My problem is that, as usual in PC World, nobody there had much of a clue about anything beyond their fairly limited sales pitch. One of the guys tried to get it hooked up to the local wireless, but failed, and so the one thing that could have possibly swung a sale - seeing the Eee running myself and having an idea how it rendered the sites I liked to use a lot (including, of course, this one) - was not possible.

Hence, no sale.

It’s quite frustrating. Nobody seems to have one of these things in any kind of Internet-operational state. I mean, where’s the sense there? Is the iPhone configured in Carphone Warehouse and the O2 stores so you can’t use the Internet? No. Why? Because that’s the main selling point.

Five minutes in charge and I could totally give PC World some much-needed credibility. It’s not just the Eee in their, either - none of their machines are hooked up to the Internet. I realise there’s a potential for abuse, but some kind of happy medium would ensure a lot more of these things were sold to people like me.

One of the things I don’t like about the 4GB Eee is the price - £250 is above my budget but also quite expensive for something that is really just a halfway house between a PDA and a ‘proper laptop’. I’m also not sold on the 800×480 resolution of that 7-inch screen, which cannot’ be changed. This blog, for example, has a floating 900 pixel main column. Having to scroll right to see some of the features of my own site would, I’m sure, really annoy me over time, probably to the point where I’d re-code it to be 800 pixels.

Most people seem to think the keyboard is a total liability. It’s been shrunk down to 65 per cent of the standard size and whilst playing with it today those restrictions became quite obvious very quickly. I’m a 100+ WPM touch typer who is very accurate and I think I’d be cutting all that by half on this keyboard. Again, smart people seem to say a wireless USB keyboard and mouse makes a big difference, but if you add those bits and pieces to your package it means more money, but more importantly more weight and extras when en route.

Still, I wondered if it would suit my pretty basic needs. So, it was off to eBay again, and I’m currently ‘watching’ a 4GB black version - which is much cooler than the white - with an 8GB memory card, that is available ‘buy it now’ for £180. It’s got about a day and a half to go, and over that period - assuming it doesn’t sell first - I’m going to think long and hard about whether this bad boy will do the job.

Lots of things about the Eee appeal - I’m reasonably familiar with *NIX systems and I’ve been reading how it’s quite easy to set the machines up so they have dual boots and that kind of thing. It plays YouTube brilliantly, has a very good sound card, excellent wireless capabilities and supports my new Three mobile broadband modem (which was an absolute must).

I’ll let you know how it works out.

In the meantime, I spent £15 on an excellent ‘rucksack’-style carrying case for my wife’s laptop which makes getting it to and from work an absolute breeze.

@ Lisa - thanks for your thoughts and tips. If this doesn’t work out, I think I’m going to have to go with Dell, as above.

I also have heard good things about the EEE. Asus makes terrific products, and that might be just the ticket for you.

Ebay, well, I totally agree with your methods of bidding. That’s what I do too, and what I’ve advised my kids to do (with my supervision, of course). Choose your bottom-line, deal-breaker price, put down the bid, and leave.

Oh, and for anyone who’s interested, I’m selling an Alienware M5500 on ebay that belonged to my son…now that he has his XPS for college, we have no use for it. Really nice system, not quite in Sheamus’s price range, but still a beauty for the right person.

Good luck, and do keep looking. In the meantime, if you can sock away a little money you might be able to increase your budget a little. Once you cross that $500 mark, there are a lot more options.