Asus Budget Ultraportable Notebook Sold Sans OS 263
EconolineCrush writes "Tired of paying the Windows tax on notebooks? Asus's Eee PC 1201T budget ultraportable comes without a traditional operating system and sells for only $380. The 12-inch system has promising specifications, sporting an Athlon Neo processor, Radeon HD 3200 graphics, Bluetooth, and 802.11n Wi-Fi. It weighs just 3.2lbs with a 6-cell battery and can even handle light gaming duties. However, battery life in Ubuntu is considerably shorter than it is under Windows. Are there any better options for would-be laptop Linux users?"
$380? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:$380? (Score:5, Insightful)
I dunno, man...a 12" screen is really pushing the definition of "netbook". Then again, it is refered to as an ultraportable notebook, not a netbook, so...
ExpressGate/Splashtop (Score:4, Insightful)
How well does that built in micro OS really work? Seems like for a lot of folks that might be all the "OS" they really need.
Creating something is passe (Score:5, Insightful)
Netbooks are passe now that we have iPads. PCs are passe now that we have iPads.
Actually creating something is passe now that we have iPad. Go and consume, consume, consume.
Re:$380? (Score:2, Insightful)
It sold for less last year because of Microsoft contractually restricting the CPU power and specs of WinXP netbooks. Cause Microsoft does not like netbooks. Because they are supposed to be cheap. And Microsoft don't do cheap.
Now as for power issues in Linux: please RTFUPMDFAOTWAKSAM ("Read the f-ing Ubuntu power management documentation found all over the web and kindly stop annoying me")
Re:$380? (Score:4, Insightful)
Microsoft convinced the manufacturers that they needed to run Windows, so any kind of ARM support was dropped with that, along with the likelihood of a cheap netbook.
Re:"Traditional Operating System" (Score:3, Insightful)
It means Windows. That's the main headline without saying it outright: this notebook is being sold without Windows.
Any other questions?
But what about linux? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:"Traditional Operating System" (Score:3, Insightful)
Used laptop (Score:2, Insightful)
I just bought a used Thinkpad T42 for $150 and put Ubuntu on it. It has an actual screen, keyboard, wifi and 40gb hard drive. It even has a supported 3d card so I can do the whizzy 3d desktop thing.
There are lots of offloaded business class laptops out there that run Linux great. They're usually very well built and full of Intel parts, which have solid Linux drivers.
Re:$380? (Score:4, Insightful)
You can quote me on this: "The iPad will never reach full market potential as long as people cannot play FarmVille on it."
Re:"Traditional Operating System" (Score:3, Insightful)
You seem to have a problem with understanding that I can see your point, understand your logic, and yet still disagree. If I'm in a one-car-family and I get ready to go to the store and someone calls after me "are you taking a bus to the store?" I could answer "No, I'm taking a car." This word usage distinguishes one method of transport from another without regard to whether there is "a" car or "the" car. The same is happening here. For whatever reason, they decided to distinguish between "traditional OS" and "non traditional OS" without regard to the fact that there's really only one "traditional OS." Apparently, you disagree with that choice. And, for whatever reason, you have determined that your opinion as to their construct being incorrect is not an opinion, but fact, such that anyone not agreeing with you must be because they "just don't understand." I understand and disagree. From the other responses, they understand and disagree as well. Your personal opinion on their wording is not fact. Even if technically incorrect, it is not ambiguous to most people. And, you've had it explicitly explained to you and you state you understand what they meant (thus it was not ambiguous to you either) but that you disagreed with their wording.
I'm curious as to why they even bothered to say anything but "without Windows" when they clearly meant "without Windows".
I'm curious whether you realize you are a troll. You posted a question that you obviously thought would gather responses, then disagreed with all those who responded. You didn't ask a question to get an answer, but instead asked a question to get responses and attack those who do respond. That meets the definition of a troll. Perhaps, next time you could just state your opinion, rather than questions that look contrived to convince people that your opinion is a correct fact. "I think their wording is bad." There, was that so hard?
Re:Or you can get a full laptop for $400 (Score:4, Insightful)
Not sure why you wouldn't get an Inspiron 1545.
Because it's a pain to haul around. Full-size laptops suck batteries. They're heavy and clumsy. A 15-inch laptop seems like a good idea until you lug it around for three or four hours and then sit down in seat 4B on a CRJ. You can't even get a full-size laptop open on your typical crappy airline seat these days.
Netbooks are great for portability, but their screen size is too small and the squished keyboards suck.
The advantage of the 11.6 form factor is that it gives you near-netbook portability, but it's big enough for serious work and there's enough space for normal-size keys.
I have an Acer 1410 in that size. It's great. It makes my 13-inch Macbook feel like a whale. I much prefer it for traveling. In fact, I prefer it, period.
Re:Freedos in Thailand (Score:3, Insightful)
This happens a lot in SE Asia. I've found DOS and NO OS PC's in Pantip Plaza Bangkok (Spelling? then again there is no direct letter translation between Thai and Latin) and Low Yat Plaza in Kuala Lumpur. Officially most stores cant sell pirated Windows and the cost of Windows Starter adds a significant amount to the cost of a 6000 Baht when many locals will have a hard time getting that amount of spare cash together. Most people just get a pirated version of Windows for 40B off the street.