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I got one! Picked it up from Dick Smith Powerhouse yesterday. I'm using it
to write this posting now.

Yes, it's absolutely tiny. Keyboard's small, but I haven't found it to be a
big irritation. Previously with touchpads I have a lot of trouble when my
hands start sweating, but this one has seemed OK so far. Had a bit of
trouble with phantom clicks, so I just turned off the "tapping" feature,
and that seems to have put a stop to it.

I thought it would be completely silent, but it's not--in a quiet room, I
can hear a soft whirring noise--there must be a fan inside.

Anybody else tried one?

Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

> I got one! Picked it up from Dick Smith Powerhouse yesterday. I'm using it
> to write this posting now.
>
> Yes, it's absolutely tiny. Keyboard's small, but I haven't found it to be
> a big irritation. Previously with touchpads I have a lot of trouble when
> my hands start sweating, but this one has seemed OK so far. Had a bit of
> trouble with phantom clicks, so I just turned off the "tapping" feature,
> and that seems to have put a stop to it.
>
> I thought it would be completely silent, but it's not--in a quiet room, I
> can hear a soft whirring noise--there must be a fan inside.
>
> Anybody else tried one?

What are the specs of the one you bought? Are they going to be standard
stock for Dick Smith, or just in the Powerhouse shops?

In article <1195119770.281213@ftpsrv1>, Murray Symon did write:

> What are the specs of the one you bought?

900MHz Intel Celeron, half gig RAM, 4 gig SSD, 800*480 screen, stereo
speakers, microphone, webcam, 10/100 ethernet, 802.11b/g wireless, SD card
reader, 3 USB ports, line in and out, video out. Weighs 920g.

Comes with a customized version of Xandros Linux.

> Are they going to be standard
> stock for Dick Smith, or just in the Powerhouse shops?

Looks like it's a few other places besides Powerhouse
<http://www.dse.co.nz/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/473c1a3d01069f4a2740c0a87f33061f/Product/View/XC5809>.
However, the only colour they have is white.

On Nov 15, 10:14 pm, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <l...@geek-
central.gen.new_zealand> wrote:
> I got one! Picked it up from Dick Smith Powerhouse yesterday. I'm using it
> to write this posting now.
>
> Yes, it's absolutely tiny. Keyboard's small, but I haven't found it to be a
> big irritation. Previously with touchpads I have a lot of trouble when my
> hands start sweating, but this one has seemed OK so far. Had a bit of
> trouble with phantom clicks, so I just turned off the "tapping" feature,
> and that seems to have put a stop to it.
>
> I thought it would be completely silent, but it's not--in a quiet room, I
> can hear a soft whirring noise--there must be a fan inside.
>
> Anybody else tried one?

Had a play with one today. Didn't hear a fan but the office wasn't
silent at the time.

Very nice and easy to use, but the keyboard was a tad small. I'd be
happy with another couple of hundred grams for a bigger keyboard and
screen.

None of the review have shown a fan, so I'm not sure what you were
hearing.

In article
<94c0667e-7c22-4191-97bb->, Steven
Ellis did write:

> Had a play with one today. Didn't hear a fan but the office wasn't
> silent at the time.

If you get another chance with one, try holding your ear close to the
underside, to the left of the SSD compartment. That's where the whirring
seems to be coming from.

More comments:

It comes by default with a simplified "Easy" interface, with one-click icons
giving you access to the standard apps, grouped into various tabs
named "Work", "Learn", "Play" etc. But it's very easy to get beneath the
surface of this and mess about--it is a full Linux system, after all.

The 4GB drive contains two main partitions, a 2.4GB one containing the
preinstalled system, and a 1.4GB one where all the user-made changes go.
The two are mounted using "unionfs", which means they look like a single
filesystem, except your changes (including file renames/deletions!) are
saved in the latter, so the former remains untouched for easy restoration.
At least, I think that's how it works.

There are quite a few resources on the Web. Some enterprising users have put
together a collection of tips and tricks (and a Wiki) at
<http://www.eeeuser.com/>. Ars Technica have a good review, with some more
useful tips, here
<http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/eee-pc-review.ars/1>.

"Lawrence D'Oliveiro" <_zealand> wrote in message
news:fhh2kv$coc$...
>I got one! Picked it up from Dick Smith Powerhouse yesterday. I'm using it
> to write this posting now.
>
> Yes, it's absolutely tiny. Keyboard's small, but I haven't found it to be
> a
> big irritation. Previously with touchpads I have a lot of trouble when my
> hands start sweating, but this one has seemed OK so far. Had a bit of
> trouble with phantom clicks, so I just turned off the "tapping" feature,
> and that seems to have put a stop to it.
>
> I thought it would be completely silent, but it's not--in a quiet room, I
> can hear a soft whirring noise--there must be a fan inside.
>
> Anybody else tried one?

Havent tried one myself but Id still be 50/50 on getting one......... for
an extra $2-300 can get a full on laptop with 15" screen, 60gb+ HDD etc
etc...
Obviously size/weight the Asus seems the better option for portability......

Guess its one of those things that you dont know until youve tried it....

Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

> I got one! Picked it up from Dick Smith Powerhouse yesterday. I'm using it
> to write this posting now.
>
> Yes, it's absolutely tiny. Keyboard's small, but I haven't found it to be
> a big irritation. Previously with touchpads I have a lot of trouble when
> my hands start sweating, but this one has seemed OK so far. Had a bit of
> trouble with phantom clicks, so I just turned off the "tapping" feature,
> and that seems to have put a stop to it.
>
> I thought it would be completely silent, but it's not--in a quiet room, I
> can hear a soft whirring noise--there must be a fan inside.
>
> Anybody else tried one?

I haven't, but am very interested in one. I'd like one for business trips
and times spent in airport departure lounges. I would only use it to
remotely access my main computer using NX, so if that didn't work it would
be a deal breaker.
--
A.

"Murray Symon" <> wrote in message
news:1195119770.281213@ftpsrv1...
> Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>
>> I got one! Picked it up from Dick Smith Powerhouse yesterday. I'm using
>> it
>> to write this posting now.
>>
>> Yes, it's absolutely tiny. Keyboard's small, but I haven't found it to be
>> a big irritation. Previously with touchpads I have a lot of trouble when
>> my hands start sweating, but this one has seemed OK so far. Had a bit of
>> trouble with phantom clicks, so I just turned off the "tapping" feature,
>> and that seems to have put a stop to it.
>>
>> I thought it would be completely silent, but it's not--in a quiet room, I
>> can hear a soft whirring noise--there must be a fan inside.
>>
>> Anybody else tried one?
>
> What are the specs of the one you bought? Are they going to be standard
> stock for Dick Smith, or just in the Powerhouse shops?



Processor: Intel Celeron
Memory: 512MB, DDR2-400
Hard Drive: 4GB Flash
Display: 7" Display
Networking: 10?100 Mbps Ethernet
Wireless: WiFi 802.11b?g
Graphics: Intel UMA
Webcam: 300K pixel video camera
Audio: Hi-Definition Audio CODEC; Built-in stereo speaker; Built-in
microphone
I?O: 3 x USB Ports, 1 x VGA Output, Card Reader, 1 x Audio Out Jack, 1 x
Microphone In Jack, 1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert
OS: Linux? Microsoft Windows XP compatible
Battery Life: 3hrs (4 cells: 5200mAh, 2S2P)
Dimension & Weight: 22.5 x 16.5 x 2.1~3.5cm, 0.92kg

P.

In article <>, Allistar did
write:

> I'd like one for business trips and times spent in airport departure
> lounges.

It would probably work well for that. I bought it so I could recline on my
living-room sofa while reading the large amounts of documentation, Web
pages etc that I need to keep up with.

The main compromises are the screen size and cramped keyboard. That's the
price you pay for such a small, easy-to-carry form factor. And of course
the low cost. The storage is also small, but the lack of a hard drive helps
with the robustness, and I think also with the battery life.