More window shopping

[drcpunk]

As I understand it, what I've seen in stores is the Asus Eee 701. The 900 is supposed to be better, the 901 better still.

The trouble is, the 901 isn't out yet. Neither is the MSI Wind or the Acer Aspire One. Neither is the Asus Eee 1000.

Off the cuff, the one I suspect is the best overall buy for me, once it is available, is probably the Asus Eee 901. The 1000 is already approaching laptop size, and for me, the entire point of buying a mini-laptop is to have something ultra small and light. If I want the ten-inch screen and the various bells and whistles, I have a perfectly lovely Asus laptop.

The MSI Wind also has a 10 inch screen. Oh, I understand there will be a model with a smaller screen, but not one released in the USA.

Comments

[jl8e]

The 901 will probably be relatively pricy, because of that 20 gig flash drive. (Not as bad as the Macbook Air, where adding a 64 gig flash drive adds over a thousand bucks, but still not cheap.)

Others I know of are the Everex Cloudbook and the HP Mini-Note. (There's also the Intel Classmate, but that's aimed straight at the XO's market, and the Fujitsu Lifebook, which seems to be more aimed at the premium really small computer market.)

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

The 901 is supposed to be "under $650", which one article wryly, and probably accurately, translates as "$649.99". mnemex and I suspect, nevertheless, that it's the one to buy, if we're talking Asus. It just has a lot of advantages over the 900.

As I recall, reviewers weren't impressed with the HP, which seemed rushed out the door. I'll look up the Cloudbook. Thanks!

Another alternative

[(Anonymous)]

The MSI Wind has similar dimensions to the 900 and 901, but a larger keyboard. Early reviews say it is far easier to type on. Available in both XP and Linux, 80 GB hard drive too, if that matters. It should be available within a few weeks.

Re: Another alternative

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

I think it'll be out June 14 or so. It did get very good reviews, but I'd need to see it. The USA is only getting the 10-inch screen version, not the smaller version.

An 80 GB hard drive is nice, but I think the 901 has solid state storage, which I gather is Really Nice. I've not ruled it out, but it really depends on price and weight and user-friendliness.