Switching to a new mini-laptop

Bye-bye ASUS Eee, Hello ASTONE

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Since January and until yesterday I had been using the ASUS Eee mini-laptop as my work horse computer.

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I have been a satisfied user. There have been ìIt should have been better if…î and ìI wish I am using a full-sized laptopî moments but in general the ASUS Eee has satisfactorily delivered based on the criteria I set for it (please refer to April 24 blog: Verdict on ASUS Eee mini-laptop). It may even have exceeded it a bit.

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Yesterday I officially ended my ìevaluationî of the ASUS Eee. It’s time to move on with my quest of finding cost effective and viable alternatives to regular laptops and desktops.

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About four months since ASUS introduced the first ìlaptopî (which I have taken to call a mini-laptop) under Php 20,000, the market is now seeing the entry of other similar products. Consumers should thank ASUS for leading the way. Now there are choices available and it is my job to evaluate these other new options.

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The best thing that using a mini-laptop has taught me is to work around the deficiencies of the mini-laptop and come up with creative solutions. Because the ASUS Eee has an unbelievably small hard disk capacity of only 4GB, I now have all of my data as well as my self-contained, computer-independent e-mail engine (i.e. Dream Mail) on an 8GB USB flash drive. It’s a perfect set up.

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So when the time came for me to switch from the ASUS Eee to the new ASTONE, I practically did not have to worry about transferring data files, un-installing software, etc. I am completely independent of my computer of almost four months. I literally just handed over my trusty old (well, not so old) ASUS Eee to one of my staff, and got started with the ASTONE as if I did not switch to an computer.

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Now I am raring to do a match-up between my former ASUS Eee and my new ASTONE. It will definitely be an interesting topic to blog about. Even now, with barely a day of using the ASTONE, I already made several comparative observations. But I don’t want to jump the gun. After all, I have used the ASUS Eee for almost four months. It would be too early to give a verdict.