The Ultimate Travel Laptop?

I helped a friend in Kuala Lumpur search for and purchase a new laptop. At 1200RM we ended up purchasing a Asus Eee PC 900

So - details; starting with the areas where it's a real hit;

Most importantly - size and weight:

It's dimensions are 22.5cm(W) x 17.0cm(D) x 2cm~3.38cm(H) - it fits in a handbag! - the screen is 8.9inch diagonal, and has a resolution of 1024x768 - filling most of the lid area unlike it's predecessors.

Weight - 1kg (or 0.99kg according to Asus! 2.2lbs) - that's very light and as an added bonus the power supply is tiny and light weight as well.

Price - around $400 are the prices shown on Google - ours was a little more because of added Ram and increased storage.

Operating system - Windows XP - I personally like and use Linux - but I know that most people are familiar with Windows - it runs fairly smoothly on the 900mhz processor startup times are a little slow (I'll time it - but 30s is an estimate) - we paid for a 2GB Ram upgrade to aid performance.

Storage - our model came with 30GB mini HD - I'd would have preferred a SSD (solid state device) but they had none in stock - SSD means that it would run that bit faster and in theory be more robust - drops and bumps shouldn't affect it.

Features: web-cam, wi-fi, SD-Card read (SDHC importantly!), 3 x USB2 ports (nice), VGA out for an external monitor, and standard RJ45 network socket.

Doesn't Feature: Dialup socket (no big problem here), DVD player/writer (this is it's biggest limitation - but there just isn't room!)

The battery life is advertised at 2.5hrs - but generally we've seen about 1.5 hrs - web browsing - application work - so 2.5 is problem best case scenario, playing music or something non-intensive - maybe WinXP is shortening it's life compared to Linux also...

Image features, Asus Eee PC 900, power-supply, 320GB 2.5inch western digital Portable Hard-drive, a pen, and a very nice chequered table cloth

Problems - for me the keyboard is virtually impossible to use, trying to touch type on it leads too many double key-presses and missed letters. The mouse pad is also difficult to use.

Conclusion: I may well get one of these as a travel machine despite the problems - but will have to also include a USB - mouse, and keyboard, I have average male sized fingers - and those keys are just to small and temperamental.

For storage - a 320GB USB2 PHD - is a perfect accessory - it apparently works well with USB DVD writers - so if I were travelling longer term with it - I would also invest in one of those. But with all those accessories - wouldn't I be better off with a slightly larger machine with these peripherals?

The beauty of it is - I only take the things I need for the day - hitting the coffee shop to browse email and the web - just the book sized laptop and the power-supply, the peripherals stay in the backpack in the hotel. Watching DVD's on a rainy day in the hotel room - just plug in the USB DVD drive. Backing up photos - plug in the 320GB PHD - and DVD-RAM and copy away.


Alternatives: Acer have a similar sized model - tried in the stores but rejected due to a terrible mouse-pad and a slightly higher price tag, Sony have the TZ-Series - but at 3-4 times the price - and I'm sure a whole host of alternatives will appear on the market as these ultra-portable ultra-affordable machines demonstrate their effectiveness.
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I'm currently travelling with a Sony Vaio T270 which I bought just over 3 years ago - I think the T range was the forerunner of the current TZ range. It has a 10.6" screen, DVD player/writer (which I rarely use), 2 USB ports, wifi, 1GB of RAM, and a 50GB hard drive, and weighs in at 3.1 pounds (1.4 kg). The keyboard is slightly smaller than standard but took no time to get used to. It also has a highly useless MemoryStick slot (I think the latest models have SD slots). Battery life is over 3 hours on a charge and that's with wifi on constantly (which is a drain). I'm sure the latest models will have an appropriate increase in specs given that 3 years have passed since I got this.

The Sonys are worth a look if you can get a decent price (a big if). They're not as wee as the Asus machines but, even with the DVD player/writer included, are certainly small/light enough that popping one in your day bag is not a difficult decision. As far as reliability and robustness go, I've had no problems with mine yet.

If I was in the market for a travel laptop now, I'd definitely consider one of the Asus machines. 99% of the usage of my laptop while I'm travelling is Internet access via wifi, so I could easily survive without a DVD player/writer (I have a couple of series of "Arrested Development" ripped to my hard drive that will entertain me for another decade or so). However my original reason for buying the Sony was to use as a "home" machine rather than for travelling - it's worked out to be a pretty good compromise for both. Reply to this

What was your impression with screen resolution Ali and did you try running Photoshop on it BTW?
My worry with these machines is they might not perform well with RAW images, loading up and doing a spot of editing.
I went through a lot of heartaches trying to decide to take a laptop with me to India for 10 weeks and decided in the end to take a stash of SDHC cartds and burn as I go at hotels etc. For my next longer trip hopefully netbooks will be even better by then..
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Thanks for that Ali, I have taken note of your Lenova recommendation, I will check it out next year when I contemplate getting one, will keep a check on this thread also, cheers, Lesley Reply to this

I have one of the early, small ASUS eees, which is great except that mine runs Linux doesn't have XP and the Open Office suite I use doesn't open on some other computers unless the other user downloads it. The advantage of Linus is that there are fewer viruses. I just got an HP Mini 1033CL, which has a bigger keyboard and screen. It runs XP and I've loaded MS Office, but it does not have a VGA port, so it's not great if you'll beed to present.

If you turn down the screen brightness and turn off WiFi, you can get some extra time on the battery. Reply to this

I think the netbooks were made for RTW trips because they are small, light and cheap. In fact I paid more for my camera than my netbook computer. So, even if the thing breaks, I'm not too worried, especially as all the files are backed up onto an external disc drive. I would recommend that you also back up the files onto an external disc drive, so that if the worst happens you can just buy another netbook and restore all your data from the external drive. Reply to this

I've 'invested' in a Samsung NC10, at the beginning of this year. £300, not the cheapest but looks amazing.

Arguably the best netbook an the market at the moment (I tend to do a lot of research, and most reviewers placed it top).

Personally I love it...

10" screen
Atom processor (pretty standard for a netbook),
160gb Hard drive,
2GB RAM (I upgraded for £15),
windows XP (Would of preffered a Linux based OS, damn windows TAX)
And the killer spec...... 6 cell battery offering up to 6 hours battery life, HELL YEAH!!!

The whole reason I bought the machine was for travelling so I'll let you all know how it goes when I go to Japan next month!

😊 Reply to this

I'm seriously considering in getting one of these 'essential' items myself, and from the limited range around in stock and leaning toward the HP mini 110-1156TU.

Am interested in opinions if there are any out there.

Intel Atom N280 processor (1.66 GHz)
1 GB RAM - would upgrade to 2
250 GB HD
10.1 inch widescreen monitor
Windows 7 Starter
Wi-Fi
Ethernet (RJ45)
Webcam
USB x 3
5 in 1 card reader Reply to this

Thanks for the reply Chris. I had checked the battery and you're right, the 6 cell is extra.

Will have a look at the Seashell as well. Reply to this

Ali, I thought that within the 'netbook realm' we are essentially talking an Intel Atom processor with a decent (NVidia 9400M Ion) graphics unit. Represented by the Lenovo s12 (I saw for $440 during last weeks Cyber Monday Sales), and the Samsung N150, here in N. America. Don't know bout elsewhere.

From what I understand, most manufacturers pretty much use the exact same screens (1024x600) at the 10 inch netbook level. Because apparently Intel had restricted the size of the display that they would allow manufacturers to use with N-series Atom chips

Anyway, 10 inch was the new 15.6 inch; now 12.1 inch is the new 10 inch I reckon; though of course there's 11.6... but what can I say, I just plumped for a 14.1! (I like to think of it as a midi-notebook) Reply to this