Where to buy an Asus Eee PC 900 - Munich

Hi,

Has anyone seen the new Asus Eee PC 900 in the stores yet? Saturn at PEP told me they would arrive mid-May, but the T-online shop says 7 weeks yet. I'm itching to buy one - has anyone seen them in the stores yet? Can anyone report on their experience with the previous model? If you have one, do you miss not having a CD/DVD drive?

Thanks!

I looked at the current ASUS model about a month ago, and drew the conclusion that it was not worth it. Too limited, too small, and no capacity for expansion. For €120 more I got a *real* PC, 15inch screen, DVD burner, familiar software and the ability for endless additions, upgrades and applications. The new model is more expensive and is little better apart from a larger screen.
No doubt this will be a prompt for the Windows hating Linux lovers to appear out of the woodwork.

The EEE900 Is not avail. in stores yet.. Forget Saturn, The 1st people to get it will be the Asus
resellers. So head on down to Litec or Bauers and ask them when they will get it.

The eee PC is kinda skint on hardware, but if you want to crack it open and play with a soldering gun
it's capabilities can be greatly expanded. It even comes in a Windows XP version so you cam use "familiar software".
Or even better, Install Linux and Open office and try something different.

The eeePC isn't the only ultra portable Linux PC on the market.. have a read here for more info

You are absolutely right, but I think that maybe you have missed the point, it shouldn't necessarily replace your regular machine, but the size makes it great for travelling. Why take a full size laptop with you when you are not on a business trip? Internet Cafes tend to come with a lot of problems (password sniffing software) so having your own is better. It isn't intended to play GTA4, it does have fairly low power consumption and having no hard-drive, it is fairly robust.

A 40% price hike is only worth it if you are actually going to use those extras. The target market generally splits between non-techies; those you use it as a simple internet device and those techies that want a small lightweight (hackable) notebook when their normal laptop is just too much hassle.

As others have said Litec are worth contacting.

BTW Most of the reviews say the XP and Linux version will be the same price but the Linux version with have a bigger 20GB SSD vs 12GB on the Windows box, so if you plan to install your favourite distro the Linux box is better value.

Because I'll primarily use the word processing and VOIP features, I think I can give up the CD/DVD drive to save weight and have something robust. Notebooks seem to weigh over 2 kg, but the Eee PC weighs less than 1 kg.

I'll take a look at both alternatives though. Apparently, the Amazon US price is $499 (roughly 324 Euro and falling ;-)

I pre-ordered one of these from the UK back in December - they still haven't arrived! Marc Eisenstadt of The Open University KMI did a rave review back in Nov.2007 after he'd driven 20 miles to pick up his EEE PC. Portability and connectivity are the selling points.