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Summary

The following is a summary of the more detailed analysis of the Asus Eee PC 4G ultra mobile notebook. For all the in-depth analysis and testing you'd expect from us, be sure to click this link to get all the details!

The Asus Eee PC has had a quick development path and has gone from a questionable product development to having a near fanatical fan base that is following its every move on the way to the US.  When it was released in Taiwan, Asus tells me that one was sold every two seconds until stock was drained.  Some people have told me that Asus in Taiwan is like Apple here is in the US; a company with a large following that is always innovating in the market.

For those that haven't been following the Eee PC tabloids, or even our previous coverage of the units from Computex this past summer, the Asus Eee PC is basically the most compact and innovative standard notebook computer we have seen in many years.

The physical attributes of the Asus Eee PC 4G are one of the key drawing points to the unit that will differentiate with size and cost.  If you haven't used a notebook with a 7" screen, you will definitely have to adjust to the smaller screen and resolution.


The Eee PC is built with a plastic body all around and will be offered in more colors than just the white that we are showing here.  Black, blue, pink and maybe a couple others are all in the line up to suit whatever personal preferences you have.


Open up the shell of the system and you'll be greeted with what appears to be a standard notebook design with a full size keyboard, touch pad mousing system and LCD display.  The contrast on the image isn't as good as it should be, but looking closely will show you that the LCD screen doesn't take up the entire black area on the top of the system -- part of that is the integrated speakers and web camera.

Software


The opening boot of the system from a cold start is just about 10-12 seconds.  Ah, the benefits of solid state storage!  The main screen you are welcomed with is on the left there and breaks up the various applications include on it into categories like Internet, Work, Learn and more.

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The small size of the Asus Eee PC 4G is either going to be its main selling point for you or its main drawback.  As I already discussed, typing on it can be a bit cumbersome but after just a few documents of practice I grew more comfortable typing on its small keyboard.  Writing a thesis on it might not be the best idea but I can see making a good rough draft out line of it on the Eee PC without much issue.

The integrated Linux operating system was surprisingly more than adequate for all the various things I would see myself doing with an ultra mobile notebook.  The inclusion of OpenOffice was a big step in getting people working on the system especially when out of the reach of any kind wireless internet to access Google Docs and the other online-only software that is on the Asus Eee PC.

Pricing and Availability

According to Asus, the Eee PC 4G should be available starting in November, which is just a couple days away according to my calendar.  There are two different prices that are going to be available at launch that differentiate with the drive size and the installed RAM. Our model had a 4GB hard drive with 512MB of system memory and is going to have an MSRP of $299 while another should have 1GB of system memory and an 8GB hard drive for $100 more.  These prices make it probably the lowest cost notebook PC on the market and should be an appealing option for anyone that was considering another UMPC or ultra mobile notebook.

I just checked our online pricing engine and found only one entry for "asus eee" and it is a preorder for the model I tested for sale at $399.  Take that for what you like.

Update: It would appear that Newegg has the model we reviewed here for sale NOW for $399!

Final Thoughts

The Asus Eee PC 4G is a unique notebook solution that I think will be more successful in the US than many people are giving it credit for.  Even though it might not be completely embraced here as it was in Taiwan, the features of it make it stand out as a great mobile computing solution.  The combination of incredibly fast boot times, low weight and size and even a small price at just $300-400 will bring more attention to this Asus notebook than any previous one.  For people on the go that need a simple computing solution, the Asus Eee PC 4G might be the perfect fit.

Be sure to use our price checking engine to find the best prices on the Asus notebooks, and anything else you may want to buy!

 

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Review Index:
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