It looks like several retailers are now offering the first batches of black colored ASUS Eee PC 4G’s. The finish is a matte black, and it looks really great! For pictures, check out this thread on the forums.
Black Eee PC 4G’s Now Available
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Any plans for if they’ll be making those Blue, Green, and pink ones like on the box?
I work in a small PC repair shop and we got 10 of these in on 11/16 and they do look very nice, we had to send 5 back because they were engineering samples
The black one looks nice especially the silver mouse button contrasting with the black. It would have been better if they went with a glossy black to give it a bit more style. All in all, I like my pearly white one better. If they come out with pink and blue those might be good color choices for my kids.
I loved this pc!
Eee PC means “”Easy to learn, Easy to work, Easy to play.”
In my opinion it’s way better then OLPC project since it has more system power.
Have you seen this video review made by The Dallas Morning News?
weshow.com/us/p/22691/review_of_the_asus_eee_pc
I don’t know about you, but I will buy one for christmas!
eeeuser.com needs to state what countries it means when it gives out news!
I have enjoyed my little black box since getting it delivered on the 13th Nov, here in the UK. 4GB is not a lot of space when ASUS/Xandros GNU/Linux takes up so much room, but a flash card really helps
Yep, ordered my Black one at NewEgg a few days ago.
UPS tracking says I should have it today.
Victor – OLPC is a different target than the Eee PC.
Power, with LINUX is not the only thing, as Linux can be scaled down to just do what you want it to do on very little as far as power resources.
OLPC is waterproof, dust proof, has advanced MESH wireless networking, has battery life that goes and goes and goes (Eee PC is 2.5 hours), and OLPC has the most advanced powersaving laptop LCD in the world (it has a sunlight readable screen).
The Eee PC is not what the OLPC is.
And the OLPC is not what the Eee PC is.
For kids, OLPC is what I would do. For a traveling business person, who might need to use a projector, and not use a laptop outside, and who was not far away from a power outlet for most use, then Eee PC is a good choice.
Now, Quanta (who is a competition for ASUS, as Quanta has the contract for Dell, HP, Acer laptop building) has announced that they are doing a commercial version of the OLPC. If Quanta does a small one, with the commercial features (no kid focused) and the same price point that matches or beats ASUS Eee PC, then that will be the winner.
If I were to buy one today for kids it would be the OLPC.
Me – I need a external vga connector, however on an airplane the 2.5 hours of battery just does not do it for me. So – Eee PC is 1/2 there. This is why I hesitate, and will wait for Quanta to show up with theirs.
Man, this thrills me more and more, hope that ASUS will son ship EEE’s to Germany for the pre-orders and btw guess what – they’re black :]
Heres a full sized laptop for the same price as the EEE.
4x the speed
2x the memory
50x the drive space
full sized screen
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/us/segments/bsd/odg/black_friday_noncust?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&dgc=EM&cid=26199&lid=595277
A ‘full sized laptop’ Ruben? Can you find me a subnotebook (like the Eee PC) for a reasonable price?
Ruben – but that dell, is too big, and it has Vista pre-loaded? Uhh, you need 2 times the memory just to run that. And so, with Vista (or any Windows) you got to have virus issues, and all the problems with Vista’s growing pains, etc.
honestly vista as a whole is far superior to linux. this is not some noob talking this is some one who has used ubuntu exclusively (at one time i too hated windows) for more than 6 month. its easier, better documented (especially at everyday things) and honestly plain simpler to use.
if you wanna learn and play around then linux is great. but for gettting work done nothing beats windows.
ps. i have had vista for more than a month now and no virus. i guess if you don’t keep trying to install every crap thing on the net then viruses aren’t that common.
Ruben, i agree with the other two, find me a 12.1″ notebook or smaller for about the same price as the EEE (even slightly more at this point) and You’ve got a winner.
The fact that they stopped putting mini-pci-express card slots in the new EEE’s is a huge negative…so after a month of defending the EEE….I think i’m back to looking for an ultraportable that fits my budget and needs….and they really had something here too
My primary gripe is the EEE isn’t worth the current price. Its too high by about $75.
No there isn’t anything else out there thats small at that price, but the small competition boasts a minimum of 4x the machine as the EEE. (and 4x the price)
The Sharp Zaurus SL-C3200 is roughly the same speed (the Via chip is about 30% of an equivalent intel mhz), but much smaller and about twice the price.
I’ve had an Averatec 2155 for several years now and am happy as a clam. It can be had in a minimal config at maybe one or two sites for about $600.
P.S. – the dell i originally referenced comes with XP or vista, your choice.
I am sorry but if I had a choice between one of these “full fledged” laptops and the Eee and I had the decision to make all over again, I would choose the Eee every single time. Bottom line this computer is exactly what I needed and I am sure a great many people feel the same way. It’s not about processing power or hard drive space, its about portability.
I was in the post office an hour ago and I had my Eee and no one knew I had a laptop. Another guy in line had a 15″ Dell and you could see the strap of his laptop bag cutting into his shoulder. Looked painful to me…. Who wins? You decide…
I totally agree. It’s like comparing grapefruits to kumquats. Sometimes (most of the time for me) I don’t need to lug around a big ol’ bloated piece of hardware that does everything but pop corn. This little internet device with some well implemented apps for office work and fun is just right.
modsoul – there are now a kind of virus for windows that can’t be detected, and so, if you get a cold feeling, the only indication that you are infected, the only remedy is to reformat the entire drive and start fresh (and hope you have not backed up the virus and used it new again in the new install).
One of this class, that is difficult, is a key logger that is not running so you can’t see it, it is encrypted, turns on when you go onto an SSL site, key logs everything, then turns off and emails your data (passwords, credit card, etc) to it’s master.
Anyway, the anti-virus folks are quoted that this class is something that they don’t have figured out and might not figure out, at all!
see:
http://blog.itproportal.com/?p=699
““It is bad enough that this new version of Gozi can encrypt and rotate its program code to by-pass conventional signature detection, but the fact it can switch a keylogging function on and off when the infected PC reaches an e-banking Web page makes it almost undetectable using conventional IT security technology,â€
Kinda gives you that sudden cold chill, doen’t it.
Anyway, I love your confidence (note that the one who coined the term computer virus, a researcher, might not agree with how confident that you are with your Vista install).
So if you want to know more about this then you should also read:
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1267
Can Viruses Be Detected? Jennifer Lapell 2000-06-17 …. In real life, though, computer viruses can mutate well beyond recognition. …
modsoul – there are now a kind of virus for windows that can’t be detected, and so, if you get a cold feeling, the only indication that you are infected, the only remedy is to reformat the entire drive and start fresh (and hope you have not backed up the virus and used it new again in the new install).
One of this class, that is difficult, is a key logger that is not running so you can’t see it, it is encrypted, turns on when you go onto an SSL site, key logs everything, then turns off and emails your data (passwords, credit card, etc) to it’s master.
Anyway, the anti-virus folks are quoted that this class is something that they don’t have figured out and might not figure out, at all!
see:
http://blog.itproportal.com/?p=699
““It is bad enough that this new version of Gozi can encrypt and rotate its program code to by-pass conventional signature detection, but the fact it can switch a keylogging function on and off when the infected PC reaches an e-banking Web page makes it almost undetectable using conventional IT security technology,â€
Kinda gives you that sudden cold chill, don’t it.
Just got my black Eee yesterday, as a very experienced computer user I think it is superb although I now use it in full desktop mode the simple mode is just right (if a little simplistic) for getting everyday repetitive tasks done without fuss. I am a part time student (that’s why I bought it – my Toshiba laptop is great but far too bulky to carry everywhere) and I do like the Linux os BUT, I might have to install windows as none of my course specific software will run on it. Also, I sync my Nokia mobile phone with outlook on my laptop but again I cannot do this with Linux (sadly), unless someone can enlighten me. To sum up, great little companion machine, super portable, well made, easy to use and configure, lovely matte finish on the black one makes it look more expensive and classy.
Ya gotta love confidence in what is claimed to be, for Windows, an anti-virus product that you can depend on “fully”… as please note in the link below, that the one who coined the term computer virus, a researcher, might not agree with how confident that you are with your Vista install as some OS’s just are a better target.
- So if you want to know more about this then you should also read:
http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1267
Can Viruses Be Detected? Jennifer Lapell 2000-06-17 …. In real life, though, computer viruses can mutate well beyond recognition. …
Apart from the lack of the mini pci-e (especially those that sold in the UK), I noticed that black eee models sold by some retailer on ebay haven’t the integrated camera compared to the white ones.
Correctly if I am mistaken.
Best Regards,
Grigorios Kokorakis
OT – but related to the efforts of those who whatn to put a proprietary OS onto the Eee PC. You should be aware of what is going on. Below, is for anyone who really wants to know why you use and participate in GPL projects/products (not just LINUX, but any other GPL’d product, for example Sun’s UNIX OPEN OS is on it’s way to being tracked as a GPL licensed software), you should spend about 1.5 hours and view this:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2408787365037153871
Eben Moglen was a programer at IBM, and is now a lawyer who was key in the understanding and the direction OPENLY of the GPL evolution process of KNOWLEDGE over lock-in code that does not promote KNOWLEDGE.
“My primary gripe is the EEE isn’t worth the current price. Its too high by about $75.
No there isn’t anything else out there thats small at that price, but the small competition boasts a minimum of 4x the machine as the EEE. (and 4x the price)
The Sharp Zaurus SL-C3200 is roughly the same speed (the Via chip is about 30% of an equivalent intel mhz), but much smaller and about twice the price.
I’ve had an Averatec 2155 for several years now and am happy as a clam. It can be had in a minimal config at maybe one or two sites for about $600.
P.S. – the dell i originally referenced comes with XP or vista, your choice.”
This has got to be one of the STUPIDEST post I’ve ever read here. The EEEPC is a subnotebook. It’s not a laptop. It is competitive with laptops but to expect the same features as a full fledge laptop is stupid. Finding a subnotebook that won’t cost you 2,000+ -3,000
is impossible and the EEEPC caters to that.
Could someone please tell me, what framebuffer modes does it run?
And if the console is readable with a small font, like this one:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wholehog/stuart/fonts/zxspec-lat1.psf
i didn’t say there are no viruses. i said Linux as a desktop operating system is a piece of shit.
sorry. but it true. i just dl’ed ubuntu 7.10 yesterday. guess what the installer can’t pick up my hard drive partitions and insists i delete the entire partition table. this is a computer on which the beta worked well.
you wanna know why there are viruses on windows ? its because its the only OS worth making viruses on.
modoul:
And Windows Vista doesn’t kill other OS when it gets installed, right? LOL.
If you say XP gets work done better than Ubuntu, I may agree. But Vista is a piece of joke – I’d pick Windows 98 over Vista any day.
modsoul, why do you keep repeating the “viruses” thing? Maybe some switch to Linux because it’s more configurable out of the box.
Comparing Vista, XP, and Ubuntu… Vista is the crappiest OS I’ve ever used. I couldn’t stand it for more than a month and reverted to XP (with Ubuntu dual-boot). Vista reminds me of that older bloated crapware named Windows ME. Thank God that EEE doesn’t come with Vista
Please stop this. Post comments on the Eee PC here and fight about pros and cons of different operating systems elsewhere.
I got my Black 4G last week (I’m in the UK btw) and I have to say I am very impressed. The SSHD had about 1.3GB free so I went and bought a 4GB SDHC card (about £15-20) and popped it in. Memory is no longer a problem, remember this is about data you need NOW, not that you might need later on. Some people here are just missing the whole point about the EEE. It’s not meant to replace your desktop, it’s supposed to complement it. I travel long distances regularly and can say I will never take my 15.4 inch Windows XP laptop with me again. This little thing played my films (DVDs ripped into mpegs), all my music (natively) and then I decided to give the OpenOffice suite a go…I cannot praise the whole thing enough, it worked perfectly. Sure the screen and keyboard are small, but come on…its got a 7 inch screen, did you really think they were going to be big! Big they might not be, but usable they ARE. I could easily write a report, edit and save a spreadsheet or even write a presentation with it (and I did). It’s small sure, but after about an hour, you don’t even notice it. I got asked loads of questions about the machine and people were amazed by what it could do. Their jaws dropped when I told them the price too! The whole OS thing is a non-issue too. No one who used mine(loads of people wanted a go) even knew it was running Linux…the whole thing just works. Internet connection is flawless. The Wireless side of things works brilliantly and gets a better (and quicker) connection than my Windows laptop. In short the whole thing just works. I was tempted to load another Linux distro onto it at first, but having had a good play with it, I just can’t see why I should bother. There are one or two things it would be nice to see on there, but they are far from deal breakers.It already has pretty much everything I need (and here is the clincher) straight out of the box. It also boots from cold in about 15 seconds…now that is impressive. What this little thing does is basic computing on the move, its got a tight office suite, the wired/wireless functions just work straight away, it outputs onto a screen/digital projector to reasonable resolutions and the Web browser is a breeze (don’t forget F11 is your friend!). I payed £220 for my black 4G and I think it was a steal. If, like me you have *specific* computing needs that the EEE cannot do, then go away and find another PC. For the rest of us who need just the everyday (office/web/media) on the move, this thing is heaven.
Ira Beeson, did your black ee pc have the PCIe port under the bottom panel? Did you order the black 4g? Thanks! -stephen
NewEgg is now selling the 4G Surf in black for $349. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220261
Question for black eee pc owners, did your black ee pc have the PCIe port under the bottom panel? Where did you purchase yours? I want to order but would want the port for future upgrades. Thanks
-stephen
To Stephen,
There is a tiny sticker over the bottom panel saying if it is removed I’ll void my warranty.
So I haven’t opened it yet. I am curoius about whether the PCIe port is there. [Now, where did I put my x-ray specs??]
Theoretically, what would I use it for?
Questions: regarding the mini PCIe port being there or having been removed in a hardware slipstream
1) can one check if its there without removing a sticker and thus voiding the warranty?
2) Does this port enable adding more storage to take it above the included 4gig or does it enable adding more RAM to take it beyond the 512 MB?
3) How else can one add more RAM to increase above the 512 MB; I’ve read on the forums that people have modded it to 1 Gig already; how? And does this void the warranty?
4) How else can one increase the storage beyond 4 gig? Or is using this PCIe port the only way?
5) what other uses does the PCIe port have?
6) is this elusive PCIe port supported by the current BIOS? If its not, it really does not matter if its there or not!
Xandros. If it runs Linux and your main PC runs XP, then how do we move files back and forth? If done over a LAN connection (e.g. Samba share) does the format automatically translate when copied?
It sounds complicated and might justify loading XP instead. Does it come with a DVD for reloading Xandros if need be?
Danny. It’s easy. Just get a USB key and format it on your Windows machine. Linux will recognize the formatting and you can read and write back and forth. Plus, the Open Office programs save in .xls, .doc, etc, so opening the same docs in Office is a snap.
NewEgg has once again Deactivated the Galaxy Black 4G model.
damn those black ones sell fast!
Thanks, TheBronze. So you say that Linux will recognize it as an NTFS or Fat32 partition and write to it properly? Does Linux read/write NTFS these days or only FAT32? I know that in the old days it couldn’t handle NTFS.
Black EEE at $350 — no wonder it went fast. Was it a typo? Will they keep selling at $350 from now on? The new pricing from NewEgg?
I just checked — NewEgg lists it as “In Stock”
Danny, this is the 4G Surf…..no camera, weaker battery.
$349?!? whoa…the black ones are looking more and more attractive now.
im looking at newegg right now, can somebody confirm if this is a glitch or an official price change?
Jorge: It is different model. The “surf” models have no webcam and the 4400 mAh battery is listed as 2.8 hours rather than the 5200 mAh 3.5 hours in the standard 4G.
Also, the Surf models do not come with the a carrying case, and only come with a 1yr warranty
“America’s Most Wanted Christmas Gift”
http://eeepc.asus.com/en/news11212007.htm
10,000 units? Thats it? I thought they would have sold more so far but maybe they would have if there were better supplies and distribution. Oh well, at least most of us got to get one by now!
Danny: The Eee PC RAM is a bog standard DDR2-667 SO-DIMM. As for storage the Eee PC has USB ports and a built-in SD Card slot, all of which are bootable.
i see now todd. they put both the black 4g and the black surf now in stock. you guys think it’s worth the extra $50? im mostly interested in your opinions on the webcam
Ira, yea some people used a small screw driver or knife to take off the sticker and check inside. Then put it back on. The pcie port is for upgrading the internal hard drive to a larger drive and there is a memory port to upgrade to 1gb or 2 gb of memory. Let me know if you get to open it and check the pcie port basically makes the computer a whole lot more versatile. 3G or evdo cards, hard drives, tvtuners etc in the future.
This is one major reason you want the pcie port… think 100gb drives in a year or two
Otherwise you are stuck with 4 gigs forever.
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/storage/sandisk-vaulter-16gb-ssd-sneaks-in-via-pcie-port-322412.php
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