[geeks] OLPCs for sale...

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <gsm at mendelson.com>
>Date: 2007/11/13 Tue AM 08:18:49 CST
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] OLPCs for sale...

>On Tue, Nov 13, 2007 at 07:50:46AM -0600, Lionel Peterson wrote:

<snip>

>> BTW, I got my Asus EEE yesterday, it's pretty good.
>
>Not much difference between this and the OLPC, except that
>ASUS designed them to make momey on them and the price 
>reflects the much smaller production runs and the markup
>of the retail channel. 

The Asus is described as "less rugged" when compared to the OLPC - I'd agree. It is solid enough (for my tastes), but I think they could have used a hardr plastic to help avoid scratches (this case *seems* to my untrained eye to be prone to scratches).

The performance is pretty good (Celeron 900 MHz is no slouch IMHO), and the fan is pretty quiet - I'd like to up the RAM, but until I decide to trash the Linux OS there is no reason. The Linux OS can be restored from the supplied DVD/CD-ROM at any time.

>> I am suprised that this unit has a fan, the only moving part of the unit.

<snip>

>You can make a pretty decent laptop of what's in an iPod Nano with a
>better screen and it would not need a fan. The problem with doing so is
>that it won't play videos, which is what most people would want them
>for. 

Interesting...

>>From a different point of view, the fact that the OLPC can play videos
>in general and p*rn in specific make it undesirable in many places. 

I have heard unconfirmed reports from sources I trust that the EEE can be used for "one arm monitor adjustments for skin tone" - that's what I hear anyway...

It appears to be pretty robust, and the form-factor is great - it is just as big as a typical O'Reilly book, and can be carried along with a couple books without needing a laptop bag. Also, the screen resolution is very nice - sites like boingboing, slashdot and sunhelp display nicely (800 x 480 is very usable on a 7" screen)...

Wikipedia page on the EE is pretty good (they say RAM can be upgraded to 2 Gigabytes - that *is* interesting...

A peek inside: http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1213/1

Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC
(lots of fun links at the bottom of the page)

Lionel