Techie Toy Window Shopping

[drcpunk]

Well, Linux, not windows, really.

Yesterday, I dropped by Datavision, and I took a look at the ASUS Eee PC, which had no trouble reading the huge .pdf file on my sd card in its card reader when the card reader was put into the USB port. I told mnemex about this, but he didn't think the Eee was as good as a dedicated ebook reader or a much smaller pda.

Today, we went to J&R shortly before it closed, and mnemex saw the Eee for himself. He hadn't realized it was so light. We looked at it, and at something about the same size, but twice the price -- one of the small laptops with a swivel screen. About the only feature it has that I really wish the Eee has is that swivel screen. As I understand it, the screen is patented, and if the Eee had it, that would drive the price up.

We didn't buy anything, but all the candy -- er, computers -- looked so tasty.

It's funny. The Eee is a little like a small machine NEC used to make, a device that wasn't as big as a laptop or as small as a PDA, and that didn't work as well for anything as either of the other two did. But, now, I think the technology's better.

Comments

[mneme]

The swivel is really useful, specifically, in the ebook case, as when carrying around a device it's really nice to -not- have the keyboard in your face.

For table or desk use, it's obviously discardable.

[mylescorcoran]

Sure, I'm still not really in the mindset of an ebook reader. I can see the benefit of a swivel touch screen like a tablet scaled to a UMPC size, but it's not the deal make or break thing for me.