Eee PC hands on?

Alex Hewitt hewitt_tech at comcast.net
Mon Dec 17 15:22:52 EST 2007


On Mon, 2007-12-17 at 14:35 -0500, Ben Scott wrote:
> On Dec 17, 2007 1:43 PM, Kent Johnson <kent37 at tds.net> wrote:
> > I am concerned about the small size of the screen and keyboard.
> 
>   I've seen the "Classmate" hands-on, and I've seen scale photos of
> the XO-1 and Eee, and they all look about the same in terms of
> keyboard size and screen dimensions.  All are small.  The screens are
> all in the neighborhood of 7" diagonal; measure that out on paper to
> see just how small that is.  The keyboard keys are smaller and closer
> together than most anything I've seen on the likes of a ThinkPad,
> Dell, etc.   If you're thinking "this will be like my
> Thinkpad/Dell/whatever, just a bit smaller", you'll probably be
> disappointed.
> 
>   These things are designed to be small and light first.  You're never
> going to get full-sized features with that.  They're also designed to
> be cheap, durable, and low-power.  Hence all the buzz.  As we all
> know, buzz doesn't mean they're the right tool for every job.  :)
> Myself, I'm interested in them as an intermediate step between
> handheld computer (on my belt), and full-sized laptop (in a separate
> bag, protected).  These might be cheap and durable enough that I'd be
> comfortable having one in my regular handbag, without constantly
> worrying about it being lost, stolen, or broken.
> 
>   One thing I don't know much about is comparative screen quality.
> I've seen spec numbers tossed about with wild abandon, but none of
> that really tells you how the things work in real use.  Especially the
> bright sunlight the XO-1 is supposed to do super-good in.
> 
> > and can wait if something better is in the pipeline.
> 

One form factor that has appeal is something the size of a Mac mini. The
problem of course is the display. I used to think that those small units
that attached to your eyeglasses or could be worn like eyeglasses would
be a great solution but this technology has never quite made it into the
main stream. What I'd like is something that projects a high resolution
screen out and that would appear to be at a normal viewing distance. I
guess one big problem is that the real device is pretty much useless in
bright light. The other issue is the sheer expense of these things. I
googled this article that claims that embedded screens might be
available soon:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,667638,00.asp

In any case, marry a system the size of a Mac Mini to a pair of these
glasses and then add some kind of bluetooth input device and you'd have
something that could easily be carried anywhere and that would have
normal desktop performance.

-Alex

P.S. Obviously almost any low power small form factor system that could
display VGA would work with the display device and the appropriate input
devices.

>   Something better is *always* in the pipeline.  :-)  But even knowing
> that, I'm likely waiting for it.  I'll save you a spot in line.  ;-)
> 
> -- Ben
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