[Opensource] Asus eee mini laptop $500

[Cameron Bell]

Had a bit of a play with the $500 Asus eeePC over the weekend. Runs a 
heavily customised version of Xandros.
http://eeepc.asus.com/en/

Was quite impressed and it looks like it would make a suitable 
alternative for the times you only need to do some web work or basic 
office functions.
There is a nice little suite of pre-installed apps, but I would 
certainly want to be able to remove un-needed ones and add some 
additional ones that we use. You won't get lots on there as it uses 
flash memory, not a HDD.
Starts and stops quite quickly and my own kids loved it, although they 
were content to play tux-racer and frozen bubble.
If we can learn how to modify it, it would be a certain consideration 
for supplementing "normal" notebooks that are simply a pain to store and 
move around. You easily put a class set of these in a box without the 
need for expensive trolleys. Definitely worth a look.
Will try to give a more detailed review after I can get one for an 
extended trial in the school environment.
Cheers
Cameron


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