The Netbook Thread

[Kemper_Boyd]

Those benchmarks would be a hell of a lot more useful with the power.
Atom has a TDP of 2W at 1.6 GHz, as far as I know Via has not disclosed
TDP for Isaiah yet. It is said to be 20 W at 2.0 GHz, if so I'd be surprised
if Isaiah is under 10 W at 1.6 GHz and stock voltages.

I know it's 3.5W at 1GHz from those benchmarks from last week, I can't see it jumping to 10W for an extra 600MHz.

It would roughly fit if it's a 1.0 GHz LV part to a 1.6 GHz stock part.

I've not been able to find a statement from Via saying what Isaiah's power
is. They've said the performance is 2x C7 at the same power, which does fit
the benchmarks. The 20W TDP at 2.0 GHz figure is the only one I've found
that is said to be verified by Centaur.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.h ... VzaWFzdA==

Let's assume that 3.5 W at 1.0 GHz is correct, and that we can trust
CrystalMark. If we can then the 1.0 GHz Isaiah is slower than Atom and
would still use more power, and likely cost quite a bit more to make.

I know I keep making the same point but a single core 2.0 GHz 20 W part will
find it tough competing against Merom and Penryn, never mind Atom.

[Baggypants]

when did this thread become such a cpu yawn thread? I want to read about sexy things about eee's, kinky even.

[ravuya]

I just finished up net-installing Ubuntu on mine a few minutes ago. Had to go for XUbuntu as for some reason selecting the "Ubuntu Desktop" package made the installer seem to get stuck (although I'll try to remove xubuntu-desktop and do the switch now that I have a working install).

Still seems pretty zippy, but I'll see how it is after I install the Eee utilities to get wireless and overclocking.

[Cloudane]

I managed, after a lot of hair-pulling and after breaking the default OS several times, to get Windows XP installed onto and bootable from a USB stick. It's surprisingly speedy, well this is off a Corsair GT which is known to be a fast reader. Takes forever writing (installing) though. It also has a few problems like saying the swap file is too small no matter what size I make it.

Now trying to decide whether to stick with the default OS or use a standard distro (got Mint installed but it took too long to reach a usable desktop IMO) or one of the many that are tailored for it. I quite like the default one with the easy mode, it's just an arse modifying to accept new icons etc.

[moosedude]

More on the Wind. Again, the funky display is tempting, although I reckon I'd prefer a small SSD of the same cost to a real HD. Maybe go with the HD for the short term and swap an SSD in there when the price comes down?

looks like it has a proper keyboard, just read about this on the the reg.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/21 ... nces_wind/

these mini-laptops seem really difficult to get right design wise, too big and its class changes to compete with "regular" laptops, too small and it could defeat the point of its own existence.

[Kemper_Boyd]

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/a ... _june.html

[Harlequin]

New Eee PC 900 Sells Out in Hong Kong Debut.

"The new Eee PC 900 with an 8.9-inch screen sold out within hours of its launch in Hong Kong, an Asustek executive said Monday.

"A line of people had formed a few hours before the first store selling the new Eee PC 900 opened last Friday, and over 1,000 of the small laptops went quickly, said Jose Liao, a product manager at Asustek during a news conference in Taipei.
...
"The Eee PC 900 also went on sale online at Yahoo in Hong Kong, again selling out within hours, Asustek executives said..."

[Firefox]

It's the wrong batteries, Grommit!

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/22/eee- ... in-review/

1.5 hours runtime? Eh?

[JQW]

It's the wrong batteries, Grommit!

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/22/eee- ... in-review/

1.5 hours runtime? Eh?

Sending out different spec machines for review than those sold to customers, eh? Been there, etc!

Back in 1998 I was offered a job with a reasonably local PC manufacturer/supplier with several large corporate customers, and took it as the place I was currently at was evidently going to close soon. On the first day when getting shown around they showed me a separate office which was set aside purely for building PCs to go out to magazines for review. Not only were they built to a better standard internally, using some different components and actually bothering to tie up the cables, but they played around with BIOS and other settings until they'd give the best set of benchmarks they could, which involved subtle overclocking.

I left the place after two days.

[Dio]

In a previous job I spent a couple of days painstakingly testing about 40 video cards at different clock rates, writing cryptic codes on the back, and reflashing the BIOS accordingly to the highest rates they were stable at - they were for use by demo machines at a trade show. Almost all of them clocked up about 20%, some of them 40% or more. One of them - slightly embarassingly - needed the memory clocking down 10% to make it stable though.

Then the box of cards we sent got half-inched the night before and we only had about ten left. Including the downclocked one.

I'm not aware of it having been done for reviews, though. (Wouldn't really work in the video card testing game as they all check the clock rates and do overclocking tests themselves anyway).

[Firefox]

Asus: a warm and fluffy company.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/22/asus ... -versions/

[Kemper_Boyd]

How long until this turns up in Aldi?
http://www.journaldugeek.com/?2008/04/2 ... akoya-mini

[benedictw]

Airis Kira 100
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/22/keep ... e-pc-wave/

Not quite a eee, slower, same price but with an interesting colourscheme.

[Baggypants]

I've taught it obstacle avoidance and blogging

[moosedude]

Airis Kira 100
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/22/keep ... e-pc-wave/

Not quite a eee, slower, same price but with an interesting colourscheme.

and what colour would you like to order for your new laptop?

bumblebee plzs. ta thxs.