More Information on the Japanese Eee PC 4G-X
January 23rd, 2008 by antIt appears as though the ASUS Eee PC being released in Japan has enough differences between itself and the standard line of Eee PCs that ASUS has designated it as the 4G-X instead of 4G.
The Eee PC 4G-X will come with Windows XP Home pre-installed, a 4GB SDHC card, optical mouse, and in both white and black. The price will be ¥50,000 ($470 usd).
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Actually, WOW!
4 more gig, a mouse, an XP Home license for just about $70 more US. Not to shabby if you ask me.
Also they are giving a 30 day replacement for dead pixels according to the article.
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I would be better if someday you can configure the eeepc directly from ASUS that way everyone will get what they want without any risks
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I’ll second that wow!
The price of the 4G-X is just £15 ($30) more than our Eee’s cost. We went and added 4GB SDHC cards each too. That brought ours up to £235 ($470) each. Having XP thrown in and installed fo an extra £0 ($0) would’ve been a huge bonus…
We’re giving Linux a go but it’s very testing and looks inevitable that we’ll have to go XP sooner rather than later (and that’s no doubt gonna be a huge headache getting to work).
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Finally, I’ll be able to get my hands on one tomorrow… hopefully Koubou has them in stock >.<
Cool to know there’s a 4gb card in there.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Buyers should also factor in the heavy maintenance required to keep a windows box running smoothly, update, update, update, anti-virus, anti-spyware, registry cleaners, defgragmentation, etc… - all of which can take it’s toll on eeepc’s small memory.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Damn, I wish I could’ve gotten one of these, instead of my regular US 4G.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Glad to see that Asus is accepting the use of SDHC by using a 4G card. I’m happy with my standard black 4G with Eeexbuntu that I have running on a 8G SDHC. I like having the option to use equipment I already own like wireless mice and such rather than buy a package deal. If Asus would build an Eeepc with an lcd on the inside and a tablet on the outside that would be awesome.
January 24th, 2008 at 3:26 am
Along with ZBD and free 4GB SDHC, they are also including the free use of Wi-Fine’s hotspot service.
Wi-Fine is a hotspot service offered by NTT BP(NTT is the largest communication group in Japan) and over 1600 AP will become available.
But there is a restirction where it can be connected once per day and the free offer will end in March.
Since it’s almost impossible to find free Wi-Fi hotspot in Japan, this free offer may trigger people to sign up for Wi-Fi hotspot service.
January 24th, 2008 at 6:02 am
lorsban - Heavy maintenance?! For me, XP runs quicker than Linux did and i can do far more with it. Anti virus is a neccessity whichever OS you choose to run, registry cleaners defragmentation lol, not needed on an SSD, they don’t work like a HD. So rather than buyers should factor in the heavy maintenance, buyers should factor in the headaches they would get assuming that the programs they use in windows are available in linux.
Anyway, thats a fantastic price, but I bet by the time its available over here, the price will be nearer £300, on no doubt more once all the ebayers snaffle them up to sell.
January 24th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Good price, they just have forget to add a 8.9 inch screen
January 24th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
{Anti virus is a neccessity whichever OS you choose to run, registry cleaners defragmentation lol, not needed on an SSD, they don’t work like a HD}
@jaydeeuk
you must be kidding me…
in linux u don’t need an antivirus, registry cleaners or defrag.
in Windows, Yes all the above.
Everything i need works for me on eeeXubuntu (the default Xandros is good for an user that doesn’t do too much since it’s a bit too easy/limiting like a PDA for example)
but i would rather purchase the one with Xandros and not pay $70 of microsoft tax that i don’t need.
however both choice should exist:
1- The cheaper $399 user friendly Xandros one (or eeeXubuntu).
2- The more expensive $470 With win XP
if you like to pay more is your choice. Some people do need XP, some Don’t so don’t force it down our throats and Wallets.
January 24th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I’m surprised the Japan market would have XP on it. For the price its not bad though.
I am just hoping asus does not release something totally new / better right after I get mine.lol That usually happens.
January 24th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
I just finished installing XP Professional and Office 2007 on one of these - it was quite difficult, because I had to make a custom installation of Windows that had all but the essential components integrated, ditto with office 2007 - limit the install to only what I needed. I also had to disable the swap disk, and disable system restore.
After I ran Windows Update installed updates I couldn’t integrate into my installation, then deleted any leftover files, I still had about 600 MB free on the 4GB SSD. Barely enough left for any practical use - granted if I don’t install too many more applications, I could get an 8GB SDHC card for my documents, music, etc that I want on there, and it should be fairly usable, but I would NOT recomment running Windows XP with less than 6GB of disk - the 8GB models are better suited to this, and of course, it’s only a matter of time before the price of memory drops soas to almost render the 4GB models obsolete.
January 24th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I would like that this Eee includes the option to install Xandros too.
January 24th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Where I can download Xandros for the Eee if I buy one with XP? or includes the installation disk of Xandros?
January 24th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
>>>however both choice should exist:
>>>1- The cheaper $399 user friendly Xandros one (or eeeXubuntu).
>>>2- The more expensive $470 With win XP
This implies that Xandros is free… is that so? Their website lists prices of $39 to $79. Now I am sure Asus does not pay those prices but I would think they pay something. There is a free version of Xandros, but is that what is on the EEE?
January 24th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
The same asus eeepc dvd would come with the eeepc, on it is the preconfigured linux image of xandros
January 24th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
well the asus eeepc dvd has more than ample free space left to put in a oem xp install… shouldn’t it? ASUS, what’s wrong with issuing a 8gb DL disc?
January 25th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Hello World ！
Typing on a japanese EEE in a McDonalds… cool little thing !
またねえ！
January 25th, 2008 at 12:21 am
Samuel-
Eat a teriyaki burger for me! Wish we had them at our USA McDonalds…
-Ant
January 25th, 2008 at 2:49 am
> The price of the 4G-X is just £15 ($30) more than our Eee’s cost. We went and added
> 4GB SDHC cards each too. That brought ours up to £235 ($470) each. Having XP
> thrown in and installed fo an extra £0 ($0) would’ve been a huge bonus…
It really depends on where you buy the SDHC card. In my place a 4GB card is less than 20 euros or 30 usd.
And I wonder how this preinstalled XP perform compared to the much customized (and trimmed down) way as what many users apply out there…
> rather than buyers should factor in the heavy maintenance, buyers should factor
> in the headaches they would get assuming that the programs they use in windows
> are available in linux.
I think most linux users would disagree…
A huge choice of programs as a bonus? It’s probably a matter of using pirateware in WIndows vs. truly opensource and free programs in Linux.
January 26th, 2008 at 4:10 am
It is really hard here in Japan to get a “genuine” eeepc with linux preinstalled. The US shops do not ship electronics to Japan. I am not skilled enough to build the whole linux system from the source. I thought I could have an eee pc replace my 8 year old Casio fiva MPC-102 running Redhat linux of which install took me two weeks.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:31 am
Bought my EEE PC in Canada but use it here in Tokyo. What is the best (and easiest) way to get a “Language Bar” (IME) for typing in Japanese on my ASUS?
February 4th, 2008 at 10:05 am
I stopped by Yodabashi Camera today and it was nice to finally see the EEE PC.
However, we tried (with the sales rep) to change the language of Windows to English, but we couldn’t and the sales rep told me that this is actually a limitation of the version of XP that ships with the machine. Can someone confirm?
Thanks!
February 7th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Jag67, if it ships with XP home edition then you cant change the language to English as you can only do that in XP professional. you can still type in English but all the windows menus are in Japanese. I have the same problem with my sony pcg-srx3 which i bought in Japan last year.
Tim
February 8th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Thanks Tim, I might wait until the next OS release then!
February 20th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
When you can get 8GB SDHC cards for $30, I don’t see the big advantage. Still if you guys are happy, that’s all good.
Jag67, you can just load English XP on yourself, and you don’t have to get the machine in Japan. If you are already in Japan, just have one shipped from your home country.
Masaru, the Japanese ONLY have the 4GB versions in XP (which I am sure you already know by now), and from what two different clerks told me, they won’t get Linux versions or stock the 2 or 8GB versions. Not sure why this is. If you want a Linux version Masaru, ship to a person in the US, and then have them ship it to you. It only cost $60 USD to ship it express.
Personally I went for a 2GB Surf (Linux) I had shipped from the States. Love it.
February 28th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Made in DNA, thanks for your idea. All my friends in the US would not understand why I am crazy about the US version. I try to buy one with the US keyboard on my business trip.
BTW, I failed to notice the perfect software solution for my purpose. DebianEeePC seems to help me construct a customized environment including the Japanese FEP quite easily.
March 9th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Bit of a dilemma about whether to get my eee in Japan or the UK. I’m in the UK at the moment and heading to Japan in about a week. They’re pretty much sold out over here, so priced over the odds and I’m wondering if it might be worth waiting til I get to Japan. I wasnt too keen on the idea of windows preinstalled especially with a Japanese OS. Linux seems a better option. Has anyone in Japan seen them in the shops recently there? Or are they sold out there too?
Cheers, Karen