I am considering purchasing one of these.

My budget is £180

For that price the acer one has a bigger screen than the Eee. Has anyone got any experience of these two?

I would really need to be able to view and edit Excel documents on them too.

Are they up to the job?

Cheers

No experience of the acer, but I have an eee900 - same screen size as the acer (8.9") but seems as if you'll need to add a few ££: ASUS Eee PC 900 WF001 Netbook, Linux Preloaded, 1GB: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Also, more RAM than the acer (1GB vs. 512MB)

The Linux model runs openoffice instead of MSoffice. In my experience OO handles excel files without problems, but I seldom encounter more complicated ones so I can't guarantee 100 % compatibility.

Of course, if you have a XP installation disk you can install XP on the eee.

For my needs - word processing, the odd excel file or powerpoint presentation, browsing and e-mail - the eee is perfect. The 16GB SDD is more than enough (and if needed I can store data on a sd card or a USB stick).

Of course you should take a look and try the keyboard (much smaller than an ordinary laptop so it takes some time to adjust) and so on.

And remember, the linux world is a strange one for a newbie! If you want to add programs and tweak your pc you'll have to learn new ways. I've also understood that Linux geeks frown at the variety (xandros) used in the eee and hold it to be more complicated than necessary.

As long as you're pleased with the standard setup it's fast and easy to use.

This is the one i was considering

Buy the Acer One A110AB Blue Internet browsing on the move online from PC World.

The same priced Eee pc only comes with 7" screen.

Also, i am no windoze lover as i have an iMac as my main computer anyway.

I am off to have a look in PC world tomorrow so any advice would be great before i go.

Cheers

I've been toying with the idea of getting one too. I did hear that the 8GB flash one is very slow though, and the traditional spinning harddrives made the laptop a lot faster.

Play have the Aspire One A150L with the 120GB HDD.

I did see a very nice touchscreen addon that made it behave similarly to an iphone :drool: A nice portable laptop with touchscreen running OS X

Netbooks and Mini-Laptops | Register Hardware

Very interesting read that guide.

Whatever i get i want the 8.9" screen so that rules out a lot of the Eee pc's.

Just looked at a review of the Acer 110 on Youtube and it doesn't sound too good.

I am possibly thinking of just getting a second hand regular laptop now. A nice ibook would go well with my Mac but looking at £170 for a second hand one.

i think Toshiba are doing a similar sized laptop as the Acer , Linux OS for the cheaper versions

i think Toshiba are doing a similar sized laptop as the Acer , Linux OS for the cheaper versions

Looks like they are at least £250

too much for me i'm affraid.

Rob, which review put you off it ?

Rob, which review put you off it ?

Put me off which one??

If you are refering to the Acer a110 then this one:-

YouTube - Acer Aspire One A110 AW Review (8GB SSD Version)

if someone has one i would really like to hear your opinions.

just found this

HP 2133 Mini-Note - C7-M 1.2 GHz - 8.9" TFT

Not good though apparently :(

Edited 21 November, 200817 yr by Guest

:confused: That review of HP's version seems rather favourable :confused:

What was the youtube you didn't like the look of?

You could probably pick up an old Eee 900 (the celeron one) for a decent price now... the celeron is actually faster than the Atom at most things

You could probably pick up an old Eee 900 (the celeron one) for a decent price now... the celeron is actually faster than the Atom at most things

*cough*

no it isn't

*cough*

A warning for those contemplating the eee900 though: asus has messed something up on the motherboard with the consequence that the battery decharges even when powered off. And it's a fact - mine suffers from this. If you're dependent on the battery it's very annoying that it loses 15-20 % of its capacity over night. I'm seldom far from an AC socket, so I don't really care.

Later models (901, 1000) seem to function OK.

Ive got the 120gb Acer running XP, it suits me down to the ground its a great little unit.

Been out and had a look in some local stores today.

Ended up in Toys R Us.

Came away with an Eee PC 900a.

8.9 inch screen, 8gb flash drive. It has the Atom processor too.

Also they were throwing in a sandisk 2gb memory card.

£199

I dare say i may have got it a bit cheaper online but at least if anything goes wrong with it i can pop it back to the store.

Just typing this on it.

Setting up the wi-fi was easy, despite what the salesman in pc world told me. Reckons that linux was not compatible with my ISP (Karoo) and tried to sell me a windows based one for £280 to 300

I am actually going to call the store to point out how useless their so called salesmen are. lol

Anyone advise on some good websites for fine tuning this little beauty?

Any specific programs for linux that i really should have?

Thanks for the input everyone.

Edited 22 November, 200817 yr by Guest
getting used to small keys on Eee PC

Funnily I'd just decided to buy the 120gb version of the AA1 for my other half for christmas. Against the Eee 901 (atom based, and nearest comparison - celerys aren't anywhere near as fast for most things, regardless of clock speed), it feels more substantial and looks the business. The versions of Linux used on both machines aren't that different in practical terms if you stick with the standard UI, and the connectivity on both is pretty much the same. The AA1 does have the additional ability to use a high spec card in one of the two card slots and have it immediately incorporated into the main storage if it's a SSD machine. The Acer seems to come with a better selection of software preinstalled than the 901, and the interface feels a bit more clean and slick for casual users. You save about £40 over the 901 too, with the only downside I can see being that the battery life is nowhere near as good.

Having said all that, they're both cracking machines and they both do the job brilliantly. It's all down how concerned you are over the fine details really.

Are you sure about the Atom? I could have sworn the 900 and 904 were celerys, and the 901 was the Atom. Might be a case for misrepresentation there.

Congratulations on your purchase! If you fancy getting jiggy with linux may I suggest you try installing Ubuntu 8.10 and then pop over to Array.org EeePC Ubuntu Repository for Adamm's custom kernel which sorts out all the hardware. Gives a far superior experience than the Xandros thing it comes with IMO.

You can always reinstall Xandros if you don't like it (read up on how to generate the restore disk first though).

[quote name=Interphase;1516928

Are you sure about the Atom? I could have sworn the 900 and 904 were celerys' date=' and the 901 was the Atom. Might be a case for misrepresentation there.[/quote]

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

Cheers for that - I'd discounted that machine on the basis on the Celeron, but if you can pick one up for that price I may have to reconsider!

Setting up the wi-fi was easy, despite what the salesman in pc world told me. Reckons that linux was not compatible with my ISP (Karoo) and tried to sell me a windows based one for £280 to 300

I am actually going to call the store to point out how useless their so called salesmen are. lol

Ohhh dear :thumbdwn: We are told in sales training not to make things up if we don't know about it, but some still do. It just makes you look like an idiot. That's salesmen for you.

Anyway, well done on the purchase and hope it goes well. I kinda like the eee-pcs, despite the pallet load of earlier models (that are all getting recalled because their Linux won't connect to WPA encrypted networks without a software patch, which proves devastatingly hard to get) taking up space in our warehouse.

Anyone advise on some good websites for fine tuning this little beauty?

EeeUser.com ASUS Eee PC 701, 900, 901, 1000 Blog Forum Wiki Community

If it ain't there it can't be done :P

Excellent wiki (but some of the pages there are related to the 700/900 models of course) and helpful forum.

And afaik the 900A has the Atom processor (hence the "A").

Cheers for that - I'd discounted that machine on the basis on the Celeron, but if you can pick one up for that price I may have to reconsider!

x2

How is the battery life?

x2

How is the battery life?

On the 900 with celeron processor it's cr@p. The 4,400 mAh battery (standard in Sweden) gets me through 2-2.5 hrs of low energy work (no wifi, no webcam, screen brightness at minimum). And the decharging when turned off is a nuisance.

The Atom processor is said to improve these figures a lot (and no decharging), and if it comes with the 5,600 mAh battery it's probably good for 4 hrs or thereabouts. There are larger batteries on the market too - I've bought a 10,400 mAh that's a bit clumsy but takes me through a whole-day conference.