Eeeeeek.... someone does not like eeeeeeeeeeeee

I agree with everything he says (even though I don't own an Eee)

Hey, you forgot the biggest negative from his review!

• Lacks stainless apple-shaped logo on lid.

@strangepork: darn, you beat me to it.

As for it not working with his Kodak camera, well that's his own fault for having bought one as opposed to a decent camera.

after blasting the Eee Pc for its "compromises" he is going to sleep with his macbook "hind air"!!
i cant wait to read THAT review.....

@Step666:

Quite a lot of people own those crappy cams (my dad included shame on my family). And if it doesnt work with that ... well that sucks ...
And why buy something that doesnt work with my gear ... even if its crappy as hell

honestly.. I wouldn't buy the eeeepos because of it's looks alone. but add into that linux, the small keyboard, and the build quality.. and it amounts to a waste of 3-500$ that i could put towards a real umpc. like the one apple should have given us on tuesday, instead of the weird compromised middle man with the odd name.

oh yeah,,.. and btw.. the fact that he uses a kodak camera really makes me question him as any kind of tech guru. only kodak i own is from 1912.. seriously.

It fills a niche - the hobbyist, or people that only use email/web/media a few times a week. Like my missus. She loves it to bits (cold dead hands, etc.).

Haven't had any errors. And we've got a Canon. And it does reconnect to wi-fi cos I told it to.

Stops her scratching my MBP as well...

I'm not sure there is anyone in the immediate area that specifically gives a shit what Mossburg thinks.

@Stacky Botrus: I do. The man has proven experience and great insight.

What do you have, apart from an attitude problem?

Thanks. Please drive thru.

@lowfiproject: I agree with you. But I would rather cut my hands than do any serious work in that machine. Anyone with a need to write a lot will automatically discard it.

Eeek!! he doesn't like the Eee?? It stands for easy to learn, easy to work, easy to play!

Im loving my eee pc. It is the perfect second pc. And anyway, typing on it is way better than using a on-screen virtual keyboard ala UMPC or nokia communicators.

@Jesus Diaz: Thanks for speaking for all of us, there. I'm sorry you feel so violently opposed to using the eee for writing, but you can hardly speak for "anyone with a need to write a lot", blogger or no.

I've got the need to write a lot (that's all I do...all day long) and while I'm not replacing my main machine with an eee -- which no one should -- it certainly serves its purpose as a quick-starting, on-the-go support machine very well.

Perhaps you'd consider donating the eee that you "discarded automatically" to another writer to see if they share your opinion.

@Redwraithvienna: yeah, I suppose.
Still, if the guy knew anything about consumer electronics, he wouldn't have a Kodak, so why his opinion is perceived to be any more valid than anyone else's is beyond me.

@Jesus: 'proven experience and great insight' - you mean he likes Apple?

@Jesus Diaz:

Thanks for keeping the threads in line every now and then.

And BTW, every time I see your avatar I think "WTF is Ryan Seacrest doing on Gizmodo?", and then I realize that it's just Jesus.

The main reason I've shied away from the Eee PC is, as Walt noted, the low screen resolution. Having to scroll all over to read content on a website would be a major PITA. The size of the screen itself doesn't bother me, just give me higher res. Otherwise, I think it's a nice little computer.

@jesus Diaz,
Walt is clueless and so are you. Frickin' twenty something Diaz still has the kitty lick the cream off his face. Walt is irrelevant and ignorant. I have worked in the PC and embedded industry for 30 years and the EEE PC is the best effort for affordable open source for everyone. Diaz, tell mommy to help get you a real job!!

I agreee with everything that Mossberg said, and I own an EeePC.

And while I agree that its a great little device for modders, it's also a great little device for those willing to just update the OS. I'm no hacker, but I got XP installed on my Eee pretty easily and added a 16GB SD card for just $75. XP boots in about 20 seconds too. Loaded up with just the software I need for mobile productivity and entertainment (Firefox, OpenOffice, Outlook, Trillian, Skype, Netflix player, FBReader, Azureus, and a few others) I still have about 2GBs of space on the SSD and a nice big storage area for media and documents that I want to take with me. Sure, the keyboard is not optimal for typing large documents, but its easy enough to plug in another keyboard and monitor if I need to do more serious work. For the train and the plane, for light weekend use and as a device to take along on vacation, I don't think there's a better device for my needs (at this price). I didn't think it when it first came out, but I'm an Eee convert.

If you're going to claim that the small size of the Eee PC is a good then, you don't get to also claim that the small size of the Eee PC is a bad thing.

It's a small computer. That's a feature.

If using a small computer gives you discomfort, you probably wouldn't have asked for a small computer to begin with. If you did ask for a small computer and using a small computer gives you discomfort, that's not a failing of the computer and you clearly haven't thought through your priorities very well.

@Stickarm: BINGO!

@Stickarm: Read the article again. It's pretty clear. A small computer is great, but the Asus is too small for serious, continuous use.

Very simple.

He is such an old fart...what a ballbag. Why do ppl listen to this man? Its pretty obvious to me he is SJs butt-puppet.

I really really like my Eee, but I agree that it shouldn't be purchased to be your only portable. Yes, it's a niche device, but I think that it fits that niche quite well. It fits in my backpack along with my 15" work laptop, as an afterthought, and is therefore always available if I really need a personal device during the day (and no, not for Pron). I also have a 17" "portable" that's available should I be going anywhere for an extended time and need a mothership.

For me the Eee largely replaces what I used my smartphone for before except for reading, so it's not TOO small in that sense. But yes in my scenario it's intended for use maybe 20 minutes at a time, not all day. I agree with the caveats, but I'm not giving it up any time soon. It fits that niche well.

@Mandatory_Field: And it's a cool, cheap tech toy.

He should have use a Card Reader unless that Kodak doesnt come with a memory card :P

Eeee PC is cool when hacked with Windows XP.

80 years old grandpa is too old to understand any new things. he need to retire.

@brikeh: ..and who are you again? Right, you're obviously an expert on 'butt-puppets'. You're a winner.

What people fail to realize is that Walt, though sometimes a little too pro-Apple, is an accredited journalist with an incredible amount of integrity in the industry. As much as you would like to deny it, he IS unbiased in his reviews.

Take for example: [gizmodo.com]

Just because he enjoys quality products DOES NOT make him a fanboy. I like wearing underwear, but I don't think that automatically makes me an underwear fanboy.

The scrolling bugs me but I'm old with bad eyes. If the resolution were any higher, I'd have big trouble reading the screen. I recognize the limitations and love my Eee for what it is.

That said, it may get repurposed. Check the forums; there are 19-inch LCD panels that work perfectly with it and then I could turn the resolution up quite a ways. If I can find a wireless keyboard with a built-in trackball or large touchpad, I may stick the Eee on a shelf next to my disabled sisters bed, mount the LCD where she can see it, and put the keyboard in her lap. She's already using and loving the device but if I set it up as described, there would be no more ergonomic problems. The other problems Mossberg cites are complete non-issues for us.

Alternative 2: When the larger Eee comes out (or if I just find something better) I may stick my current Eee on my network, plug in all the miscellaneous USB hard drives I have around the house, and turn it into a slow but still useful file server.

We shall see. For now, I consider my Eee to be USD$330 well spent.

I have no problem with the keyboard, guy must have fat hands. Also if he actually looked through some menu's he would have seen that the Wi-Fi can be enabled on start up. You just have to check off one little box. This guys opinion is worthless.

The eee is amazing [I'm writing this post from it right now.]

I don't agree at all with anything Mossberg said here. As someone who claims to be very tech savvy, he inevitably makes himself very uninformed.

I have spent over 300 hours on this eee playing diablo II and rise of nations, creating logos in illustrator, opening mocks in photoshop, writing emails, surfing the net, and taking notes in corporate meetings.

I guess differerent strokes for different folks, but please don't just blindly agree with what this man says without USING ONE YOURSELF.

Mossberg has a lot of power in the computer industry, but like too many pundits in any industry he loses site of the real intention and benefits or pitfalls of a device.

We successfully covered the entire CES show with ONLY Eee PC's. ([www.helpmerick.com]). We posted YouTube videos, photos, took notes at press conferences and never touched another computer the whole week.

The EeePC will not and was not made to be a replacement laptop for traveling business people.

What it does do, and do admirably is provide a great "alternative" to traveling with a larger laptop. The diminutive design allows it to be carried anywhere and is perfect for looking up maps on the road, checking email, and editing or composing the occasional document. It has a long battery life and fast bootup/shutdown times.

Also keep in mind that it is a first generation device that has already spawned the introduction of other more moderately priced, ultra-portables.

And yes Walt it WILL connect automatically to saved wi-fi networks with aplumb.

@thecharlie

Underwear Fanboy

Weatherman nails it. Vacation device. Use it to review photos and dump them to an external drive. Type up notes on the day's activities. Small enough to never have to leave it in a hotel room.

As to the small keyboard, I grew up with Psions, (and a Poqet PC), so I'm not anticipating any problems.

@Jesus Diaz:

"A small computer is great, but the Asus is too small for serious, continuous use."

This harping on about the size of the eee is such a facile argument.

If the eee had been any bigger, and it would have to be bigger to accomodate a larger keyboard, then I would not have purchased one as it would lose that convenience factor that I value in it.

There are bigger laptops and there smaller UMPCs, MIDs... Each one of these has a target market, and none of them are slated for being the 'wrong size', because the wrong size for one person may be the right size for another. If it's the wrong size for you then get something bigger!!

I have to say, maybe the OLD Fujitsu was crap, but today's Fujitsu Lifebook is one of the best Tablets you can buy.

@shaq: Sure there's a market for everyone, but the fact still is that:

1. The screen on the Asus is a small POS with very low resolution.
2. The keyboard on the Asus is cramped and absolutely uncomfortable for serious typing.

It's not a matter of having a market, I have no doubt about that. They have it. It's cheap computer. Great.

But that doesn't change the fact that, because of its size, the comfort on this machine sucks. There's no way around that, sorry.

So does its power and the included software. But in any case, those are trade-offs you need to make to get those prices (although I think the $500 model is overpriced for what it is).

@Stang70Fastback: Yeah, it's the old Fujitsu. Well, not that old. Three years.

@Stang70Fastback: I'm talking mostly about the form factor, btw. That's what make these computers mini-screen, mini-keyboards a pain to use. And that's why they have never taken off (except maybe in Japan).

@Jesus Diaz: well thats the point. it is too small for "serious" use. anybody who "seriously" needs to use a laptop instead of a desktop can buy a dell behemoth for their "desktop replacement." i dont see how anybody could honestly prefer writing on a laptop than a desktop anyway.

@Jesus Diaz: also just wanted to add that after installing kubuntu i honestly have no problems with the screen resolution and scrolling becomes minimal after only a few tweaks.

@Jesus Diaz: Have you used the Eee? I think if you had you might have a different opinion. The screen is actually quite nice, and the resolution is fine for most things (800x480 is actually 2.5 times as large as the iPhone, for instance). Sure, given the space around the screen and the overall size of the unit it would be nice to have it bigger, but I find it quite usable in most every situation.

As for the keyboard I'm actually touch-typing on it now. Better than an XPS1330 or Macbook Air? No, definitely not. But half the weight and 1/4 the price, not to mention more compact, it's a tradeoff I'm willing to make.

Hey Jesus, we get it. It's too small for you. Yeesh, enough already.

(Psst, Weatherman, he does have one.)

what is up with the crap attitude from all the bloggers... specially Jesus... chill the F**ck out! You guys are bloggers, don't pretend like your job is super serious... (insert CES prank and or apple fanboi reference here)

@Jesus Diaz: No saves nada chaval. The EeePC is not for you or evidently Mossberg. It's for people like me who don't want to shell out >€350 for a laptop that will surf the web for 20-30 mins a day and do basic emailing while in front of the TV. It's a matter of taste. Undeniable fact is the EeePC has sold (and is still selling) like hotcakes because people love the size of the machine and the value for money. I typed over 500 pages in one month on a similar sized keyboard and never had any problems, so the comfort of the machine does not suck, it just sucks for YOU. Please don't generalize.

Hey, lay off Jesus. He's a serious writer with some serious things to write. He needs a serious computer with a serious keyboard and a serious screen to view his serious work.

Please people, Jesus is a serious man and doesn't have time to play with little toys.

I believe that the product is good besides continuing the trend of doing things smaller and lighter

@Jesus Diaz: I think your problem is your big hands, obviously necessary for keeping the whole world in but not so good for eees.

@TommySez: Seriously and that goes for all the eee fanboiz too. It's small and light and you don't get hand cramps with it. We get that too. Hooray for everybody!

If it had a slightly larger screen (soon to be coming) with a slightly higher resolution (undetermined???), and came preloaded with XP for $500, I'd be all over it. Alas, those upgrades will probably make it $600 and that crosses the pricing sweetspot IMO.

Did anyone else notice that some parts of his review were just false?

"most nontechie users will be stuck with the included programs, which can't be removed and which don't include a calendar or contacts program, or even an email program. You can only use Web-based email."

He missed Thunderbird, conveniently labeled as "Mail" in the Work tab (as opposed to "Web Mail" in the Internet tab), which can do email and contacts by default, and calendar with an extension. He also missed the PIM, which handles all three functions by default, under "Accessories" in the Work tab, right next to the calculator. I started playing with the OS yesterday (don't have an eee myself just yet, I wanted to play with it a bit first). I saw the review, said "that can't be right", took 10 seconds to look, and found both programs. Real thorough review there.

It's interesting how picky we have become...I suppose not too many people here recall the Windows CE devices from HP, Compaq, etc. They had a keyboard as small or smaller than the eee pc, no built-in Wifi, except with an optional Wifi card, not bluetooth, no USB....and then there was/is Zaurus which uses Linux as its OS and it is highly customizable, but still no built-in Wifi and no bluetooth.

Mr. Mossberg shouldn't be complaining about the form factor of the eee pc as this tool/toy is definitely not for him. I thought I would have seen a better evaluation from him, seeing that he's supposed to be such a tech "guru". But he seems to have missed the point of what the market for eee pc is - not travelers, but intro level users. The fact that a good deal of people have been taken by the eee pc's portability and ease of use isn't a fault of its designers but rather the appeal and potential that such a device has.

Oh yeah, and I have customized the heck out of the tiny Zaurus SL C3000 I own and added apps too many to count on my HP Jornada 728's two CF cards despite the lack of a hard drive (someth