We are back from our “annual”one week holiday trip to Mallorca (compare this old post from 2007). For a very specific reason we decided to travel a month earlier this year; we going to post this reason somewhen in summer. April is a good time for visiting this beautiful island, too. Compared to May the weather is not that stable and warm. But we got luck and had just one rainy day; all other days were warm with 19 – 22 degree Celsius. In the case that you can choose between April and May I would recommend to select May.

Anyway…We made some very interesting observations concerning management related issues. To be more specific: How to satisfy longtime customer OR that the right staff can be the best CRM system. I gonna describe these issues in one of my next posts, so stay in touch with Eddielogic.

This trip was also a good opportunity to test my new gadget, an Asus Eee PC in the 4 G version. Due to some supply bottleneck in Germany (this sale started in December last year) I had some time to consider this “investment”. Until then I used a VPA IV (a mobile digital assistant with Windows Mobile 5.0 and UMTS), which has a brilliant screen and small keyboard to write e-mails on the road. The major disadvantage is that is does not have a broadband internet access (I bought that device in 2006). Furthermore opening larger word files may take some time. Hence I decided to upgrade my hardware and considered to buy a Nokia E 90 or to spend a small fortune one a very small 12 inch notebook.

Two weeks ago I got the opportunity to test and to buy the Asus Eee PC and I never looked back so far. It comes with Linux as OS, Open Office (Version 2.0) and Mozilla Thunderbird as e-mail client. The price was 299 Euro. So what can you expect for this price?

 

Well, there are a number of product features; hence I will put an emphasis on those that are very important for me. You get a very small, very light sub notebook (0,92 kg) that gives you access to your e-mails and office files. You get three USB sockets, hence you can plug in your USB memory sticks and USB hard drives. You get a built-in WiFi 802.11 b/g that automatically detects and connects to hotspots. But my favorite is this: I can use my UTMS broadband / G3 / EDGE whatever mobile data access stick. Installation was very easy and took me less than two minutes. That means – in the case that there is no hotspot available – I can use my mobile phone provider to have Internet access at broad band speed (7.6 MB per second). That is not bad, isn’t it? So, are there any disadvantages? Of course, you cannot expect to have the quality and technology of a 1.999 Euro notebook for this price. From my perspective there are two major disadvantages: The screen is too small (the new one EeePC 900 will have a large one), some menus and buttons are only available if you shift the relevant program window over the screen. Using the Asus outdoor – you will have some problems to identify the screen even at the highest brightness level.

 

Me and my Asus, Puerto Pollenca (2008)

 

In the next couple of months Asus will start to sell the Asus EeePC 900 for around 400 Euro. It might be that this will drop the price of the current generation. In the case that you can imagine to work with Open Office and don’t have fear of contact with Linux, the 4 G is a nice piece of hardware.