ASUS has announced that they will begin selling an Eee PC that comes preinstalled with Windows XP instead of the default Xandros based Linux distribution. A Windows XP based Eee PC currently sells in Japan, but not in the United States.
According to this Reuters article, the Windows based Eee PC will cost (or start at?) approximately $400. ASUS expects that the Windows based devices will make up about 60% of sales as well.
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Chicken#001 – thanks SO much for the link: http://blog.laptopmag.com/eee-pc-to-get-intels-diamondville-hard-drives-and-fashion-forward-style It answered A LOT of my questions, and I highly recommend it to everyone else.
Someone mentioned look at Staples’ ads. Maybe you can find better deals in weekly flyers or something, but I just looked at http://www.staples.com and the cheapest notebook thye listed was a Dell for $649.
From a recent article in a major newspaper it states that windows is discontinuing XP in June 2008. This SP3 may well be the last update for XP. Have a look at the artcle in the following link: http://www.theage.com.au/news/articles/why-small-is-beautiful/2008/03/18/1205602389600.html, it discusses the Eee in glowing terms and has a survey of what we already know, that most users are extremely happy with the Eee as it now stands.
@foo
Yes, 12″ and refurbished (i.e. used) – maybe. Now, try the same exercise with less than 12″ and new with the price remaining under $600USD. Except for the EeePC and ViaNanobook based models like EverexCloudbook, no other options are available yet, are there?
I don’t doubt that XP runs on the eee, I just don’t see a point in running it. I understand that some people are confused by “not having a c:” drive, but I yet have to find the software which doesn’t run on Linux. (Games maybe, but the eee is not exactly a gaming station).
As we can see, M$ dealing with Asus results in new product more expensive, that will do the same or less than the previous product.
New product will be expensive because will have 4 X more RAM, 4 X more flash disk, but will do the same! So is not good for us, It’s not good for green environment also
I hope that another’s big companies like Dell will offer Free/Open hardware + software, sell us cheap hardware and contribute to freedom and a green environment.
Tim: “(Games maybe, but the eee is not exactly a gaming station).”
Actually I just saw a vid of GTA:San Andreas running on the eeePC on YouTube, with decent speed.
Personally I would’ve thought they’d put Windows 2000 on, takes up much less space and still supports all the hardware. Even with OpenOffice, some antivirus/spyware software, and some other stuff like Firefox and Skype, it’d still take up less space than a vanilla installation of XP.
I have XP installed on mine currently, but with ‘essential’ software (i.e. antivirus, antispyware, firefox, codecs, etc.) and all the XP updates i’m using up somewhere around 2.5GB, and that’s after compression, and not including the pagefile. Oh, and I took off everything I could from add/remove programs too. I didn’t use nLite, mind, so that’d probably save quite a bit of space.
So yeah, 2000 takes up about half if not a third the space of XP, and on a machine with such a small hard drive I think it’d make more sense to go with 2000. Plus it’s cheaper than XP.
Michael,
The old things still work and “if it aint broke, don’t fix it”. It’s just getting awfully heavy to haul around. Waiting for the 900 for the weight, or rather lack of weight, and more readable screen. OS is not the deciding factor for me. Linux or XP they both work.
Jim — Excellent post. Every word. It’s a terrific satellite machine for traveling. As for OS; everybody gets to go to hell in their own go-cart. It’s no big deal either way, really.
Billy Beck,
I agree completely, Jim’s post is very informative and useful to those who are still on the fence and I appreciate his response to my query. There really should be no argument over which OS is better, they all have their good and bad points depending on what you are looking for. Like “fadumpt” says, drive what you like. What are more useful are reports on personal experiences with the machine in real life.
I guess many people really need the food already chewed.It is sad but that’s what Microsoft is all about.
I just thought I’d add my two cents in:
Firstly, I have both a linux distro and XP on my desktop and while I’ve been (semi) succesfully tinkering with windows for the last 10+ years linux is a ‘last six months’ thing. On the main question of whether one operating system is functionally better than the other I agree; whatever floats your boat.
I do think there’s an issue of marketing, however. A lot of the difficulty people have with trying linux stems from the fact that they’ve only used windows for the past 10 years. I think there’d be some value in the wider audiences realising that MS weren’t the only producers of OSs (although I admit I’ve never got around to using a mac, even though their hardware isn’t as weird as it used to be!). One consequence of this opinion is that MS do some crazy @#£! and get away with it (e.g. the shafting us brits get over pricing, or does 1$ = 1£?). Competition is healthy, and however good you think XP is (I personally think it’s pretty good), a monopoly isn’t.
On another note: I too am perplexed as to why asus didn’t go with a free linux like debian. Surely open sourcing their drivers wouldn’t have lost them anything? Even if they couldn’t they could always go with a less principled distro.
Jim: My experience was the same as yours.
I’ve sold my Samsung 12.1″ Q45 and use the EEE PC for travel and daily surfing and email at work and around the house.
I thought that my Q45 would be the perfect portable laptop. It’s only when you start travelling, that you realise that 2Kg is still to heavy, and I am less inclined to use it.
The EEE PC has changed all that for me.
The Linux OS works fine for me, and I don’t see the need to change to XP.
I love my EEE PC.
I don’t get this. XP will soon no longer be supported from June 2008 according to what I have read, so what is the point of installing XP on the EEE? Who will support the updates for viruses and security issues after the official end of support by MS for XP?????
I have a 4G on order, was waiting for the 8G, but the supply seems to be far-outstripped by demand!
I imagine the EEE will get me back to my happy state when I had a Psion 7, but the EEE promises so much more thanks to Linux that I am eager to receive that parcel!
Presently carting around a Dell Inspiron, but with 2 batteries etc, it is heavy by comparion to a Psion or EEE.
Even if XP is not ’supported’ by Microsoft, is this a concern? Who calls Microsoft for support? Heard of google?
I’m seriously considering buying an Eee because I’ll be traveling around Europe by train and plane frequently next year. As a Windows user I’m having a tough time making the decision between XP and Linux (which I know basically nothing about). Can someone tell me more about Linux other than its easy to use (since I know how to use Windows) and maybe some pros/cons to buying it? Thanks!!
Emily,
I have an EEE 701 with the Linux install on it. The interface is similar enough to Windows to not get too lost on it, especially if your needs are simple like mine (surfing, reading PDFs, small notes… nothing serious). It is nice an light and is perfect for travel. I even bring it along with my regular work laptop because its easier to whip out on a crowded plane; and quick enough to power up and down to get some quick reading in. It really depends on the software you want to run on it.
To the other OS pundits: GET OVER IT. This endless prattle across the internet about MS vs Linux is so old. I use XP, Vista, Mac OS and Linux: each has its strengths and weaknesses. XP will be around long enough before the current Eee series will be considered obsolete (seriously… how long do you expect to use this device?) I was hoping to read this wiki to get some serious performance comparisons or useful tips. Instead, I have to filter on the M$ hate and the Linux love… hey let me throw my useless OS 2 cents: LONG LIVE VAX!
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