Q. Why should one buy the ASUS Eee PC 4G?
A. ASUS Eee PC 4G has been a rage all over the world ever since it was launched by ASUS. Some of the main reasons for its success have been:

• Very light weight. At less than 1 kg, it is about 1/2 to 1/3 the weight of a “regular/ larger” laptop. This makes it very attractive / appealing for the traveler.
• SSD based storage keeps the laptop temperature low, unlike “regular/larger” laptops where the temperature can go as high as 60 degrees C under normal operating conditions.
• With the pre-installed Linux operating system, this is a very reliable machine with no risk of viruses.
• Linux requires very little resources to run - which implies longer battery time. Typical user experience has pegged the battery life at 3 hours

These factors make this a very useful computer for the traveling professional as well as for the home users. Longer battery life (not just under test conditions) ensure that this is a highly portable device.

Q. What about the applications available on Windows - are there compatible applications available for Linux?
A. Yes - there are many applications available for Linux which are compatible with their Windows counter-parts. Refer to the list below for some of the most common applications:

• Documents: Openoffice.org provides applications that are compatible with MS Word, MS Excel and MS Powerpoint.
• Email: There are many good choices when it comes to email client applications but we have found the Zimbra Desktop to be a complete solution comparable to Microsoft Outlook
• Movie/ music Player: VLC is a cross platform media player and support most of the media formats supported on Windows.
• Instant Messaging: Pidgin is a multi-protocol instant messaging client. It currently supports MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk amongst many other protocols.

Apart from these, Wine support execution of Windows applications on Linux. When running applications through Wine, you get the reliability and security of Linux as the underlying platform while you run many “native windows applications” on Linux.

Q. The default 4GB storage is “too small”. Would this not be a constraint for normal day-to-day usage?
A. The ASUS Eee PC 4G is an ideal computer for mobile users, perfect for someone who already has a desktop. Since this is a Linux machine, the operating system and common applications take smaller space (compared to their Windows counterparts) leaving a larger chunk of the 4GB storage for day to day activities. The storage does have a tendency to get filled up quickly and hence it is ideal to store any media files (movies etc) to an external USB pen-drive and use them from there.

Our Recommendation: we recommend purchasing the Eee PC for home users as well as for traveling professionals as a second computing device.

ASUS-Eee-PC-4G is a small and very light notebook - less than 1kg - and a battery life of three hours provides a very high level of mobility.

Since its launch in the USA in Q4 2007, this notebook has become an essential notebook for the business executive.

It is also becoming one of the most popular gift to family members, like students and parents.

If you are using this notebook, you are in definitely in tune with changing times of new technology that is small but sophisticated.

This notebook is available in multiple colors - white, black, pink, blue and green.

Technical Specifications

The technical specs for these laptops are:

• Processor: Intel Celeron M ULV 900MHz
• Memory: 512MB of DDR2 RAM (667 MHz)
• Storage: 4GB of Flash based storage (SSD) - sufficient for most works
• Operating System: Xandros Linux (specially customized to make it easy to use)
• Screen: 7-inch screen with 800×480 resolution
• Webcam: 0.3 MegaPixel -easy webchat & video conference
• WIFI Wireless Enabled: 802.11b/g Atheros
• Graphics: Integrated Intel GMA 900 GPU
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA monitor out, headphone jack, microphone input, SD card reader, Kensington lock slot, Ethernet 10/100
• Battery: 4-cell 5200 mAh 7.4V Li-Ion (rated at 3.5 hours)
• Input: Keyboard & Touchpad
• Weight: 0.9 Kg

These specs provide great performance for this small laptop and it can be used for regular day-to-day activity - both professional document creation/editing work and of course, Internet and web-chats.

The notebook starts very rapidly, and you can almost immediately start working or searching for information. It’s almost like starting a mobile phone!

The peripheral ports are located conveniently on either side of the laptop, making it super easy to plug in or remove any accessories (e.g. pen-drives or USB mouse):

Solid-State-storage media (SSD) and ultra compact keyboard are amongst the other major hardware features. The SSD provides a super cool ‘n quiet operation of the laptop - very unlike the regular HDD based laptops.

The keyboard sports a very neat finish - again very unlike other “computers” in this form factor. It may take some time to get used to its form factor since the keys are located closer to each other compared to other (bigger) laptops.

Software

The ASUS Eee PC comes pre-installed with Xandros OS - a Linux distribution - and sports a look-n-feel very close to Microsoft Windows. The laptop also comes with more than 40 applications pre-install for every type of need - from work and email to listening music and watching movies.

These applications are neatly organized in their own workspace:

Work-Spaces

These workspaces contain the shortcuts that can be used to start individual applications - similar to Windows. Below are a couple of snapshots of different workspaces:

Work-tab

Play-tab

Its screen at 7″ diagonal size with a resolution of 800×480, is decent for regular document editing and watching movies.

Document editing on Asus Eee PC

Thus, the pre-installed applications make it easy to use the laptop readily out-of-the-box.

So overall, this is a VERY Trendy laptop notebook that is becoming a hit with both business professionals and students worldwide– thanks to its beautiful features, compact size and mobility.

Other Details:

• Warranty: One Year Warranty support by Asus. Please do not attempt to open the laptop notebook otherwise it will break the warranty.
• Shipping: The shipping address can be anywhere in India. You will receive the laptop within maximum 3 weeks from the date of payment, while 2-3 weeks is the usual time.

So Whats the Price?

Before we tell you our price, first we want you to see what the market prices are like.

Market Price and Competing Offers:

The Retail Price of this notebook is Rs 18,000 and here are two other offers in the market (we are listing them here so that you don’t have to waste time in searching for them on your own).

http://shopping.rediff.com/shop/productdisplay.jsp?prrfnbr=10264713

http://www.gadgetsguru.com/asus-eee-pc-4g-lowest-price-spec-cheap-sale-india-5066.aspx

And What’s Our Price for You?

Only Rs 14,995 14,750 (including shipping and VAT) - as you can see for yourself, this is the BEST price on this Top Quality Laptop Notebook.

While Rediff is offering Rs 10 saving, we are offering Rs 3000+ saving! So when we say that we will get you the best deals, we are serious about it. With us, you will make the maximum savings. Guaranteed.

Great. How Do I Buy?

Just fill the form below, and we will email you back with payment options and we will take the shipping address from you.

P.S. If you have been thinking of buying a stylish new laptop notebook, or gifting a laptop to your family member, this is the best deal in the market today. But you should buy while our stocks last.

Following is a stylish new Ultra Mobile PC (called UMPC), which a brand new design worldwide, and it is very interesting because its great on price-by-performance. This is the smallest size laptop in the world today that also supports Windows XP.

Please see the specifications below and give us your vote so that we understand the customer preferences better.

————————————————–

• CPU: VIA 1GHz
• Operation system: Linux, supports WINDOWS XP or VISTA
• Memory: 512MB RAM
• Storage Device: Hard Disk:20GB + Solid State Flash Drive:4GB
• Screen Size: 7″ TFT; M+D36atrix 800*480
• Build-in camera: 1.3 Meg pixel camera
• WIFI: Built-in WI-FI 802.1 B/G/A
• LAN: 10/100M Ethernet Access
• Keyboard: 84 Standard English Keys
• Mouse&Touch pad: Mouse(touchpad) input device
• USB Port: USB 2.0*3
• Card Port: 3 in 1 MMC/SD/MS
• Sound effect: High-effect audio, Build-in stereo speaker, Build-in Microphone
• Power Supply adapter: Input 110V-240V, ouput 10V 3A
• Battery: 4 Core, 2400MAH
• Last time: 4.5 hrs/ WORK TIME:2.5HRS
• Weight: 0.95kg

————————————————–

* Note the CPU, RAM, and Storage…they are enough for most professional work. Most of the UMPCs today have weaker specs which make it impossible to do much work, but this brand new model is different.

As far as we are aware, there are no similar laptops in the market today, except one model by Asus EEE PC which comes with 8.9 inch screen and is more expensive. Laptops with same specs (but bigger in size) are selling for about $550 today, when you include taxes and shipping.

Would it interest You if you could get this laptop between $325 and $425? ( the price range exists because the shipping costs and import tax duties vary country by country, and some countries make it more expensive)

Please vote by clicking here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/7iDigital-UMPC

Your vote and comments will help us offer the best deals.
Thanks a lot!
7iDigital Team

Following is a stylish new laptop that we believe is very interesting because its great on price-by-performance. And there are no small size laptops in the market today with this configuration.

Please see the specifications below and give us your vote so that we understand the customer preferences better.

————————————————–

• CPU: VIA C7-M® Mobile processor and VIA chipset-1.6 GHz
• Operation system: Supports Windows XP or LINUX
• RAM: 512MB(DDR2)–2GB(OPTIONAL)
• Storage Capacity: 80 GB SATA
• Screen Size: 10.2″ WVGA TFT-LCD
  M+D36atrix 1024*600
• Build-in camera: Built-in good quality 1.3-megapixel camera
• WIFI: 802.11b/g
• VGA: External VGA, and built-in VIA/S3G Unichrome Pro II chip
• LAN: 10/100M Ethernet Access
• Keyboard: 84 Standard English Keys
• Mouse & Touch pad: Mouse(touchpad), set two shortcut key,and support usb port mouse
• USB Port: USB 2.0*3
• Card Reader Port: SD/MMC
• Sound Effect: In focus Audio, Build-in stereo speaker, Build-in Microphone
• Battery: 4CELL / 6CELL (OPTIONAL)
• Battery Last time: 4.5HRS / WORKD TIME:3.5HRS
• Weight: 0.985kg

————————————————–

If you commute to work or if you are traveling regularly between countries or between office buildings(!), this ultra-mobile laptop is one of the best options we have come across, and it’s a new model. Laptops with similar specs (but bigger in size) are selling for about $700 today.

Would it interest You if you could get this laptop between $450 and $550?
( the price range exists because the shipping costs and import tax duties vary country by country, and some countries make it more expensive)

Please vote by clicking here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/7iDigital-Pro10

Your vote and comments will help us offer the best deals.
Thanks a lot!
7iDigital Team

A company is now selling what it calls the “world’s cheapest laptop,” which at US$130, is not a bad deal if you can bear some hardware limitations.

The Impulse NPX-9000 laptop has a 7-inch screen and comes with the Linux OS. It has a 400MHz processor, 128M bytes of RAM, 1G byte of flash storage and an optional wireless networking dongle. It includes office productivity software, a Web browser and multimedia software.

There’s a caveat though — it has to bought in bulk, in units of 100. The laptop is available on Alibaba.com through the online store of Taiwanese company Carapelli Ltd.

BUT the same model has been in the market for the last 6 months already(!) and some vendors have been offering it at retail price (single unit price) for about $185, and in a few cases with some better specifications too.

As you would have noted, their cheap price is with 100 units MOQ (minimum order quantity), which means its not for retail customers. To us, the cheap price looks more like a marketing pitch because some the existing suppliers can give similar pricing with 100 units MOQ.

In fact, we have been seeing this laptop/UMPC for a while now - its of a new genre called UMPC (ultra mobile pc), and come with very less RAM and Solid State Flash Hard Drive — okay for browing the web and helping a kid pick up computers, but not okay for professional work involving multiple browser tabs and open files.

As we have been arranging our low cost laptop models, we have evaluated over 100 laptop suppliers across APAC, Europe, and America, and we wanted to share some things with you, so that you are fully aware of the risks with buying Cheap Laptops:

1. The real risk of buying a cheap laptop is not about its technology, but about its supplier. Alibaba and MadeinChina have a lot of fake suppliers. We are not saying this supplier is fake, but it is a fact that for every genuine supplier, there are 4 fake suppliers. So you have to be very careful.

2. Fake suppliers will attract you with a very cheap price, but just before the order, they will say stock-over, etc, and try to push you into buying a more expensive laptop. These are again the signs of a fake supplier, who wants to extract the maximum cash from you.

3 How do you identify a fake supplier on Alibaba or Made in China? Just follow these steps:

(a) Is the supplier using company domain id in emails or Hotmail/ Yahoo/Gmail? If they are not using their company domain id, then just walk away. They are very likely to be fake. And you have no way to track them.

(b) If the supplier shares his payment info (esp Western Union) right from the start — its a big red flag. Walk away. Serious suppliers will wait to give the payment info only after all Q&A is done. Try to insist on PayPal payment because it has buyer protection (in this aspect, EBay is good because PayPal is mandatory).

(c) Always ask for at least 2 customer references - email and phone numbers. And buy only when you have spoken with existing customers. Those suppliers who refuse to give customer references (for any reason) can be assumed to be fake.

(d) Sometimes suppliers will show you online shipping tracking numbers as proof of shipping for other customers - but that’s useless because fake suppliers would send a $10 USB drive on shipping to some address in your country, and use that tracking number make you believe it was a laptop shipment.

So if you can’t speak with existing customers, you should not do business. As simple!

We are coming up with a new website (name not to be revealed yet!) in the next couple of weeks that will help everyone flag fake suppliers, their email ids and websites. We believe a lot of people will benefit because you can also cross check if your supplier is reliable or not. You can use our new site help in fighting online fraud.

So if you haven’t done it already, please sign-up so that you will know about this valuable new site when its live, and you can also share it with your family and friends. Thanks for coming by.

Let us look at the applications under a few major software categories currently on offer in the Linux world:

Operating system: Support for all the peripheral devices that come with the laptop is one of the major concerns when talking about operating systems.

Microsoft has a lead in this area but some Linux distributions have made long strides as far as device support is concerned. Canonical’s Ubuntu which is based on Debian, is currently the Linux operating system of choice in this regard. It contains out of box support for a multitude of devices and has a very robust update methodology.

Debian, Fedora, Suse and Mandriva are a few other choices that users have while choosing a Linux operating systems for their laptops and each distribution has its own set of features that users may need to consider.

Office Productivity Suite: OpenOffice.org is the leading office productivity suite application on Linux. It works quite well with all the documents created using MS Office applications.

Being from the FOSS world, it provides integrated support for many other formats, such as ODF, which are not provided by MS Office natively yet. Also, OpenOffice.org provides native support for saving documents in PDF format.

Internet Browser: Firefox and Opera are the two main internet browsers available on Linux. These are also available on Windows so users won’t feel any difficulty in switching between Windows and Linux.

Instant Messaging Clients: There are several instant messaging clients available on Linux that allow users to chat with people using MSN (amsn, kopete), Yahoo (kopete) or Google Talk (pidgin).

There are a few integrated messaging clients as well, viz. kopete and pidgin, that enable users to chat with their counterparts on different clients using the same application.

There is also a relatively old version of Skype available on Linux so users won’t feel completely left out with regard to their PC-PC calls / telephony needs.

Media Players: Once again, there are many options for users when selecting a media player on Linux.

In our experience, VLC provides reliable functionality when working with media of different formats. This is also available for Windows so users have the flexibility to use the same application on both platforms.

The “core” of a processor is the entity that is actually responsible for executing instructions - the machine language that software programs are translated to - on the processor. As a result, a single core processor can handle - loosely speaking - one task at a time, while a processor with multiple cores can handle multiple tasks at the same time.

If you look at the number of tasks in your task manager that are running at any point of time on your computer, you will notice that there are multiple tasks running - some of them would be the applications that you have started while others would be the system management tasks that are invoked by the operating system.

Considering this factor, it should be advantageous to buy a processor with as many cores as possible. But in reality, the performance of an application does not improve N-times when they are moved  from a system with single core processor to a system with a multi-core processor.

While multiple cores can handle multiple tasks simultaneously, the software programs that execute on the computer - The Operating System, Internet Browsers, Document Editors etc - have not been fully translated yet to harness the full potential of multiple cores on a processor. Developing software to take advantage of multiple cores is a tough problem mainly because of concurrency issues that arise when parts of applications running on the different cores try to access data from main memory. These problems are so complex that Intel and Microsoft have jointly funded a project for research in this area.

Applications such as internet browsers, document editors, instant messaging clients do not put a
huge amount of load on the computer. As a result computers buyers such as home users, business professionals, and students still see a good performance and stability gain when using a dual core processor.

On the other hand, games like Supreme Commander have been optimized to extract maximum performance from Quad Core processors. Also, there are some other graphics based special applications - e.g. ray tracing - which have been tuned to take the full advantage of the multiple cores on a processor. Buyers who plan to use a computer for these purposes should consider a computer system with Quad-core processors to get the maximum benefit.

Battery backup time: This is the length of time a battery can support normal operation of laptop starting a from fully charged state when in off-power mode. Battery backup time is typically measured in hours.
Battery Life: This is the life of a battery measured in months (or years). This measures the time period in which the battery operates normally through charge/ discharge cycles.

Most laptops come with Li-Ion batteries which have the following characteristics:

1. Battery backup time suffers a gradual and irreversible degradation with time and usage. This affects battery life as well.
2. New batteries are designed for a pre-defined number of charge-discharge cycles.
3. Heat has an adverse effect on the battery backup time and battery life.

The following steps are recommended for users to ensure a long battery life and to maintain a reasonable battery backup time.

Ensure that the battery is not constantly exposed to high temperatures. Laptops tend to get hot when used continuously for a long duration. This is harmful for batteries. While prolonged usage of laptops cannot be avoided, there are a few things that can be done to keep the laptop temperature under control:

• Ensure that the base of the laptop is properly ventilated. Do not keep the laptop on a soft surface. A soft surface can block the vents used for cooling down the laptops. If possible, use a laptop cooling pad.
• Do not run too many applications simultaneously. Running too many applications causes thrashing between Hard Disk and Main Memory, which keeps the hard disk spinning continuously. This also high load on the CPU. Both these factors contribute to generation of more heat (also more power is consumed as a result).
• Remove the battery, after it is fully charged, if the laptop is going to remain powered through AC for a long duration.

Disable the peripherals and accessories that are not in use. A typical modern laptop has many devices that are switched on at startup but these are not commonly used. Turning such devices off saves power, resulting in increased the backup time. Following are a few such devices:

• Wifi card (if the laptop is connected using the ethernet cable)
• Infrared
• Bluetooth
• USB peripherals when not in use.

Decrease the brightness of the LCD display especially when running on battery. Turn it off completely if the laptop is being used with a secondary display (such as a projector)

Try not to watch movies from a DVD when on battery power. The DVD drive consumes additional power and can drain the battery very rapidly.

While the steps above will ensure that the batteries on your laptop continue to function to their potential, there are a few general guidelines for battery maintenance that help ensure smooth functioning:

1. Clean the battery contact points regularly (once in 3 months) using cotton swab and alcohol.
2. Power cycle the battery - discharge and charge fully - atleast once in 2 weeks. This is especially required if the battery is not used for long durations.
3. Do not toss or throw the battery.
4. Do not short circuit the battery at any point of time.

“… It is very light weight for a 15″ notebook … The battery life seems average.”

“… Portability was a very important criteria for me, … needed the ability to carry the laptop to different places. …”

“… I was also getting tired of lugging around its heavy weight ….
Therefore, reliability, a good keyboard and portability were important criteria. …”

Taking a deeper look at mobility for laptops, the following major considerations emerge:

1. Weight: The lighter a laptop, the easier it is to carry around your home or office. Components that have significant impact on the weight of a laptop are:

a) LCD Screen Size: Several users prefer a really large screen since it provides them with a bigger “real-estate” to work with. Typically users find a larger screen better to look at as well. Additionally, there are several use cases where a larger screen really helps - e.g. if a user typically uses an email client, an Instant Messaging client and a document editor (like MS Word), (s)he can keep all these applications open simultaneously, use them whenever required and thereby save on the “time required to switch between or start applications”.

But the weight of a screen is proportional to the square of its designated size (the size mentioned on screens is the diagonal size). Therefore a larger screen is significantly heavier compared to its smaller counter part. Thus a larger screen contributes very significantly to the overall weight of the laptop.

On the counter side though, smaller screens - while they result in lighter laptops - can be taxing to eyes for some people’s.

b) Battery units: To increase the time-period of battery backup, several laptops come with multiple battery bays (with an option to use one of the battery bays as an optical drive). Batteries are heavy and if they are attached to all the bays, they contribute very significantly to the weight of the laptop.

c) Type of permanent storage media: Hard disks are also a significant contributor to a laptop weight. We didn’t have an option for the type of storage medium used on a laptop until recently, but with the emergence of SSD (Solid State Drive) based storage media it is now possible to get a lighter weight option for storage. That said, SSD based storage is still very expensive and there are projections which show that these would take about 5 years to become affordable for general use.

2. Battery Backup: The longer a laptop battery lasts, the longer its users can stay “truly” mobile (without lugging around the power adapter and cables). The intrinsic capacity of batteries have gone up significantly in the last few years and that has helped. But, battery backup still remains one of the most critical parameters with regards to mobility when purchasing a laptop (users can take several actions to increase the battery life but we will discuss these in a later post).

3. Wireless Connectivity: This is also an important aspect to consider when looking for portability as far as laptops are concerned.

The modern laptops come with several connectivity options. Wifi enables users to hook up to the Internet using Ethernet based connectivity, while blue-tooth enables users to leverage their mobile-phone based GPRS connection to get onto the Internet. A third option using USB ports - where users can plug in a GPRS based data card - also enables to get connected.

4. Type of LCD screen: This is also a consideration since a wrong type can make it significantly hard to read off of laptop under outdoor conditions, and hence restricting your outdoor mobility.

In the future posts, we will cover more information on how to select a suitable laptop for your requirements.

Getting an affordable laptop/notebook to end-customers/users is a challenging project, and needs a lot of coordination. It can be broken down into 3 over simplified stages:

1. Create a laptop notebook configuration that addresses the expressed needs of a large section of users
2. Supply chain management for ensuring manufacturing / assembly of the laptops
3. Manage logistics to ensure delivery and post-delivery support for the laptops

For us at 7iDigital, the first stage has been relatively simple because we are connected to the market ground realities/ market-demand through our 7to9 Retail business under 7Avenues.  Also, most of us have a corporate past which has helped us with this stage.

The third stage is also simple since it required us to mobilise our own network and this stage has been largely within our own control.

The biggest challenges come from the second stage. Component level prices for computer parts have been decreasing for quite some time. Below are a few examples of this trend:

a) Permanent storage media (laptop hard drives and flash drives) are now available at a fraction of price compared to a few years ago. Just the other day I saw a 16GB flash drive for a sale price of less than Rs.
2000/-. For comparison, a 2GB flash drive was avaialble around the same price almost exactly one year ago.

b) Prices of laptop processors with a good level of performance (more than 1GHz) have also decreased substantially since the launch of these processors.

Such a price trend should, in normal circumstances, make it easier to innovate with a given set of specifications and create a truely amazing and affordable laptop for the end users.

But an almost total lack of manufacturing capability in India, so far as laptops notebooks are concerned, makes innovations in this phase a really daunting task. While there are some companies that do component level design and development for Desktop PCs, there is virtually no-one (with a possible exception of an OEM in Kolkata) that undertakes design and manufacturing of components that are made specifically for laptop notebooks, and their demands for lead-times can break your business case.

There are many companies that claim to be “OEMs/ manufacturers of laptop notebook components” who actually just do repair or original spare parts for expensive branded laptops, and therefore their profit margin expectations don’t allow them to participate in low-cost laptop notebook.

To understand this state of affairs, let’s understand a few technical things related to laptop design (as against Desktop PCs).

First and foremost, the laptop motherboard and base chassis have to co-develop. This is hard requirements since the jacks and external interfaces, such as audio ports, USB ports, power socket etc, provided by the motherboard need to be exposed through the base chassis. This design also must provide for a safe housing for the HDD, Memory slots, and Optical drive that need to be accessible from outside the body without completely opening up the laptop chassis. All these components should typically make up a square base - which is the typical form a laptop base chassis makes.

Secondly, the design of laptop base chassis needs to consider the heat that gets generated during operation of laptops. Temperatures above 40 degrees celsius are normal but the system may get damaged if proper outlet for heat is not provided.

These factors, in addition to the precision design required for the LCD panel connectivity with the base chassis, make the task of laptop design an extreme precision job as against the design for a desktop PC chassis where none of the form-factor considerations play a role.

Technical aspects aside, there are also some business considerations that lead to this situation.

Hardware design and manufacturing is capital intensive and typically breaks-even in a longer time period (compared to other fields associated with computing). Also, the shelf life of these products is generally low because of quick update cycles for the products which requires vendors to periodically invest in their operations to keep their products refreshed.

The above in a nutshell provides an overview of hardware manufacturing (and constraints) in India - and we want to change some parts of this picture through our venture. Stay tuned and register at http://www.7idigital.com for updates and offers as we go live in the very near future!