I’m typing away on my Apple slim aluminum keyboard. It’s the one I poured nearly a full cup of coffee into a couple weeks ago. I dried it, wet it, dried it again and when it wouldn’t work I’d left it for dead. A week passed and I tried it one more time and it’s been working well ever since. I guess I bought a pair to have a spare. With all the damn computers around here, I guess it will get plenty of use.
I sold my Cloudbook at last Thursday’s auction. I couldn’t ever get the wireless to work as well as I wanted, though it seems I’m not the only one. The graphics always seemed weak, though VIA just released an open source driver for it.
I’m currently rocking the ASUS EeePC 900 netbook. It’s quite possibly the finest piece of equipment on which I’ve ever laid my hands. I turned it on long enough to hit restart on the Knoppix distribution of Linux so that I could install Ubuntu. I had good luck with Ubuntu-eee as opposed to Eee-Ubuntu. Everything worked pretty much right away. I had to load a different kernel to get the microphone working so I could play with Skype with my girlfriend. I got her an Acer Aspire One netbook as an early birthday present. It’s slightly bigger than my Eee, but the difference in the keyboard size is pretty huge. It also runs Windows XP, which is pretty much a must for her iPod Touch. It was also crazy-cheap, weighing in at $349 at Best Buy.
Both the Acer Aspire One and the Asus EeePC come with either Windows or Linux. A Windows netbook makes a great and very affordable terminal for running stand-alone clerking software at auctions that aren’t at your facility. A Linux netbook is an even more affordable way to make a statement about how cool you are and how much fun you want to have with your computing experience.
Dell has hinted at releasing a netbook, similar to their Inspiron Mini 9, with Windows and built-in 3G, which would be a great solution for web-based clerking software. Imagine being able to clerk an auction wirelessly without having to setup a wireless network.
By Cheaper Laptop 15 October 2009 - 9:02 am
Glad to hear you are happy with your Asus EEE PC. I think the Acer Aspire One and Dell Mini are also good choices. A few years ago a typical laptop with the specs of your Asus would have cost over a thousand bucks. Fast forward to autumn 2009 and netbooks now be purchased for under $300, with 160GB hard drives and impressive sprcification. Prices are going ever lower, and we may soon see a sub $100 dollar notebook in the next few years.