asus eeepc and the like

rikki1q

rikki1q

Suspended / Banned
Messages
140
Name
Rik
Edit My Images
Yes
ive been looking at getting one of these netbooks/mini laptops or whatever you want to class them as. So does anyone use these as a photographers too and are they any good or just a fad gadget ?

Cheers

Rik
 
I use one just as a travelling laptop to download and view pics quickly. Handy as can fit in most hand luggage even without a dedicated pocket and seems to connect very quickly to all manner of interwebs all over the world. I wouldn't try to use one to edit on although DPP and CS3 seem to run ok...would think running filters etc would be slow. Snappy for general office stuff etc.
 
I've just bought one (from gadgetman on here). Running Linux - it could run Win XP if I were so inclined. It runs gimp and picasa no problem. 3 USB ports - so card reader in one, external HDD in another. Transferring images is a copy & paste exercise (or use Picasa to import). Picasa reads raw files and saves them as jpgs if you want. Simple edits - colour correction, sharpen all work fine. I wouldn't use it for serious PP work, but on the road its a cost effective solution.

Easy wireless set up - hooked up to our home network straight away - web browsing, email etc all just work.

Its a versatile machine that will do what you want it to. may take some tweaking to get it work precisely how you want it to - but there's loads of info out there on the web and plenty of helpful forums.

MV
 
I've got an Eee pc 901 running on XP. I really love it actually. The only problem with the XP version is the small hard disk, which is only 12GB, which can be easily fixed by either using a 16gb or 32GB SD card in the card reader and just leave it there, or just buy an external hard drive. The problem with external hard drive is the drain the batteries due to moving parts. And that's the beauty with these little machines. Since they use solid state hard drives, I can use it for 6 hours solid with internet on before it runs out of battery. I could stretch it to 8 hours if i had it in low consumption and wireless and bluetooth disabled.

If you are getting one, get the 901 or newer version, since the difference is really pronounced, what with the new Intel Atom processor instead of the Celeron (which gave roughly 3 hours battery life). Plus you have the ability to upgrade if you want. On the previous models the memory is soldered on the motherboard, where on the 901 it just takes 5 minutes to install a 2GB RAM to replace the 1GB that cames with, or install a new SDHC, which are a bit expensive mind you, that's why I opted for the SD card.

The keyboard is quite small, but I find it rather easy typing, even though I do have large fingers. It just needs some getting used to.

Overall, I'm quite happy with it, it's a joy to have it with you while on the train, and it does whatever a normal laptop would do (except reading or writing DVDs, which an external DVD writer would solve the problem, even though I never felt the need to buy one)
 
Not quite as small but 12" iBook 1.33 GHz with 250Gb HD and 1.5Gb Ram runs all the normal software I run on main machine. I know its not quite as small but not much bigger and far more useful. If that is too big I find that the iPhone does most things I need although my previous phone, the Nokia 9500 had two things that I miss on the iPhone ie a spreadsheet and word processor. It was also easier to type.

Oh back to the iBook, you can pick them up for £200-300 which is not too pricey.
 
cowasaki said:
Not quite as small but 12" iBook 1.33 GHz with 250Gb HD and 1.5Gb Ram runs all the normal software I run on main machine. I know its not quite as small but not much bigger and far more useful. If that is too big I find that the iPhone does most things I need although my previous phone, the Nokia 9500 had two things that I miss on the iPhone ie a spreadsheet and word processor. It was also easier to type.

Oh back to the iBook, you can pick them up for £200-300 which is not too pricey.
Click to expand...

I think it comes down to portability really. At 1kg, and measurements of 22*16*2 cm, for a full laptop, I don't think you can go wrong with the eeepc 901. And it comes down to battery life too. Imagine, 8 hours! And all that for £270 incl. delivery from Amazon.co.uk. The iPhone is almost twice that price. And if i were to go for a 12" screen, why not go for a 14" then? And one buying the eeepc must surely use it as a backup (even though i know a couple of people who have upgraded it and use it as their main machine with an external monitor at home).
 
stylgeo said:
I think it comes down to portability really. At 1kg, and measurements of 22*16*2 cm, for a full laptop, I don't think you can go wrong with the eeepc 901. And it comes down to battery life too. Imagine, 8 hours! And all that for £270 incl. delivery from Amazon.co.uk. The iPhone is almost twice that price. And if i were to go for a 12" screen, why not go for a 14" then? And one buying the eeepc must surely use it as a backup (even though i know a couple of people who have upgraded it and use it as their main machine with an external monitor at home).
Click to expand...

Oh i'm not suggesting that that it is as portable as the asus and the like but it is a viable alternative that people may well want to consider if their circumstances warrant it. I used one for that purpose myself. The battery life is not as good either at about 4 hours but that extra couple of inches to a normal small laptop does make a difference.

I did have the real predecessor to the eeepc a few years ago, a lovely little computer called a libretto. In fact I had a couple of them. They ran Windows 95 really well but they didn't upgrade them fast enough and it just stopped being up to what I needed at the time.

The eeepc really does look like a top little device but I don't think I could justify one myself :) If I had a couple of hundred quid spare I would be after a new lens but lots of pressies to buy for Christmas now !
 
I have the Asus EEE904. It comes with 80Gb hard drive and 1Gb ram. As a bonus it has a three quater size keyboard and runs Picasa very well. I almost bought a photo viewer then thought why not get one of these which has far more uses. Battery life is a good four hours but the power adaptor is so small also so it all fits in my camera bag easily. For £248(Amazon) it's a good deal. Browsing the web is slick and as said, wireless setup a breeze.
 
I have one of the earlier 701 models and I love it, 2gb memory, 4gb solid state drive with xp installed, 4gb sd card as second drive. It's fine for the odd bit of web browsing and great for downloading photographs from a memory card to the 40gb external drive I use. It manages a bit of RAW converting as well though it's slow at that. The 7" screen is too small for long term use but the new 9" models are much better and much the same overall size too. The choice now of solid state or hard drives makes all the difference, solid state is virtually silent and very fast to load up, hard drives give you the extra gigabytage. As Veracocha says ^ for £248 they're a good deal.
 
I originally had the EEE 701 (which I still have), and I filled two stories with pictures from it. It was not that easy to type on, but workable.

I now have the MSI Wind running OsX with 2gb of ram, and I use it to download photos, and also to keyword in lightroom sometimes, also can run Photoshop CS3 on it. Typeing is quite natural on it, and I usually do my diary on it too. Really good value for about £350 (afther ram, Hard disk, and wireless card upgrade).
 
FranchiseJuan said:
I originally had the EEE 701 (which I still have), and I filled two stories with pictures from it. It was not that easy to type on, but workable.

I now have the MSI Wind running OsX with 2gb of ram, and I use it to download photos, and also to keyword in lightroom sometimes, also can run Photoshop CS3 on it. Typeing is quite natural on it, and I usually do my diary on it too. Really good value for about £350 (afther ram, Hard disk, and wireless card upgrade).
Click to expand...


Thanks for this, I was actually looking to get the MSI WIND for my wife but was worried that it wasn't powerful enough to run semi-demanding applications like CS3 or CAD based software. But it seems from your review that it should be ok.

Samsung has just launched the Netbook NC10 which I think I would prefer over the MSI WIND as it has the bigger HD but no real indication on how it performs against the WIND or the ASPIRE ONE yet.
 
These keep taunting me too, I'd really love an eeepc just to have a play around with.

But I don't think there is a gap between my MacBook and iPhone where I would actually use it.
 
Performance wise there should be nothing in between any of the current generation of netbooks, as they all use the same processor and chipset. Also the Hard drive is upgradable quite easily on most of them, and in the MSI Wind, I can fit up to a 500gig Harddrive (I acually have one that I use as external backup that I put into the wind to check) in it if I need to.

I say you can use CS3 and other programs on it, but that is just in an emergency. I would not use it as a editing machine, as it would be too slow for when you need to apply layers and filters, but certainly for me with the 2gb of ram in it, it is quite ok for light editing. Also the LED backlit MATT display makes for a screen that is a bit colour acurate, so I can do a preliminary edit before going to my main screen.

The Samsung certainly looks good, but I think that the Lenovo thinkpad S10 is better, since it is one of only two netbooks that has a express card slot, which can be very usefull if you get a express card card reader (very fast) to transfure photos. If you want to spend a little more, then the Gigabyte M912 is the only current netbook to feature a touch screen and is convertable.

MichaelPlace said:
These keep taunting me too, I'd really love an eeepc just to have a play around with.

But I don't think there is a gap between my MacBook and iPhone where I would actually use it.
Click to expand...

That is easy fixed. Swap your Macbook for a 17 inch macbook pro. Gap created. ;)
 
I have an Asus Eee PC 4G with a few upgrades, I have upgraded the ram to 2gb and have installed an internal 4 port hub to power a 7" touchscreen, internal 32gb corsair pen drive (which by modifying the driver the netbook sees as a hardrive) and internal bluetooth (to connect to my pda as a 3G modem).

I have installed XP on it and run gimp, word etc so it makes the perfect ultramobile lightweight netbook. The touchscreen is perfect for browsing and even touching up in gimp.

The only thing wrong with it is the screen size but at the time 7" was the biggest available. and by going to a bigger screen I would have to sacrifice the touchscreen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top