Mini laptop under $500
While I do have my preference when it comes to Macs vs. PC, I have to admit a certain fondness for my latest acquisition.
My workhorse MacBook has been and still is a great machine. It has a 3 hour battery life and it’s about 7 pounds including a light sleeve and the power supply. With a 13″ screen and 2Ghz CPU, it’s a good compromise between size, power, and portability.
Lately, I felt the need to be able to carry a smal lightweight laptop with a relatively long battery life. The MacBook Air was a contender, but I did not want to pay another $1800 to shave two pounds off my daily carry machine, and sacrifice power and options in the bargain.
I’ve found a compromise. I’ve recently acquired an ASUS eee PC 1000H. It’s a tiny, 3 pound “netbook”. It sports a 10 inch screen, and is a good bit smaller than a standard sheet of paper. The power adapter adds only a few ounces. It isn’t quite as powerful as a MacBook, but the price is right.
Conveniently enough, it’s dropped $100 in price, and the hard drive capacity has doubled to 160GB. Mine was $549. A few days after I bought mine, the price dropped to $449 for the 80GB model and $479 for the 160GB model. An extra 160GB of storage, I think, is well worth the $30 bucks.