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The Eee 2G Surf is very cute and can get on the internet without a problem, You won't be able to play any Pogo games on it and the DIVX movies are a little jurky, I found expanding the movie screen to full screen got the video and audio out of sinc and drove me crazy but leaving it and just expanding the player was best.
It IS light, you won't even notice it in your backpack. But the experience sucks. Keys that trip you up and cause you to delete whole sentences in a single slip (thank god for undo). And if anything goes wrong, good luck fixing it, linux is still for techies, and completely unapologetic for the non technical crowd. Yes I still use this thing, so it can't be that bad. Tiny screen. Painfully slow.
Awful linux interface. Tiny postage stamp of a mouse pad. Yes its a 300 dollar laptop. It's not really feasible to reread your work on a monitor this size, and editing is so key for improving your writing. Forget web surfing. Installing software feels like you're hacking the system. But its painful to use this thing. When it works, it connects to the internet reasonably fast, and I can use google docs to write stories.
What you save in cash you pay for in frustration. It's a nice color. Unimpressive battery life leaves you tethered to an outlet. A year ago I bought this computer to write with, and my experience with it has taught me the value of not skimping on things like screen size, keyboard size, and mousepad size. It is relatively stable (but when it crashes it goes down hard). Writing is hard enough.As soon as a I can, I'm going to sell this thing, sell my imac, and get a macbook pro.
Only to discover Amazon won't let me sell it used on Amazon. I bought this nearly a year ago, figuring something small and portable might be useful for taking notes and jotting down ideas when travelling. Apparently they only let "specially approved" dealers sell some things. Unfortunately the keyboard is much too small. I kept trying to work around but finally gave up. So Don't Buy It If You Are Not Sure You Will Want To Keep It. Some things like the small keyboard are not obvious from the web - borrow someone else's or buy it from someone with an extended return policy.
I highly recommend Glubble to anyone giving this to their kids.EMAILThere is no email client built in, but I was able to get Thunderbird working by browsing the internet. I wanted little, I wanted portable, I wanted durable, I wanted to surf the internet. While my husband chides me because I could have bought a larger notebook for just a little more, that wasn't why I bought my eeepc. My kids use it more than I do, and I bring it with me whenever I need a computer or I know my kids will be waiting somewhere for a long time (i.e., doctor's office or sibling's activity) and will be bored. It took me three whole days of surfing the internet to find instructions, trial and error through which I thought I might just mess everything up so badly I'd need to reinstall everything from scratch -- until I finally found someone who posted step-by-step instructions for installing this thing (bless him, but I can't remember where I found the instructions). It lasts up to 2 hours, sometimes less, depending on what I'm doing.SUMMARYOnce I got it configured just so, this computer is everything I wanted it to be.
It fits in my purse and I can take it anywhere.I don't find the smaller a keyboard a problem at all. SIZEThat is one comment I get from everyone, "That's the smallest notebook I've ever seen." It really is small, under 9" x 6 ¼ x 1 ½". Of course, I am a woman with long, slender fingers. Perhaps a person with larger hands would find difficulty.DURABILITYThis little thing goes in my purse and it's been dropped, but nothing ever broke and no data has been lost. I have the ASUS Eee PC 2G Surf. Just select the network and click "connect." I found the WIFI works very well, and surfing speed is quick, but I wanted internet everywhere, so I got a Sprint Airbus 595U.Setting up the 595U was a bear. I don't know Xandros, the operating system that came installed.
Now that it's set up, I can connect quickly and easily.The computer comes with Firefox, which I found easy to use. I installed Glubble so that my children could surf safely. Once the network connection is established, reconnecting is easy. And all those features are realized in this tiny little computer. It's under the "work" tab and not the "internet" tab, so not as convenient as it could be, but I'm happy with Thunderbird.BATTERY LIFEI've watched entire tv episodes via my 595U connection on one charge.
The flash drive feature helps, as I'm not worried about breaking a delicate hard drive.WEB SURFINGIt's easy to get a WIFI connection when one is available. All the information and passwords are stored. Impressive. It's a terrific buy.
Bought for my sister for xmas, excellent laptop for her since it is so small and easy to just throw into your bag. She uses it for the internet and to play her iPod music. It is so easy and very durable when using. I would definitely tell anyway who needs a small laptop or an additional one for on the road to get the Asus eee PC.
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