[plug] Eee 901 and other "netbooks"

[Trevor Phillips]

Going on an extended road trip soon, I'm sorely tempted to pick up
something like an Eee, for the odd bit of wireless browsing, ebook
reading, Starcraft, and portable web development. ^_^

Through doing a bit of reading online, I quite like the look of the
Eee 901 model, both compared to other Eees, and the competition. In
particular, I like the look of the simplified GUI it provides for
general use. It's something that looks like I could buy, get working
with minimal fuss, yet still be able to fire up a terminal and tinker
under the bonnet.

The Eee 900 isn't too bad, with the main differences that I can see
being the 901 has a faster and more energy efficient CPU, meaning, as
well as more grunt, it has longer battey life too. The 901 also has
Bluetooth, which would be a nice perk, but not a show-stopper.

The problem is - the 900 seems to be around $550, while the 901 seems
to be more like $700 (even though the XP equivalent is under $650) -
and hard to get hold of locally! $150 for a little bit more
performance and battery life seems a bit steep...

Does anyone know any Perth places (or reliable online ordering) that
would have the Linux 901 (pref. Black) for a more reasonable price?

The other alternative is to pick up a 700 for $300 somewhere, just as
a filler & experiment, and get something a bit meatier when they're
cheaper.

Or, there's the competitors "netbooks". I'd rather not start fiddling
with full distro installs and fiddling with driver compatability so
close to leaving, but it is an option.

Even Dell now have a pretty decent looking Netbook, the Dell Mini 9 -
except in Australia they don't list the Linux version as an option,
and I don't know if it'll arrive before we go. Oh, and it's a Dell.
^_^

Has anyone compared the Eees to the alternatives now filtering on to
the market? Any recommended place in Perth that'd have stock & decent
prices? ^_^

Thanks...

-- 
Trevor Phillips - http://dortamur.livejournal.com/
"On nights such as this, evil deeds are done. And good deeds, of
course. But mostly evil, on the whole."
 -- (Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters)