Ok, so it didn't take me long to geek out. Today's topic of conversation is the Asus eeePC. I'm not going to bother reviewing it's hardware or software features as that's already been done to death. The real question is would you use it if you got one?
The eeePC is an aspirational gadget. You want one because it's going to change your life. It's tiny, so small that you can take it everywhere with you. You'll be able to blog from all those interesting places you regularly visit, upload pictures of that mountain bike trail you just conquered, etc...
I own an eeepc, I've had it now for a couple of weeks. I'm living the dream.
The tone of this post not withstanding, it is a deeply cool little gadget. However, be warned, I suffer from an affliction known to many of us - gadget lust. I believe in those aspirations! (About now is when I need a gospel choir plugin for blogger. You hear me Google?)
I do carry it around most places, well, when I'm not at work which eats up 5 days a week. But the rest of the time, it's in my tasteful man-bag. It weighs almost nothing at all so I hardly notice it's there and when it is time to get my eeePC fix, usually in coffee shops or occasionally the pub, it's fully functional. I've uploaded pictures, sent email, checked the internet, chatted to friends; all while un-tethered and free.
Now here's the rub. I live in London. It rains at this time of year. It rains alot. This can limit your more outdoors-ey pursuits.
I'm not sure about anyone else, but when it's cold and wet out, I'm less likely to meander around discovering cool things to electronically document and sitting outdoors with an espresso while rocking to youtube doesn't really cut it in the rain.
So that I don't kill my social life entirely, I use the winter months to see galeries, watch movies and generally make an arse of myself down the pub. Unfortunately, on these occasions, I'd rather take in my surroundings than be chained to a screen.
Don't be disheartened though, I have still found myself using the damn thing, even in the British Winter. A rather large proportion of planning for a friend's stag do has taken place in the pub, over a beer. Come the date of the do, my trusty eeePC will be by my side for the weekend. I would go into the details of the stag do, which would make it clearer why I would want a laptop with me, but that would be telling.
So how do we make more sense of the practicality of an ultra mobile laptop? There are two must-have companions for the eeepc:
There is one tiny wrinkle with the glorious picture I'm painting of my halcyon Summer to be. Everything I've mentioned, I've already been able to do on the move on my Vario, sans eeePC.
Pictures get uploaded with Shozu, Friends are messaged with Parlingo, emails exchanged with Gmail aand the built in client and the web surfed with pocked IE. But then again, it's just so fiddly on the phone. I much prefer the eeePC experience.
The other main usage I'll be getting from the weee device will be on my travels. There's nothing more annoying than taking up valuable room in your hand-luggage with a dirty great laptop. That's valuable duty free storage space.
Again, armed with a camera, all you regular readers should be getting blow-by-blow accounts of my holiday jaunts... well, not too frequent updates, it is a holiday after all.
Reading through this post again, it does strike me how negative I sound. I don't mean to be, I think Asus have created a fantastic little device that I will be getting more than enough use out of for £200. The point of this post is actually gadget agnostic. Aspirational devices do not enable the aspirational lifestyle. You have to do that yourself, so if you'll excuse me I'm surfing a volcano in an hour.
The eeePC is an aspirational gadget. You want one because it's going to change your life. It's tiny, so small that you can take it everywhere with you. You'll be able to blog from all those interesting places you regularly visit, upload pictures of that mountain bike trail you just conquered, etc...
I own an eeepc, I've had it now for a couple of weeks. I'm living the dream.
The tone of this post not withstanding, it is a deeply cool little gadget. However, be warned, I suffer from an affliction known to many of us - gadget lust. I believe in those aspirations! (About now is when I need a gospel choir plugin for blogger. You hear me Google?)
I do carry it around most places, well, when I'm not at work which eats up 5 days a week. But the rest of the time, it's in my tasteful man-bag. It weighs almost nothing at all so I hardly notice it's there and when it is time to get my eeePC fix, usually in coffee shops or occasionally the pub, it's fully functional. I've uploaded pictures, sent email, checked the internet, chatted to friends; all while un-tethered and free.
Now here's the rub. I live in London. It rains at this time of year. It rains alot. This can limit your more outdoors-ey pursuits.
I'm not sure about anyone else, but when it's cold and wet out, I'm less likely to meander around discovering cool things to electronically document and sitting outdoors with an espresso while rocking to youtube doesn't really cut it in the rain.
So that I don't kill my social life entirely, I use the winter months to see galeries, watch movies and generally make an arse of myself down the pub. Unfortunately, on these occasions, I'd rather take in my surroundings than be chained to a screen.
Don't be disheartened though, I have still found myself using the damn thing, even in the British Winter. A rather large proportion of planning for a friend's stag do has taken place in the pub, over a beer. Come the date of the do, my trusty eeePC will be by my side for the weekend. I would go into the details of the stag do, which would make it clearer why I would want a laptop with me, but that would be telling.
So how do we make more sense of the practicality of an ultra mobile laptop? There are two must-have companions for the eeepc:
- A phone capable of sharing it's internet connectivity (MDA Vario II). Depending on wireless access points is a drag and can actually be quite
difficult in London. The Cloud and T-Zones are ubiquitous, but they ask
for money. - A camera that takes SD cards (Luminix TX2). Taking, editing and uploading pictures on the move is where I find the most use for my eeePC. It's much easier to mess around with pictures when you've got 10 mins to spare in the day rather than batch processing the lot in the evening when you get home.
There is one tiny wrinkle with the glorious picture I'm painting of my halcyon Summer to be. Everything I've mentioned, I've already been able to do on the move on my Vario, sans eeePC.
Pictures get uploaded with Shozu, Friends are messaged with Parlingo, emails exchanged with Gmail aand the built in client and the web surfed with pocked IE. But then again, it's just so fiddly on the phone. I much prefer the eeePC experience.
The other main usage I'll be getting from the weee device will be on my travels. There's nothing more annoying than taking up valuable room in your hand-luggage with a dirty great laptop. That's valuable duty free storage space.
Again, armed with a camera, all you regular readers should be getting blow-by-blow accounts of my holiday jaunts... well, not too frequent updates, it is a holiday after all.
Reading through this post again, it does strike me how negative I sound. I don't mean to be, I think Asus have created a fantastic little device that I will be getting more than enough use out of for £200. The point of this post is actually gadget agnostic. Aspirational devices do not enable the aspirational lifestyle. You have to do that yourself, so if you'll excuse me I'm surfing a volcano in an hour.
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