Final Thoughts
Everyone's impression of the Eee PCs is different based on what they're expecting. If you're willing to forego everyday usability for serious portability at an inexpensive price, then you might be pleasantly surprised by how far you can push the 4G XP. The addition of a preinstalled Windows XP variant to this line is hands-down an intelligent move that will surely sway more people into buying, as the comfort factor and ability to easily install new applications will win many over. The addition of the 4GB storage card is also a solid move, providing double the space to fill out with new programs.
If you're in the market for an Eee, the 4G XP is a great choice. The ASUS Eee PC 900 should also arrive in the US shortly, sporting a larger 8.9" LCD with a 1024x600 native resolution. Performance will be similar and the price is higher, but the resolution increase can definitely help with programs that don't like 640x480. Looking into the future, ASUS also plans an Atom-based model that should dramatically improve battery life without sacrificing performance.
Of course, while the original Eee PC was quite interesting from a price/features perspective, it also lacked competition. The success of the Eee PC has paved the way for other companies to enter the market, so now we have the HP Mini-Note 2133 and the Everex CloudBook Max - and likely others to come. We're not ready to announce a winner in the subnotebook wars, so stay tuned for more coverage.
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cputeq - Thursday, April 24, 2008 - link
Because....he didn't install it?regnez - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - link
That looked like an IE6 icon on the desktop. If that is true and this computer ships with IE6, shame on Asus.johnsonx - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - link
IE6 is what comes with Windows XP SP2. From what I've seen, it is NOT standard practice for PC vendors to install IE7. Perhaps it should be, but it isn't so far.JarredWalton - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - link
I haven't installed XP lately (been doing more in the way of Vista installs), but I'm pretty sure XP SP2 doesn't include IE7. Should ASUS install all the current Windows Updates? Probably. But it wouldn't shock me if they didn't. At least SP3 should be out soon....Matt Campbell - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - link
It is, indeed, IE6.strikeback03 - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - link
43/68 don't seem too bad for idle and load temps. That's around what my T43 runs with the 1.86GHz Sonoma if I'm getting the load number from batch processing files in Photoshop CS2.Baked - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - link
You trimmed down the toolbars in IE, but you didn't hide the windows taskbar. Do that and you'll get another line of extra space for your browsing experience.ChronoReverse - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - link
They could even press F11 and get full screen mode.Zap - Thursday, April 24, 2008 - link
F11 full screen still forces a status bar. IE can be configured to take as little screen space as F11 full screen mode by reducing the toolbar buttons and placing them on the same bar as the file/edit drop down menus. Then, disable the status bar and hide the Start menu bar. Voila!grgraphics - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - link
I would be interested to see some benchmarks comparing XP vs Linux on the EEE.1. Boot time
2. Web browser performance
3. Battery life
4. Video playback