[Archived] Hand Held Pc - The Asus Eee

[Paul]

I'm looking for a quality, i.e reliable, hand held PC - I've avoided usng the phrase PDA deliberately. The criteria are as follows:

1. Must be able to run Excel 2007 (.xlsx) and 2000 (.xls) - I know Excel will convert to 2000 (.xls)

2. Must be reliable - I am much happier to pay for a brand which will NOT fall over than save a few £££

3. Large screen is very important as I can only read small screens wearing glasses. This does not have to fit in the pocket but must be comfortable to hold in one hand and data enter with the other. Only data to be entered will be digits. I can read arial in 10 point zoomed down to 65% at 45cm distance. When I'm on the move using an hand held wearing my reading glasses for too long while walking makes me feel sick. I don't have time to take them on and off.

4. The main spreadsheet to be used will only have four columns but will have to be viewed in landscape so one of those screens that flips around would be good.

5. Touch screen entry of digits should save some space?

If it was also able to run TomTom, Outlook and surf the web that would be a bonus but not essential.

[LeChuck]

Is this any good Paul?.

Maybe not strictly hand-held, but a 7" screen makes it very small indeed. They are getting rave reviews everywhere, I quite fancy one myself.

The only drawback would be I don't think you could use Excel, but you can use the OpenOffice equivalent which (in my opinion...) is better than Microsoft Office (as well as being free) and still handles all .xls and .xlsx files as Excel does.

You could always install Windows XP Fundamentals on it if you wanted, it's a stripped down version of XP so it has just the bare essentials.

[Paul]

The only drawback would be I don't think you could use Excel, but you can use the OpenOffice equivalent which (in my opinion...) is better than Microsoft Office (as well as being free) and still handles all .xls and .xlsx files as Excel does.

Certainly worth a trip to Dixons to find out! First consideration would be weight / size. I have to be able to use this while collecting stock data across a 16 acre site! I could end up with a very tired wrist from supporting it.

What are the implications of running Linux? I know what it is but have no experience. I would be using this machine to collect stock data and then directly import into our accounts / sales order system. I'd be a bit wary of using something that I wasn't familiar with.

[LeChuck]

I have Linux and Windows on mine, and the only thing Linux can't do as well as Windows is play games, but it doesn't sound like you'll use yours for playing games at all. Aside from that I can't think of any drawback, it would definitely be worth going in to Dixon's (I think Curry's have them in too but more expensive) and playing around on one though.

[LeChuck]

Found a good video review here Paul:

It seems it comes with all the Office stuff installed already, you get a pretty good view of how it works in that video.

[Glenn]

The general feedback we're getting on Eee PC's like this is pretty positive. Quite fancy getting my hands on one myself.

[Paul]

Found a good video review here Paul:

It seems it comes with all the Office stuff installed already, you get a pretty good view of how it works in that video.

That's very useful, thanks. I feel a trip to Dixons will be called for tomorrow. On the basis of those reviews and provided I can easily hold it in one hand will entering data with the other it could be a solution. Plus at the price wouldn't be a disaster if it proved unworkable from a practical point of view.

Cheers

[Paul]

Anyone thinking of ging to Dixons to look at one of these - don't! Dixons have been rebranded as Curry's Digital, I found out yesterday.

The Asus Eee is available elsewhere but by ordering through Currys online (it is not available in store) one gets seven day approval. So I shall be playing with this for a week before deciding if it is what I need.

[Paul]

Found a good video review here Paul:

It seems it comes with all the Office stuff installed already, you get a pretty good view of how it works in that video.

Sadly that isn't the case with mine. However it is a very dinky piece of kit. Only had it a few hours but it looks very good. Once the battery is properly charged will have a real play.

Question - it is pre-loaded with Openoffice. If I use the spreadsheets in there can they be re-opened on laptop / desktop in MS Office as Excel files? (There is an option for Save As Excel 97/2000). Is the Open Office facility to save as Text.CSV files the same as the .CSV file I'm familiar with in MS Office? The main function of this machine will be stock taking. Plan is to:

1. Create suitable Excel (or similar) file

2. Enter data using the Eee

3. Return to desk

4. Download on to PC

5. Convert Excel into a CSV file

6. Use the CSV file to import the data into Sage Accounts

I already have a suitable Excel file which obviously converts easily to CSV and the import is seamless.

[cn174]

Paul, saving things in .csv format will be no problem when you come to open it in Excel.

In the options of OO you can choose the format which it saves by default.

[Biddy]

Yes, OpenOffice should be able to save and open all MS Office versions prior to 2007. And also yes to the CSV question as that is a a simple text based file format for Comma Separated Values.

Out of interest, how quick does it feel to be? Equivilent to PC's (old/new) and how quick does it turn on and shutdown?

[Paul]

Out of interest, how quick does it feel to be? Equivilent to PC's (old/new) and how quick does it turn on and shutdown?

Start up is faster than my laptop - Compaq nx 7400 about a year old running XP with MS Office 2007, Sage Professional 2008 and a few bits of bespoke software. I find PCs /laptops are becoming slower and slower to load as the software becomes more sophisticated. For example I have an 8 year old PC running W2000 and MS Office 2000 - starts up very fast, far quicker than the newer machines. Saying it is fast, this is straight out of the box today, but I was very impressed with how quickly it booted up - 30 seconds perhaps. Haven't got anything on there yet. Shutdown is very, very quick, almost instant. For the moment I've left it to charge overnight in the office, and to avoid getting a row for burying my head in the manual all night!! BTW at first glance the manual appears very easy to follow. I read the info on how to install XP and felt confident I could do it, which would be my first ever attempt. I won't be doing this till I find out if it is really necssary, it's built to work with Linux / Open Office so I think best to leave it alone if possible?.

One concern was weight and ease of handling. I think this going to be OK. It will be used in the field, literally sometimes, held in left hand and data entry with right. So this aspect is important for ease of working / comfort. Key pad is very responsive, the mouse pad is better and more controlable than my Compaq, the "click buttons" are a bit stiff and not as good as the Compaq.

A little disappointed with the charger. It's a continental plug with a travel adaptor supplied. Struck me as a bit cheapskate. Getting the plug into the travel adaptor was a bugger and it's something else to haul around. Still it's a lot easier than a fullsize laptop. I think with a memory stick and mobile connection this is going to be really good.

[Paul]

Well here we are logged in on the Asus Eee. First interesting thing I note is this post is being spell checked as I write. That has never happened before. The browser is Mozilla Firefox, perhaps it's doing it automatically?

Been playing for over an hour now and used around 50% of the battery power so i guess the 2.5 hours advertised is about right. Connecting to a wireless network was simple, it found my BT Home Hub immediately and if I could have remembered the key would have connected me. Also found several other encrypted networks plus the BT Openzone I'm using now. connection was simple. I haven't managed to connect to my phone yet but suspect that's more down to the user than the kit. Typing is OK given the keyboard size. I make more errors due to the key size but that will come with familiarity.

Played with a spreadsheet for an hour and for simple number entry it is excellent and can easily be done on the move. A bit like giant texting. Tomorrow will give it a full run with the stock take spreadsheet etc. Also have to get it to talk to the office network etc but I'm guessing we can just plug in the cable or connect with a USB cable to another machine.

Very impressed so far and feel sure we will keep this. Only negatives to date are the travel plug adapter and the mouse buttons which are a bit cheap. The mouse buttons are covered with a bit of cheap metal and require a very firm click plus they make a nasty "click" sound when used.

Biddy you asked about start up - 25 seconds, shut down is 10 seconds including clicking 3 times to confirm at each stage.

[AndyH16]

Well here we are logged in on the Asus Eee. First interesting thing I note is this post is being spell checked as I write. That has never happened before. The browser is Mozilla Firefox, perhaps it's doing it automatically?

Firefox does this, if a dictionary is installed.

[Paul]

Have now used the Asus for nearly a day. It exactly fulfills the specific need for which we purchased it and is an all round brilliant piece of kit. Only difficulties I have are adding it to the network (I'm not very good at this!), making a phone connection is proving tough but that is probably down to me as well. Everything else works instantly. These guys have cornered the market.

If anyone has any questions I'll be happy to answer as best I can but this does what it says on the tin. It is not though a substitute for a laptop / PC as you need one of these to load softare / DVDs / other stuff.

[b12_simon]

Nice one Paul. I've been drooling over these since they first started to appear on the tech sites I read.

So that's another push in the direction of getting an EEE (although for me it'd purely be a toy ).

[Paul]

Just to update on this. I've given the Eee a real pasting this week and it has stood up to everything it has been asked to do. Excellent little PC to have out in the field. I have ordered two spare batteries. The genuine working time is 2.5 hours but I need at least 6 so spares are the only choice.

A word of warning on the Open Office software, it would appear MS have put something into Office 2007 which prevents one working in Open Office and then using the file with MS Office 2007. I have been doing this:

1. Created an .xls doc in MS

2. Moved it to the Eee and opened it as an .xls file with Open Office

3. Worked in the doc most of the day

4. Moved it back on to my PC and tried to open it with MS 2007 without success

What happens is Excel opens, flashes once and then just sits doing nothing as though the programme is not responding. If one then opens an Excel file generated in MS there is no problem so the Excel programm is clearly running OK. I suspect Mr Gates has been tinkering. Anyone got a solution to this?

[LeChuck]

Paul,

There's a piece of software called CrossOver Office (actually it seems they've changed the name to CrossOver Linux, seems the same piece of software though). It allows you to install Microsoft Office on a Linux machine if you so wish. I'm not sure how easy it is to do it, but Codeweavers stuff is usually very good so I'd imagine it should be fairly straight-forward.

The only other solution I can think of is Microsoft Office will give you the option to save a file in an older format (Office 2003 for example), so in Excel you could save the .xls as an Office 2003 file, which should get rid of the incompatibility problems. I imagine OpenOffice will provide an update soon that will eradicate that problem, not sure when that will be though.

[Paul]

Le Chuck,

Already tried saving it as a 2003 file - that is .xls - the 2007 files are .xlsx. I'm going to take it home and see what happens on my home PC which is still running Office 2000. Another option I may try is to use the Virtual PC I have on my laptop. The Virtual PC runs Office 2000 and I may be able to do the job in there, we shall see. I have sneaky feeling I shall have to install Windows on the Asus and run office. Don't really want to do this as I'm warming to Open Office, it has a nice feel to its spreadsheets.

[cn174]

Paul, can you not just install Open Office on your main computer?? If all you are doing is creating a csv file to import into Sage, OO can do that.

[Paul]

Paul, can you not just install Open Office on your main computer?? If all you are doing is creating a csv file to import into Sage, OO can do that.

Ho, hum ...............sometimes it helps to have the blindingly obvious pointed out!!!! Thanks Clare I shall give that a go a bit later.