I was looking for a durable machine to get email, surf, use an office suite when I am not connected, communicate with Skype and AIM, edit an occasional web page from the road, and blog post. My iPod touch or an iPhone at this point can not do all of this. I needed portable, something that would not break my shoulder after a very long day walking an event. The MacBook Air was to expensive too take on these trips, although a very capable and light.

After looking at the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet and several other ultralights I settled on the Asus Eee PC 4G that I bought for $399. The Nokia N810 cost almost as much, lacked Skype with video and because of its size had a really small keyboard. I thought an updated iPhone with 3G would be a better device for me than the Nokia N810. So I will wait on a 3G iPhone.

The Tech Specs The Asus Eee PC 4G (designed by ASUS and Intel) features a small 800 x 480-pixel resolution 7-inch screen (WXGA), full QWERTY keyboard, 900 MHz Intel Celeron Processor, 512 MB DDR2 RAM, 4G flash-based internal storage (Solid-State Disk), SD slot, Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), integrated webcam, three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA output for connecting to external monitors, headphone and microphone jacks, scrolling trackpad, internal speakers, modem port, and Ethernet port all in a compact and highly portable 2 pound package. The Eee PC only measures 8.9 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches. This thing is less than half the size on my MacBook Pro and almost one third the weight. Battery life from the included 4-cell, 5200 mAh battery provides up to 3.5 hours of battery life (depending on usage). Asus is now offering an optional 6-cell battery.

The unit comes with a simple AC power supply, a black sleeve case, recover disk, and a nice users manual. It's backed by an amazing 2 year warranty for parts and labor.

Asus offers several models of the Eee PC that differ in price and specs. The hard to find Eee PC 8G comes with double the internal storage and 1GB RAM. Eee PC 4G and 2G Surf lacks the webcam, a battery with less capacity and are a bit cheaper.

The first thing I did was order a 1GB of RAM (PC2-5300 about $25) to replace the stock 512 MB, small cost to get a little more performance. This does not void your warranty according to Asus and will only take you 2 minutes. Two screws are to remove the plastic panel and replace the RAM stick. The Eee PC features an external SD slot on its right side, so I also purchased a 16GB SD card (SDHC about $85). This should give me all the storage I will need my new travel companion.

Operating System and Applications The stock Eee PCs come pre-installed with Linux (also compatible with the Microsoft Windows XP for the do-it-yourself person) and over 40 built-in applications. The Linux installed is Xandros (a fork of Debian) that has been modified by Asus for the Eee PC can only access a maximum of 1 GB RAM and this is why I did not install more. If you wanted to install Windows XP on a Eee PC I have been told that 2GB RAM is possible and probably even desired if running Windows.

Asus has done a nice job in dumbing down Linux for the average user by creating a modified desktop that is a tabbed easy launcher for the included apps. They have laid out the desktop that fits many main stream users and the small screen size of the Eee PC. Pressing Ctrl + Alt + T brings up the familiar terminal for the more advanced Linux user. With a little hacking you can easily add a "start menu" or move to a more advanced Linux desktop.

Applications that are pre-installed include Open Office to open, edit and create documents, presentations, spreadsheets and databases that are compatible with Microsoft Office. Asus has leveraged "cloud computing" with quick links via Firefox to web mail, Google Docs, Wikipedia, and Internet Radio. They also include Thunderbird, PDF Reader, Games, Media Player, Photo and Video Mangers, and apps to record video and audio allowing upload of photos and videos to share them instantly on Flickr or YouTube.

For communications they include Skype and Pidgin Messenger. With a quick software update under the Setting Tab I was able to update Skype to 2.0 allowing for video calls. Pidgin allows chats on most of the major messenger systems like AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk, IRC, MSN, Sametime, etc.

Asus includes most the apps average users will need. Due to the open source nature of Linux adding apps is possible and usually free of charge using the repositories that experienced Linux users will be used to. There are many applications to be found. But novice Linux users will probably need some guidance. I have already installed VLC media player, Opera web browser, Kompozer HTML editor, and Gimp image editor without issues.

The Xandros Linux being based on Debian needs to have files compiled for it, usually named .debian. This is a bit different than .rpm that other variants of Linux run like Red Hat. Not all .debian files are compatible with the Eee PC Linux distro.

These installs usually needed a visit to terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and using the command line - Enter “sudo bash ” then “apt-get update”, and then “apt-get install appyouwant. The Xandro Linux on the Eee PC does have a "sudo synaptic" command that will launch the Synaptic Package Manger to help ease the install of compatible applications. You can of course add repositories if you can not find the app you are looking for. Beware if you are not experienced Linux user as you do not want to install an incompatible package as it can hose the computer and you may need to do a re-install of the OS which Asus supplies on a disk.

Installing Windows XP You can install Windows XP on an Eee PC, but it will not be that easy for novice users. Luckily, Asus is claiming the next generation of Eee PCs will be offered with Windows XP pre-installed as an option. I have no desire to run Windows on my unit. I am happy with the stock Linux. eeeXubuntu is also available which is a custom version of the Xubuntu. There are also some other Linux variants that can run on the Eee PC.

Small Size vs. Usability Portability does come with a price of reduced size and that does impact usability. The MacBook Air excels in usability by providing a beautiful 13.3-inch screen and a full sized keyboard in an ultra thin 3 pound package.

The Eee PC's rugged build and size makes it a nice travel companion, but the screen size touchpad and keyboard size limits its usability. This is not the machine you want to work on all day for hours. Many adults will find the keyboard hard to touch type on and will need to put on their glasses. The touchpad is also a bit small, but works OK. I recommend carrying an external USB mouse if you plan a lot of use. The Eee PC will find a nice home in your suitcase. With its flash based storage a little banging around should be fine. This is a nice machine for many people on the go with its small size, weight and price being the selling points. A niche computer for sure.

The EeePC is impractical as a main laptop for writers. Jot down notes, quick blog posts, and answering email is more suitable. The screen is legible and good enough for viewing media, but will not impress most users. The new Eee PC models shown at CeBit will have a 8.9-inch screen at a higher resolution that should greatly improve this machine.

Asus has done a great job of providing connectivity with 10/100 ethernet port, 3 USB 2.0 ports (left side has one and the right side has two), an SD card slot, jacks for headphones and a microphone, and Wi-Fi all "built-in" NO adaptors needed. Apple can learn from this for the next MacBook Air. There of course is no optical drive in the Eee PC, which is fine. Apple was criticized for not including an optical drive which few ultra sized computers have anyway. You can always use a USB optical drive, but I doubt you will miss it, especially on a Linux machine where adding software is almost always a download. Of course there is that SD memory card slot.

My Experience So Far I like the Asus install and plan to stick with it. Asus did a good job in streamlining the interface to work well on the smaller screen. I think most average users will probably feel the same way. So far the Xandros Linux instaled on the Eee PC seems stable and without issues and cold boot in about 30 seconds. I did modify the Gmail link as it launches Firefox to the http version of Gmail. I edited an XML preference to change that to the more secure https page of Gmail as I use on all my computers. Information for doing this can be found on the eeepc wiki.

The included video player worked for nearly everything I tried except for H264-encoded videos - WMV (non-DRM'd), XviD, Divx, MPG, they all played fine. The audio player is also quite usable supporting - MP3, Ogg, FLAC, and un-DRM'd AAC files. I did add VLC media player as an option. Watching movies was adequate, not great as the screen quality is not that impressive, but fine for watching a movie on a flight loaded on an SD card.

Open Office is a full featured suite that I have recommended to users for years and more than adequate for most users. Skype worked fine even for video conferences on this hardware. Even though, I am not a gamer, I liked the included games.

This computer is no speed demon, but I am happy with its performance. Especially at only $399. I am sure this was a better choice for me that the Nokia N810 would have been. Even many of the UMPCs, like Samsung’s Q1 Ultra or Fujitsu’s U810 are a lot more expensive and lack a full-size keyboard.

The Eee PC's Wi-Fi had no problems connecting to the hotspots I tried. With WEP or WPA protected wireless networks I had no problem connecting and staying connected. What would make the Eee PC the ultimate portable connected computer however would be built-in EVDO (sure wish the MacBook Air had this). I have a Verizon USB727 that is unfortunately not yet compatible with this version of Linux. Some users have reported in the forums I visited that they were successful getting other EVDO USB devices to work on the stock Eee PC. While others have even got the USB727 to work for mobile broadband running Windows XP on their Eee PC. I am hopeful down the road I can get my EVDO unit to work with this.

The industry is about to explode with many low cost portables. The next generation of the Eee PC will solve my biggest complaint by upping the screen size to 8.9 inches and there are rumors of a touch screen model. If you are in the need of a low cost portable the Eee PC is worth the money.

According to DesktopLinux, Everex claims the computer was "created as a conceptual Google PC with a conceptual Google OS" and it has Google's permission to use its trademarks. The g from gOS and gPC means "green", as the computer uses an energy-efficient processor, but many people will associate it with Google.