Netbooks fill two needs for me. First, I need to access the Internet when I am on the move. Most of the information I need to make a living is somewhere in the cloud and for all practical purposes my browser is my business desktop. I do, however, need to write as well as read. I am writing this on the X101 in Google docs. A tablet doesn't work for me; I must have a keyboard.
I also have to write when I am not connected to the Internet--something that happens to me fairly often. That means I also need a word processor.
To keep me connected and writing, or just writing when not connected, I want a throw-away machine that boots up and shuts down quickly. By a throw-away, I mean something I can ruin by leaving it out in the rain without feeling that I have suffered a significant financial loss. The quick boot is so that I don't have to leave the thing in sleep mode all day to avoid the pain of restarting it. I don't need a lot of computing power or storage. I don't use power hungry applications or keep information I care about on netbooks.
After a weekend with the Asus X101 with Meego, I have the following observations.
Internet: Everything is fine here. The Chromium browser works well and the screen is bright. Videos, images, pdfs, and other files display easily. The wi-fi connects painlessly.
Word Processor and Office Applications: The Asus X101 comes with OpenOffice and a very basic text editor. I use OpenOffice in my physical office and like it in that context. OpenOffice, however, is big and acts a bit clunky on the X101. It opens slowly and at times the low powered X101 struggles with it. Something like Jarte--a little more sophisticated than a simple text editor, but less than a full office suite--needs to show up on the Asus application site.
Keyboard: It has a chiclet keyboard which is not as comfortable as a full sized keyboard, but it isn't bad. I have hands that can palm a basketball, yet I was up to full speed typing after an hour or so of getting the feel of it. One thing I like is that the touchpad is easy to turn off so you don't accidentally hit it when typing.
Meego: The Meego operating system boots up in about fifteen seconds. This is better than windows on a low powered machine, but not great. It shuts down almost instantly. I found configuring and then navigating Meego a bit confusing at first, but I eventually got a desktop that works for me. I can now navigate multiple applications without having to think too much about the operating system. That is good.
Meego Applications: There is a Meego App Store that comes with the computer,but the shelves are almost empty. I didn't see anything I wanted, but, other than a middle of the road word processor, there isn't a lot I need that isn't included.
Battery Life and Weight: Batteries are heavy and this thing is not. It is very thin and light. You pay for it in battery life. I have gotten between three and four hours out of a charge, a fairly short time compared to heavier Asus netbooks, but not bad compared to many full size notebooks. It has a reasonably small plug, and no unwieldy power brick.
I have only had the X101 a few days, but I consider it a keeper. It does a few things well and those happen to be things that I need done. I am over searching for the one machine that does everything. The X101 provides cheap lightweight connectivity, a workable keyboard, and some basic stand alone applications. If you need a lot more than that, I would look elsewhere.
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