Will ASUS Eee PC Laptop Replace My Purse?

My colleague Rehan Ahmed (also our company CTO and Chief Product Architect) told me a few weeks ago, "You've got to get an Asus Eee laptop." 

I've been using a D620 Dell Latitude for a couple years, and anyone who knows me ... will know that I stick with things until they are gone, i.e., my 1994 Toyota Camry (manual transmission with nice sports fin and tinted windows). So, it was tough to spend the $ and to add another PC to my stash.

But hmm... it's voIP-enabled from the start with Skype preinstalled... it is smaller than my purse and comes with other apps such as Xandros' Anti-Virus, Mozilla Firefox, Open Office and Google everything just about. Other necessities are included like Internet Radio and quick easy logging on to wireless networks. I used it the first time in Panera (my favorite cafe because of their awesome free Wifi).

The small size is kind of a double-edged sword. Small means very portable and fewer shoulder aches, but the keyboard is challenging, but not as challenging as my Blackberry and Nokia e61i.

I taught middle school for almost two decades (English, Internet research, civics, and gifted studies), so I absolutely gravitated to the "Learn" apps. Really, I had a blast playing with the Periodic Table, Planetarium, Function Plotter and other tutorials and games. Neato! For example, click on any element, and get the abbreviation, picture, energy info, chemical data, and even a model of the atom.

It's got a webcam; managers for music, photos, and videos; voice command options; and direct link to skoool.com. Up to 3 USBs can be connected without extenders. Memory cards from my digital video and photo cameras have a home on the right side.

I like it.