I’ve had a MacBookPro for maybe 6 years now, and until recently I was on my second one. I finally upgraded it last July to the latest hardware with the multi-touch trackpad, ever paralyzed by Apple’s rapid product release schedule. Of course only a few months after that purchase, Apple launches their totally redesigned unibody MBP. That’s the way it goes.
I don’t travel very often, and increasingly, when I do, I’m less and less dependent on the notebook. I get all my email in my iPhone, and while I schlep that 15″ notebook around with me everywhere, it’s most important responsibility is to act as a backup battery to my iPhone.
Collecting dust and powering an iPhone is no life for a $3500 MacBookPro. So I decided that it’s time to upgrade my desktop and downgrade my laptop.
The desktop became an 8-core Mac Pro with 30″ and 23″ Cinema displays. The notebook became a netbook; an ASUS eee PC. Here’s the new happy family:
I purchased the ASUS eee 1000HA from Amazon (affiliate link). I got the version with Windows XP on it with the intention of setting up dual boot with Linux.
That was a very easy process once I figured out how to boot off the SD card upon which I put the bootable installation for Ubuntu-eee. The short version is that I had to adjust the bios settings so I could watch the boot, hit F2, and select the boot device. I’ll write up the long version in a later post.
Anyway, I love this little netbook PC. I haven’t taken it for a walk outside the house yet, but it’s great for catching up on email, RSS feeds at the kitchen counter, or for couch-surfing while watching television.
There are even some uses that I didn’t anticipate as I’m discovering that it is a fantastic multi-media device. I use it to listen to podcasts, so I’m not tethered to my desktop computer. It is a great for Skype, for the same reasons. It’s fantastic for watching video. Hulu works great on it, even in Ubuntu, and I use it to catch up on TV shows while running on the treadmill. It opens up flat and sits perfectly in the magazine holder on the treadmill. You can’t do that with a MacBookPro (they don’t open 180 degrees).
Yesterday, I watched my friend Jim Kukral launch his new business live on ustream (and relaunch his own self) while running a few miles. That’s not Jim Kukral in that picture, it’s Jim Halpert from “The Office” On Hulu. On Linux. Did I mention that?
My only regret is that I accidentally bought the version of the laptop without Bluetooth. There are so many variations on this little computer that you need to be really careful about the one you’re buying.
It is a little bit chunkier and heavier than I would have liked in an ultra-portable laptop. But I guess maybe I’m expecting too much out of something with a 160GB hard drive and a 10″ screen.
The keyboard is tough to get used to. The thing that catches me up mostly is the sensitive trackpad that I hit accidentally while typing and the right shift key is only single key width. I always hit the page up key where it should be. I’ll get used to that.
Thanks to the tiny price-tag, I won’t feel bad ditching this netbook as well when a real MacBookAir killer becomes readily available.
But honestly, my biggest problem with this new computer is that I don’t know how to say it. How do you pronounce “Eee”? Is it “e.e.e.”? or more like “Weeeeeee”?
