college and Eee PC?

Are there any college students out there that have the Eee PC.

If so, how well does it meet your demands for school?
How often do you use it for your schooling purposes?
And, if you had the chance, would you prefer the Eee PC or another 15inch laptop?

 

I've been interested in the EEE PC for quite some time now, but I don't think it should be your main laptop. Sure it's small and cheap, but there are a lot of limitations it has.

First, the screen is really small. You're probably not going to like side scrolling for every website. Second, you can get much better specs for the same price with other laptops. The EEE PC is cheap, but spec-wise, you're paying a lot for a little. And finally, it's not much of a portable laptop. The battery life is really bad. The rep said he only get's at max 2 hours. Not much for on the go use. The keyboard is also pretty small, and it will be hard to type on. I tried typing on it, and it kinda defeated the purpose of me wanting to buy an EEE.

I'd wait for the Atom EEE PC 901 and see how the reviews are.

 

Hello jujuk8,
I used the Eee PC 701 for the spring semester, successfully.

I did have a 21" HDTV that I would plug in to the Eee PC at my desk in my room(my HDTV supported VGA cables)--any monitor will do. AND THIS IS NECESSARY...... I did light gaming(warcraft 3), website editing, and all my word processing using the eee+monitor... I can't imagine staying up all night to finish that important term paper with 800x480 screen, lol... you need a monitor.
You will also need some SDHC/external HD solution for more disk space(4GB isn't enough ).

The real benefit of the Eee PC is its convenience... you might be reluctant to haul a 15" laptop from your desk to all your classes, but the eee pc is tiny and never a problem. 3 hours of battery got me through every single one of my days, too.(Just barely on Mondays and Wednesdays, heh).

It's very acceptable for typing lecture notes. It's 800x480 or so, so the screen real estate is small, and you need to disable most of the editing toolbars in your word processor program(I used openoffice 2.0). Other than that, I took a 300-level history course this spring, and I comfortably typed 3+ pages of notes each class. (Or at least, I did that for five weeks, and then I was lucky if I actually showed up for class )

I personally did not have a problem with the keyboard--at first you stumble and it takes you forever to type in passwords correctly, but after about two days I was back to typing 80+wpm easily. You probably want a mouse for your desktop at least.

One concern: 3 USB ports... consider your needs and purchase a USB hub if necessary. Also, USB hard drives cannot be connected via a hub--they need to be directly connected to Eee PC....

That's probably my only con-- it can be a pain to turn your tiny Eee pc into a workstation when you're at home... Power cable, ethernet cable, USB HD, usb hub, VGA monitor--5 cables to remove/plug in whenever you leave or return to your room.

But the Eee did run XP great and fulfilled all of my needs. You may not wish the hassle of managing your eee laptop and all those peripherals(external hd, monitor, etc)--but you can complete a semester of college on it.

p.s. If you have another laptop/desktop, then much of the above may not be apply... Simply use your Eee to take to classes and type up lecture notes, and then share those docs with your laptop/desktop at home... That would be very easy to accomplish.

 

I am purchasing a 11"-13" notebook for this fall(eventually)... mostly because I want a more powerful rig, and more screen real estate to work on projects by itself(in the car, at friend's places, etc)...

Again, the Eee is great for typing lecture notes etc, but you will want a monitor if you like to multitask with multiple programs open, etc. Also, I wouldn't dream of using something like MS OneNote on the native 800x480--definitely need a monitor for that.

 

THANK YOU!!!!! Very MUCH!!!

exactly what I was looking for.

I've got a spare 15 inch flat panel monitor..Do you think it is big enough if I were to get this laptop?

Can you use Microsoft word 2003 on the Eee PC?

Which version of the Eee PC do you have?

I do have another laptop- in my sig- but there is no way 2 hours of battery life and a 6lb. machine is going to last me throughout the day. I was thinking about getting another one. This gateway is my desktop replacement, and I need something smaller to lug around in class.


reps to you!

 

15" would be big enough for me--just a matter of personal preference.

I would assume yes... Check out these two links for lists of supported software/hardware.
http://wiki.eeeuser.com/list:othersoftware
http://wiki.eeeuser.com/list:games
In fact, the Eeeuser.com forums would be very helpful, also.

Eee PC 701 4G... It came with Linux, and I installed my own XP disc. Now, you can purchase Eee's that ship with XP pre-installed--I would recommend this.

 

I would highly recommend a 8.9" EEEpc rather than a 7" if you will be using it constantly. 7" screen is a little too small for some, especially if you're typing word documents.