I have not yet gotten an Asus Eee PC, but at this point, I still plan to. The budget for this year allows for it, but right now I’m sitting tight watching all the fun the folks who do have an Eee PC are having. I figure by the time I have one, there will be tutorials all over the web on how to tweak, customize, and hack the thing.
In other news, I saw that the Everex TC2502 Green gPC is available at Wal-Mart for $200. It runs Ubuntu, has OpenOffice, and other open source apps, as well as a focus on connecting to the net and using online apps from Google and others. See a trend here? Is the network finally the computer? Could this be the beginning of the end for Windows?
And what about those Mac people, wait… I am still one of those Mac people! I do love the user experience of using a Mac, and as a creative professional, I can’t imagine a better platform. But… From a consumer standpoint, meaning “running a machine for consuming, not creating” I’m set to go with something besides a Mac. I can’t justify the cost of a Mac laptop, but an Asus Eee PC for $400 or a Nokia N800 for $250, yeah, totally doable. I’d still push it to the limits of what the machine can do, but I wouldn’t try to complete a big client project with it.
My big fear now is that the Eee PC’s will sell out, and I’ll have to wait. As I said, I’d still really like to get one before 2008. I think it’s worth waiting a few weeks to see what happens… Will they release a new model? Will they run out? Will they appear in stores? Heck if I know…