The ASUS Eee PC and the netbook revolution

corbin@infosec.pub to Technology@lemmy.world – 199 points –
The ASUS Eee PC and the netbook revolution
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They were unbearably slow even back then. I returned my 1000H with its Atom N270 after a day and saved a little more money until I was able to afford a 2008 MacBook. Never regretted it. On the contrary, this marked my complete move to MacOS which saved me from continuing to use Windows.

You returned a $200 netbook and only needed a little more money to get an $1100 MacBook?

I paid 430€ for the Eee and I paid 1100€ for the MacBook. Sure that‘s not just a little more money.

However, the way I calculate such purchases is: price divided by years of usage. I used the MacBook as a main computer for four years until I could afford a more powerful Mac mini as my desktop computer. I continued to use my MacBook intensively for university and for mobile photo editing for another five years. This means a total lifespan of nine years or 122€ per year.

If I had stalled my decision not to send back the Eee and try working with it ignoring the shortcomings, I maybe would have used it for a year or a couple of months longer. The netbook trend, according to my recollection was quite short so I guess I couldn‘t have sold it for a good price then.

So what I actually wanted to say is that the MacBook, despite it costing more than double, was by far the better deal for me.

I had a 1000HE. Worked well enough for web browsing. Granted, I swapped out the hard drive for an SSD. On the other hand, it was a terrible SSD. One of the first gen ocz ones.

Had a 100X EEE PC, for my use cases they where totally usable, but of course I installed Linux with a lightweight desktop environment on them. It was even possible to run Docker containers and virtualize Windows XP.

I still have my 1000H from 2010 and even used it for school and uni right up until 2019 when I no longer was doing on campus work and I could do everything on my desktop.

Granted, I went down the rabbit hole of Linux on it around the 2015 mark because Windows 7 onwards was too much for it, and it always had overheating issues, but it aided my Linux addiction and was the very laptop that got me interested in programming so I personally am happy I kept it.

That being said, I also totally get why a MacBook was just a much better value propositions, and if mine wasn't my 10th birthday present I probably would've loved doing the same thing.