Asus EEE-PC - a tough little full featured lappy 4 the road.

[troyboy162]

features that make the EEE-PC a decent choice:
*4 hour battery life
*flash based hard drive(no moving parts to break)
*cheap(maybe $200 for a used 701)
*powerful enough to do anything you may need aside from hard core autocad.

things that have to be overcome:
*small storage space
*the cheaper ones come with linux
*no CDROM drive or floppy drive for that matter

the new breed of "netbooks" are taking hold as people find that emailing and web surfing does not need much horse power. king of the netbook ring right now is the Asus EEE-PC. the EEE-PC comes in many flavors at different prices. if your interested in a cheap gps lappy(i actually use a 701 as my only pc) then you should zero in on the 700,701,900 and 901 models.

first thing you will need to do is install windows if it hasn't come with it. not a easy task... im a big linux geek, but there really isn't anything remotely usable for linux GPS navigation programs.
to install xp you have two routes:
1. with thumb drives(i prefer this one)
http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=1888
2. with a external CDROM drive
http://www.i64x.com/eeexp.php

after that its up to you what to install for programs. you will need a SD card to install anything big. installing anything from cds will require putting their content onto a thumb drive, using a external CDROM drive, or installing through a network.

now with all that said, most of the used ones ive seen are coming with XP already installed. be sure to ask if its a legal copy of XP to save yourself some headache with installing windows updates.

PS this post brought to you by a 701 via bluetooth keyboard/mouse and using my 42" LCD tv as a external monitor.

[Cebby]

[Seanz0rz]

what are you using for a "desk"? or do you have one?

my problem is the small screen size. it is just too small to have decent topo maps on. i already have a 7" widescreen in the dash, and its great for iguidance 4 and just about everything else, except reading those names on a topo map. not to mention topo software was never intended to be on a 7 inch touch screen, so the buttons are small and it is really set up to be used with a mouse, etc.

[paddlenbike]

Looks like I need to update my "Thinking about GPS?" thread. One of these UMPCs would work really well for GPS. Large enough screen to see detail, however it takes up far less space in the cab than a 14-15" laptop. The lighter weight will make mounting it a little easier than having to strap down a 8-10 pound laptop.

In my area, the TomTom, Magellan and Garmin car units are simply worthless offroad. Most of the trails do not appear on the map. With a PDA or laptop, you can run iGuidance (my personal favorite) and use Google, Memory-Map, or a host of other programs that offer the topos and trail detail that the road setups simply do not show.

The cost of the ASUS is only slightly more expensive than my Dell Axim PDA that I use for GPS. The PDA has the advantage of being mounted up high on my dash where I can glance at it, but if you can find a way to conveniently mount the ASUS, the screen realestate would be really nice.

[DHC6twinotter]

My boss has one of the original ones with the 7" screen and loves it for what it does. Only downside he found was that his screen was too small to view full web pages without scrolling back and forth.

Asus has since come out with several newer models with larger screens. They can be purchased with solid state drives or conventional hard drives.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...on=Asus+Eee+PC

I've been wanting to get one for a while, and prices seem to have dropped a bit now too. I think Dell (or was it HP?) have a similar sized notebook now as well.

Just my $.02.

[Whitey]

The only drawback to those types of laptops is the tiny hard drive.

[DHC6twinotter]

The only drawback to those types of laptops is the tiny hard drive.

True, I wouldn't use it for a business laptop or something along those lines, but for running a GPS in your vehicle, or for surfing the web at local hot spots, they would be wonderful, IMHO. And, they do have USB ports, so I don't see why a person couldn't run an external hard drive with them for things like movies and such.

[Good Times]

Indeed these netbooks have tiny hard drives but Daniel does bring up a great point. These units are small enough (in comparison to a 15" laptop) and the screen is big enough that it works great as an expedition/offroad gps screen. With the Solid State Drives it really makes it offroad friendly too! It may lack the cd drive but you can easily rip a dvd and store it on the hard drive to watch movies on long trips or even use an external usb cd drive to watch movies on the road!

The best part is that the price is comparable to that of the high end dedicated gps units or even something like what Ken has (combo of handheld + gps).

It's definitely something to consider but another toy/gadget that'll hit your wallet (doh!)

btw to throw another curve ball, a touch screen would be even better but I'm not sure how much that'll cost

[troyboy162]

....btw to throw another curve ball, a touch screen would be even better but I'm not sure how much that'll cost

i think i paid 60 for mine. you can see a simplified version of how to put one in here:
http://www.htlounge.net/articles/487...PC-Touchscreen

it works well but ive noticed the offroad dust can put scratches on the touch screen. now i keep my EEE-PC in the glove box until i need to figure out where i am

[Cebby]

Can you run an external monitor off of that unit via USB?