This is getting close to my ideal for portability, the 1001 is around 450 grammes heavier, although it has a bigger keyboard, screen and hard disk.  I believe the 901 is now available with the bigger battery in the UK, that the 900 wasn’t supplied with.

All the main applications on the Linux version I already use on a PC, well Open Office actually, Firefox, Thunderbird, Skype.  What else does the average person who doesn’t play games want?

Maybe I should mention networking as that’s really what this site’s really all about. As it definitely has Ethernet and WiFi 802.11x, WiMax is supposed to be available but haven’t found one in the UK yet. I personally would like one with Wimax even if it doesn’t take off for a while, would save having to acquire a USB stick for it later and keep it self contained most of the time, which is why I really like it

As for the keyboard complaints, I’ve got small fingers and my females will probably be using it and lugging it around anyway.

Others whine about the disk size?, 20GB stores a lot of data for Jo average, and with online storage free or very cheap and with the large USB memory sticks now available, I personally don’t see to much of a problem.

I think it has a great market for Jo average to surf, write notes and emails, communicate using Skype, Skype In and Skype Out, etc. And if the battery lasts at least 5 hours (seen quotes for up to 8 hours), there probably won’t be to many times that you can’t use it without being able to get the charger plugged in.  In extreme cases a car charger or a portable solar charger might be usefull.  Oh lets not stop there, how about a versatile portable wind powered charger with some solar panels, so that hikers, back packers, explorers, etc, can use it in the wilds, carry it in/on the backpack.

I have to chuckle at some of the blogs that get a load of rubbish on them, when it comes to discussing products. They all have idea’s on what the ideal portable notebook would be for them?, and reckon Asus’s marketing department hasn’t a clue.  One does wonder what these people actually do in the real world.

Anyway if anyone wants to post some really good worthwhile constructive opinions on this blog about the Asus Eee Pc’s, please feel free to submit it.  Please Note: it doesn’t get posted until I’ve perused it.

Harris Chester

www.Network2Computers.com

The battery in the PC900 has been upgraded to 5800mAH from 4400Mah in the USA, but in the UK supplied  ones are fitted with the 4400mAH batteries. Apparently Asus has offered a free update to those that had a 4400mAH battery in some countries.

I’ve also seen 6600mAH batteries being advertised in the US, should you travel a lot and need a spare?

Also there is going to be a processor update soon to the Intel Atom, I’ve read reports saying the end of June, I personally would wait until it’s been reviewed with the new processor, as I’ve also seen comments that were unfavourable for the new processor.

Harris Chester

www.Network2Computers.com

I’d ordered the 700 for my daughter to take on her travels, so she could keep in touch. But demand appeared to be making it difficult to get supplies even for major companies in th UK. After waiting about a month, I read about the 900 supposedly available early May. I hope it isn’t delayed as I’ve now cancelled the 700 order, which was to late for my daughters trip abroad anyway. And hope to acquire a 900 soon? for me to play with test out until my daughter is of on her travels again.

With the 900 having the ram doubled to 1Mb, the disk more than doubled to 20Gb (12GB if you insist on XP), the web cam up from 300k to 1.3Mega pixels, and an increase in screen size to 9" screen, I am really interested in it as a travelling computer. Especially as airlines are trimming baggage allowance, probably so than can squeeze more money out of you if you are over the allowance.

The slight increase in weight, and reduced battery time appear to be the only negatives over the 700. Oh and with the cost around 50% higher it’s now in the cheap laptop range. So you’ve got to trade it off on all the extra’s, the weight and small keyboard against a laptop/notebook which weighs about 2.5 times more, probably needs extra memory, especially if it’s got Vista loaded, and is unlikely to have a webcam, and possibly doesn’t have WiFi either.

Harris Chester

www.Network2computers.com

Print server or network ready printer?

For years I’ve always liked the idea of having a network printer when you’ve got two or more computers networked, even at home. I tried HP and Intel parallel print server products years ago and more recently USB products from Asus and US Robotics. I like the idea of all OS’s (Windows, Linux, Mac’s) being able to use them.

With most of the above products it’s a bit hit and miss, a lot of printers aren’t supported, with multi-function printers you are unlikely to be able to use the scanner and fax facilities (maybe HP printers on an HP print server has a better chance of working). Axis and Netgear have lists of compatible/incompatible printers. A lot lose the bi-directional facility, and support isn’t to good from some manufacturer’s. Also each manufacturer has a different way of configuring their units in Windows, some select as "Local Printer", some as "Shared Printer" or "TCP/IP" printer. And that’s only part of it.

On one unit I managed to get Vista working using the XP installation info, On another that didn’t work, but the manufacturer did respond to my emails and supplied the information to allow me to get it working.

With Mac’s and Linux, one manufacturer quoted me, Windows is the predominate OS, we might get around to Mac’s? So it’s more than likely helps if you go to major manufacturers and research/search on each model/manufacturer for information on installation for Mac’s and Linux.

Network ready printers

So as with NAS (Network Address Storage) the price and selection of printers with Ethernet/Wireless connections built in, is easily within the reach of most homes and small businesses pockets. They are much easier to install, a lot will find the printer for you, others you might have to configure a computer to the printer’s IP subnet to get access to the control panel and then set it for your system (most mid range printers have this facility available on their front panel display)

Most manufactures have Windows and Mac drivers available. others have Linux for some of variations, and HP directs you to the SourceForge website (probably due to the much smaller market and the amount of installation variations).

And for Windows at least, you are able to use the scan and fax facilities across the network.

I personally like to set the ip address manually, so I know exactly where the printer is, and you can use a web browser to access it (not sure about the lower end though), you can put a link in your web browser favourites for easy access later. This is something I also do for my clients networks for devices like firewalls, routers, modems, NAS, DVR’s, etc, it’s great especially when I’m accessing their system remotely, I don’t have to open files to find the addresses for the devices to access them (fortunately I do have very good memory for usernames and passwords, and every client has different ones?)

Maybe someone could let me know of any that don’t have browser capability.

Harris Chester

www.Network2Computers.com

Something went wrong with the hosts system today, our free download email link wasn’t working for most of the day. It started working again just before 18:00 GMT, and it looks like some of the requests got delivered.

No reply from Hosts as to what the problem was at present.

Replied, said it was the mail server, and it shouldn’t happen again. I sent some test message’s and they arrived  in minutes. Maybe it was working last in first out?  Anyway all the mail arrived up to 8 hours late.

It only appeared to be a problem when I filled in the Free Download and  Contact Us forms?

Harris Chester

www.Network2Computers.com

It’s been around for a couple of years, how long before it has Gigabyte wireless. For heavy users it’s become essential.

As it’s pretty certain to have Gigabyte Ethernet as well,  you could use the wireless for mobile users, but even that seems a bit pointless if you already have an wireless AP, I have just read that an Iomega unit had a firmware upgrade that removed the AP facility on one of there models.

 Can see the wireless being a problem, causing conflicts with other units that you or your neighbours may have.

I don’t have a problem as I have one wireless AP and everything else is hard wired. Fortunately I live in an old house where the floorboards are easy to get up. And while I was at it I ran two cables to each room.

Harris Chester

www.Network2Computers.com