5 ms·

ASUS Eee PC X101 runs Linux, costs only $200 (video)

57 points by moe 15y ago

wazoox 15y ago
Nice, I've been missing this for a while to renew my family's netbooks.
BvS 15y ago
Give me a Chromebook at that pricepoint an I'm in!
- robert-boehnke 15y ago
  Is it possible to install Chrome OS on this?
  - BvS 15y ago
    As far as I know it's not. I would also love to install Chrome OS on an old Windows XP laptopn of mine which currently needs like 5 minutes to boot but that seems not possible as well.
huertanix 15y ago
I really want to love the MeeGo Netbook UX and ran it for a month on my Lenovo s10-3t but can't get over its filing-cabinet UI; I can't just get to an application outside of the 6 or so on the quick launch box. You have to click on a tab, then play category bingo to figure out or try to remember which category panel to expand and find it in--and only one can be expanded at a time. Also, the glittery nonsense on the paint job is sort of horrible. I hate it on my Lenovo netbook too; This is supposed to be a Netbook, not a Twilight character.
- bergie 15y ago
  I actually worked with a MeeGo netbook for some time. In reality you launch apps with Alt-F2 and first couple of chars of app name, or just use the search box. Fast and efficient.
  - slowpoke 15y ago
    While I really agree with you on the convenience of the run-prompt (or dmenu-style launchers, which I use on my Arch+Xmonad machine), try to tell a regular user to start a program this way. He/she will stare at you in disbelief and then go back to clicking through menus. If you want MeeGo to sell/gain market share (and I'd group MeeGo together with Ubuntu/Mint-like Linux distros, in other words, consumer/enduser-oriented), you need a consistent and simple GUI (which doesn't mean that the capabilities for advanced users have to be dumbed down, though).
    - bergie 15y ago
      In MeeGo netbook the search box is at least visible in the Apps tab. This makes it a bit more approachable
  - huertanix 15y ago
    I agree that its fast and efficient to use the search box, but its something I rarely see people doing outside circles of sysadmins and developers. The existing UI can easily be saved by just knocking out the expandable panels completely and just putting all the apps on one panel delineated by category name.
loevborg 15y ago
Remember that ASUS shipped their first EeePCs with Linux pre-installed. They soon ended up selling most with Windows, though, after Microsoft made XP available for them and cheap. They didn't put a lot of commitment into Linux, using idiosyncratic Xandros as their distro and rarely providing any updates. Now they seem to be doing this again, with MeeGo. I'm curious whether they will manage to have the computer boot up without an ugly DOS-style cursor blinking, and also in Macbook-quality suspend-to-ram.
- justincormack 15y ago
  The Linux distro they used on the original ones was pretty bad. Mine runs Ubuntu now, and I still use it though it is slow, and could do with an upgrade...
- jrockway 15y ago
  I'm curious whether they will manage to have the computer boot up without an ugly DOS-style cursor blinking, and also in Macbook-quality suspend-to-ram. I'm pretty sure that all the "normal person" Linux distros have a splash screen until X starts these days. Also, haven't noticed any problems with suspend to RAM on any machines these days: hardware vendors have largely gotten ACPI right at this point. (If you want true OS X style suspend, use s2both instead s2ram.)
  - loevborg 15y ago
    People always say this, and on my recent Thinkpad it works out of the box - but not every time. I can't completely rely on it. It's a world of difference to my friend's Macbook Air. To get these things right (polish), you have to spend some time working on this rather than rushing hardware out of the door. Non-Apple hardware vendors and particularly those who ship Linux aren't very good at this, nor at fixing things after releasing the notebook.
    - jrockway 15y ago
      My Thinkpad X220 works every time.
drats 15y ago
My first home computer in the 1990s was well over $6k in current inflation adjusted USD and had a 12 mhz CPU with a 800x600 (or lower, can't remember) 14" CRT screen, a dot matrix printer and two games. At $200 this computer is coming in at couple of days or a maybe one week worth of post-tax salary at some of the lowest wages in many first world countries[1]. And it has a 1.5gighz processor and access to an advanced unix operating system and open source (rather than the limiting DOS for example). [1] envelope calculations: it seems it takes under two days after-tax with 19.5k pound UK salary (the average for someone with one year of work experience). Edit: I should add that most of a low income salary usually goes on rent, food and transport so the disposable income calculation to reach $200 is different/takes longer. Nevertheless, an amazing reduction in price, 1/30th, and increase in processing power, 100x + (mhz for mhz..).
cstross 15y ago
I have some design criticisms. To start with, look at the edge-on photo comparing the X101 to the Macbook Air. Now, in the graphics editor of your choice, re-colour that battery step at the back of the X101 in the same colour as the machine itself, rather than (nearly invisible in photos) black. Suddenly, it's twice as thick! Who'd have guessed? Yes, this machine looks like a Macbook Air competitor, but only because they used a user-removable battery, which means a big hunk'o'plastic sticking out of the underside. Next, look at the photos of the keyboard layout. In particular, look at the location and width of the right shift key. This is a particular beef of mine with Asus -- and most other far eastern vendors: the right shift is the size of a regular letter key and is positioned to the left of the up-arrow. If you're an English-speaking touch-typist you will end up hitting up-arrow half the time when you mean to type a capital letter from the left side of the QWERTY block. (I suspect Chinese, Korean, and Japanese keyboard mappings ignore the right shift key, hence it tends to be deprecated by designers who don't do their usability testing on American or European users.) Upshot: it looks gorgeous (especially for $200!) at first glance, but I'm pretty sure it would drive me insane within half an hour if I had to actually do any typing on it. Regardless of operating system.
- moe 15y ago
  keyboard layout I'm in the market for a netbook right now and have the same concerns. Currently I'm torn between the Asus X101 and the Lenovo S100 (both announced to launch this month). The Lenovo comes with an 98%-size keyboard that looks really promising on the photos: http://ces.cnet.com/2300-32488_1-10006040-2.html http://ces.cnet.com/2300-32488_1-10006040-2.html
  - cstross 15y ago
    The Lenovo keyboard layout looks kosher for touch-typists. If I was in the market for a netbook I'd jump in that direction. (The right-shift-FAIL seems to be a bad habit of Asus and a few other Chinese/Taiwanese vendors; I suspect Lenovo still have some input from IBM.)
    - veeti 15y ago
bgarbiak 15y ago
Why they just don't make a 200 dollar tablet out of it? Probably would be a bit thicker than what's now on the market, but with such a price tag? People wouldn't mind.
- cryptoz 15y ago
  I don't think you can get a 10" touchscreen and 10 hour battery at that price point. As soon as they make this a tablet, it's no longer $200 or if it is, the battery will last 30 minutes and the screen will be resistive.
- Zak 15y ago
  Asus already makes a Tegra2 Android tablet that's around $400. Knowing Asus, that's probably on the low end of what such a tablet can cost without sacrificing important features like battery life and the quality of the touchscreen. A netbook can be quite a bit heavier than a tablet and still be accepted by users, and its input devices cost a lot less.
piinbinary 15y ago
Here is what amazes me about this: an iPod touch costs ~$230, and it is considered by some to be cheap for what you are getting (compare it to small Android tablets). This is a whole laptop for less than that price. Also, I don't think that comparing it to the MacBook Air makes much sense - this is not the laptop designed to be the thinnest, it is designed to be the cheapest.
- evilduck 15y ago
  The iPod also fits in your pocket, exists in a much richer ecosystem and its specs come dangerously close to being the same. $30 for that level of miniaturization is a steal.
- Derbasti 15y ago
  I guess they want to market it as if it were competing with the Air, though. But that is comparing Apples to Oranges, if you ask me. Comparing a tiny SSD (SDCARD?) and a wimpy Atom and a plasticky case and a sexy price to a full-fledged SSD, a Core2Duo (i3 soon?), superb build quality and a hefty price tag? Doesn't make sense. Apple is marketing for thin, elegant, expensive. Asus should be marketing for cheap, tiny, gets-the-job-done.
  - moe 15y ago
    I think they should be marketing for "Go everywhere laptop". Would you take your MBA to the beach? Hiking? Partying? I don't. Too concerned about my $1000-device getting sandy, dropped, stolen or having drinks spilled over it. $200-device? No-brainer. Could buy a new one every year and still be cheaper than the expected lifetime of a MBA.
glymor 15y ago
The windows 7 version costs $310. Coming out in July. Specs: "1.33GHz, single-core Atom N435, a six-cell battery, and a small SSD (probably of the 16GB variety)" http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/27/slim-asus-eee-pc-x101-to-hit-shelves-next-month/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/27/slim-asus-eee-pc-x101-to-...

57 points by moe 15y ago

wazoox 15y ago

Nice, I've been missing this for a while to renew my family's netbooks.

BvS 15y ago

Give me a Chromebook at that pricepoint an I'm in!

robert-boehnke 15y ago
Is it possible to install Chrome OS on this?
- BvS 15y ago
  As far as I know it's not. I would also love to install Chrome OS on an old Windows XP laptopn of mine which currently needs like 5 minutes to boot but that seems not possible as well.

huertanix 15y ago

I really want to love the MeeGo Netbook UX and ran it for a month on my Lenovo s10-3t but can't get over its filing-cabinet UI; I can't just get to an application outside of the 6 or so on the quick launch box. You have to click on a tab, then play category bingo to figure out or try to remember which category panel to expand and find it in--and only one can be expanded at a time. Also, the glittery nonsense on the paint job is sort of horrible. I hate it on my Lenovo netbook too; This is supposed to be a Netbook, not a Twilight character.

bergie 15y ago
I actually worked with a MeeGo netbook for some time. In reality you launch apps with Alt-F2 and first couple of chars of app name, or just use the search box. Fast and efficient.
- slowpoke 15y ago
  While I really agree with you on the convenience of the run-prompt (or dmenu-style launchers, which I use on my Arch+Xmonad machine), try to tell a regular user to start a program this way. He/she will stare at you in disbelief and then go back to clicking through menus. If you want MeeGo to sell/gain market share (and I'd group MeeGo together with Ubuntu/Mint-like Linux distros, in other words, consumer/enduser-oriented), you need a consistent and simple GUI (which doesn't mean that the capabilities for advanced users have to be dumbed down, though).
  - bergie 15y ago
    In MeeGo netbook the search box is at least visible in the Apps tab. This makes it a bit more approachable
- huertanix 15y ago
  I agree that its fast and efficient to use the search box, but its something I rarely see people doing outside circles of sysadmins and developers. The existing UI can easily be saved by just knocking out the expandable panels completely and just putting all the apps on one panel delineated by category name.

loevborg 15y ago

Remember that ASUS shipped their first EeePCs with Linux pre-installed. They soon ended up selling most with Windows, though, after Microsoft made XP available for them and cheap. They didn't put a lot of commitment into Linux, using idiosyncratic Xandros as their distro and rarely providing any updates. Now they seem to be doing this again, with MeeGo. I'm curious whether they will manage to have the computer boot up without an ugly DOS-style cursor blinking, and also in Macbook-quality suspend-to-ram.

justincormack 15y ago
The Linux distro they used on the original ones was pretty bad. Mine runs Ubuntu now, and I still use it though it is slow, and could do with an upgrade...
jrockway 15y ago
I'm curious whether they will manage to have the computer boot up without an ugly DOS-style cursor blinking, and also in Macbook-quality suspend-to-ram. I'm pretty sure that all the "normal person" Linux distros have a splash screen until X starts these days. Also, haven't noticed any problems with suspend to RAM on any machines these days: hardware vendors have largely gotten ACPI right at this point. (If you want true OS X style suspend, use s2both instead s2ram.)
- loevborg 15y ago
  People always say this, and on my recent Thinkpad it works out of the box - but not every time. I can't completely rely on it. It's a world of difference to my friend's Macbook Air. To get these things right (polish), you have to spend some time working on this rather than rushing hardware out of the door. Non-Apple hardware vendors and particularly those who ship Linux aren't very good at this, nor at fixing things after releasing the notebook.
  - jrockway 15y ago
    My Thinkpad X220 works every time.

drats 15y ago

My first home computer in the 1990s was well over $6k in current inflation adjusted USD and had a 12 mhz CPU with a 800x600 (or lower, can't remember) 14" CRT screen, a dot matrix printer and two games. At $200 this computer is coming in at couple of days or a maybe one week worth of post-tax salary at some of the lowest wages in many first world countries[1]. And it has a 1.5gighz processor and access to an advanced unix operating system and open source (rather than the limiting DOS for example). [1] envelope calculations: it seems it takes under two days after-tax with 19.5k pound UK salary (the average for someone with one year of work experience). Edit: I should add that most of a low income salary usually goes on rent, food and transport so the disposable income calculation to reach $200 is different/takes longer. Nevertheless, an amazing reduction in price, 1/30th, and increase in processing power, 100x + (mhz for mhz..).

cstross 15y ago

I have some design criticisms. To start with, look at the edge-on photo comparing the X101 to the Macbook Air. Now, in the graphics editor of your choice, re-colour that battery step at the back of the X101 in the same colour as the machine itself, rather than (nearly invisible in photos) black. Suddenly, it's twice as thick! Who'd have guessed? Yes, this machine looks like a Macbook Air competitor, but only because they used a user-removable battery, which means a big hunk'o'plastic sticking out of the underside. Next, look at the photos of the keyboard layout. In particular, look at the location and width of the right shift key. This is a particular beef of mine with Asus -- and most other far eastern vendors: the right shift is the size of a regular letter key and is positioned to the left of the up-arrow. If you're an English-speaking touch-typist you will end up hitting up-arrow half the time when you mean to type a capital letter from the left side of the QWERTY block. (I suspect Chinese, Korean, and Japanese keyboard mappings ignore the right shift key, hence it tends to be deprecated by designers who don't do their usability testing on American or European users.) Upshot: it looks gorgeous (especially for $200!) at first glance, but I'm pretty sure it would drive me insane within half an hour if I had to actually do any typing on it. Regardless of operating system.

moe 15y ago
keyboard layout I'm in the market for a netbook right now and have the same concerns. Currently I'm torn between the Asus X101 and the Lenovo S100 (both announced to launch this month). The Lenovo comes with an 98%-size keyboard that looks really promising on the photos: http://ces.cnet.com/2300-32488_1-10006040-2.html http://ces.cnet.com/2300-32488_1-10006040-2.html
- cstross 15y ago
  The Lenovo keyboard layout looks kosher for touch-typists. If I was in the market for a netbook I'd jump in that direction. (The right-shift-FAIL seems to be a bad habit of Asus and a few other Chinese/Taiwanese vendors; I suspect Lenovo still have some input from IBM.)
  - veeti 15y ago

bgarbiak 15y ago

Why they just don't make a 200 dollar tablet out of it? Probably would be a bit thicker than what's now on the market, but with such a price tag? People wouldn't mind.

cryptoz 15y ago
I don't think you can get a 10" touchscreen and 10 hour battery at that price point. As soon as they make this a tablet, it's no longer $200 or if it is, the battery will last 30 minutes and the screen will be resistive.
Zak 15y ago
Asus already makes a Tegra2 Android tablet that's around $400. Knowing Asus, that's probably on the low end of what such a tablet can cost without sacrificing important features like battery life and the quality of the touchscreen. A netbook can be quite a bit heavier than a tablet and still be accepted by users, and its input devices cost a lot less.

piinbinary 15y ago

Here is what amazes me about this: an iPod touch costs ~$230, and it is considered by some to be cheap for what you are getting (compare it to small Android tablets). This is a whole laptop for less than that price. Also, I don't think that comparing it to the MacBook Air makes much sense - this is not the laptop designed to be the thinnest, it is designed to be the cheapest.

evilduck 15y ago
The iPod also fits in your pocket, exists in a much richer ecosystem and its specs come dangerously close to being the same. $30 for that level of miniaturization is a steal.
Derbasti 15y ago
I guess they want to market it as if it were competing with the Air, though. But that is comparing Apples to Oranges, if you ask me. Comparing a tiny SSD (SDCARD?) and a wimpy Atom and a plasticky case and a sexy price to a full-fledged SSD, a Core2Duo (i3 soon?), superb build quality and a hefty price tag? Doesn't make sense. Apple is marketing for thin, elegant, expensive. Asus should be marketing for cheap, tiny, gets-the-job-done.
- moe 15y ago
  I think they should be marketing for "Go everywhere laptop". Would you take your MBA to the beach? Hiking? Partying? I don't. Too concerned about my $1000-device getting sandy, dropped, stolen or having drinks spilled over it. $200-device? No-brainer. Could buy a new one every year and still be cheaper than the expected lifetime of a MBA.

glymor 15y ago

The windows 7 version costs $310. Coming out in July. Specs: "1.33GHz, single-core Atom N435, a six-cell battery, and a small SSD (probably of the 16GB variety)" http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/27/slim-asus-eee-pc-x101-to-hit-shelves-next-month/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/27/slim-asus-eee-pc-x101-to-...