GB, and 2GB model, and its price ranges from US$299-499 only.

Rated as the "most wanted Christmas gift among notebook products" according to Amazon and CNET, the Asus Eee PC is selling like pancakes. Over ten thousand units have already been sold in the product's first two weeks in the marketplace. It has been reported lately that Eee PCs are snatched up before they even hit the shelves. So for the moment, I guess the only way you can get the Asus Eee PC is through Santa. That is if you have not been naughty.