King IT Services Ltd.

So as some of you know I test-drove one of the new Asus Eee Top touch screen PC’s. I won’t get into the specs, if you need them you can go right to Asus web page.  I will talk about my experience with this unit however.  Off the top the first reaction to this is “cool”.  It is a slick looking machine, and the price is unbelievable.  When you compare it with the twice the price HP touch systems, it is a no brainer.  But then you get to using it.

I found Windows XP to be lacking in touch abilities.  So after a day I upgraded to Windows 7 RC.  The touch ability under 7 was much better.  With Picasa you could use multi-touch to zoom in and out of the photos.  But while playing with this you start to see the limitations of the system.  It only has 1GB of ram and an Atom (netbook) processor, and it cannot handle most multimedia applications.  It had difficulty streaming internet radio while looking through our photo collection.  It was at this point that I realized the real market for this machine.  It is not for the young university student, it is for grandma, or mom to use in the kitchen to surf the net and look up recipe’s.

Now you may think I am unhappy with this box.  You couldn’t be more wrong.  I love this box, you just need to use it how it was designed.  The programmed screensaver has pictures of people using it, not to render video, but playing games with the kids, and grandpa surfing away.  If you are purchasing it for those reasons I think you would be very happy.

For me, I need more power.  So I ordered the iMac 24″ 2.66 w/ 4 GB of Ram.  It will handle all of my multimedia demands easily.  But at about 3x the price it comes at a cost.  I will let you know how the switch campaign goes for my family. I promise to never become a Apple fan boy though.