Netbooks: where Windows XP shines

I have been a very happy user of the Asus EEE PC 901 for several weeks now. I really started looking into the EEE line just when it launched with the 701 model. The 701 was an excellent idea: as full portable computer as possible for as little money as possible. But I soon realized the 701 specs were falling a little short from my expectations. The main reason was the screen, and especially it's horizontal resolution of 800 pixels. The main reason for buying a netbook is Web browsing and 800 pixels across is just not enough. 90% of web pages nowadays are designed for XGA or 1024x768 resolution. So 800 screen means you are getting a horizontal scroll bar most of the time. Handling just one scroll bar (the vertical one) is what we are used to. Most Web pages are simply longer than the monitors we use. But two scroll bars are just too uncomfortable. So I was really happy to learn Asus planned to launch the 900 series with 1024 screen. And then just after the Centrino - based 900 had hit the shelves, the news abot the Atom - based 901 emerged. The Atom processor was promising a lot more battery run time. Hence the reason to wait for the 901.

I was little afraid the Atom would not be powerful enough to handle Windows XP, the default operating system coming with the Asus. My primary notebook runs a dual core Centrino Core Duo L7700 at 1,8GHz, and it just handles Windows Vista at an acceptable speed. So what was my relief when I first powered the EEE 901 once it arrived, just to see it was very fast running the supplied XP Home. I installed the Google Chrome on the EEE and have to admit it runs certain applications (the Google Reader for example) faster than the L7700 powered Lenovo X61s. Surely the Chrome V8 JavaScript engine contributes a lot here, but the end result is the end result. David beating Goliath - the EEE is full five times less expensive compared to the X61. Sure it lacks 200GB of secure storage, offering merely 8GB of free flash partition. But hey, it is a netbook, not a notebook. A portable computer with its primary goal to deliver full Web browsing experience you can take with you. And for $300, without large storage on board (meaning you do not have on it much you can lose), you won't be afraid of taking it with you much more often than before. For me it is a perfect computer for holidays. Runs long time on batteries (6 hours), is small and light, delivers comfortable Web browsing experience either with WiFi or with a 3G USB modem, and really if it gets stolen I won't be crying.


So all nice and easy? Not so... There was unfortunately a bad experience of setting it up. It was not preloaded with tons of bloatware (although I did uninstall several applications like Microsoft Works), but it came with really old version of Windows XP preinstalled. Working with the machine in the background (means I did not devote my full time to setting it up), it took me three days and multiple reboots to have Windows Update finish it s work of bringing the machine to the up-to-date state. This is something really hard to understand. A brand new model comes preloaded with three-or-more years old version of an operating system. And then it take so long and so much pain to have it aligned to the current state of art. After finally upgrading Windows with tons of patches, I set up the applications intended to be used and then took a drive snapshot with help of Acronis Migrate Easy. The primary flash drive of the EEE has been mirrored to the 4GB SD flash card, should I have to reload everything one day. I really wish Microsoft looked into what versions of their OSes are being distributed with current devices. Half of the frustration and the bad press Windows is getting comes from bad preinstallations prepared by the hardware vendors. Apple, by default, has full control of what is put in the hands of end users when they buy a new machine. Microsoft should too, or it will suffer even more in the time to come.