Joined on 12/01/04
Perfect Media Center Extender
Pros: This machine is perfect for runnin XBMC Live. It can be setup in 30 minutes to be a fully functional HD streaming machine. The machine itself is very quite, there is an initial fan burst when the machine is turned on and then nothing. Havent had any issues running 1080P movies with video processing through VDPAU even with 1GB of RAM (I did set the video card RAM to 256MB). This really is an amazing machine for the price and especially the size.
Cons: The preloaded XP comes with tons of bloatware.
Great Netbook, Terrible Support
Pros: I love this netbook, it is the perfect size and has great battery life.
Cons: All input devices freeze randomly. It doesn't matter if I am surfing the web or transferring files the onboard mouse and keyboard freeze as well as external mice. Also, I have attempted to install Win7, Ubuntu, Mint, and a few other Linux distros and am only successful approximately 1 out of every 10 tries. Again, it seems the machine freezes during these installs (both usb and cd installs). I have tested the hard drive, memory and run stress tests to try and figure out why its happening but there seems no rhyme or reason. When the machine crashes I usually have to let it sit for a little while with the battery and power unplugged or it will happen again very quickly.
Overall Review: I have called Asus support twice now trying to get the device RMA'd but have ended up talking to technicians who tell me to recover the machine using the packaged DVD. Guess what, it freezes when I try. When I ask to talk to a senior technician who might have more insight they tell me that I will get a call back (I dont have much hope). So as of right now I feel I have a faulty machine that I have wasted much time on and a company who is giving me the run around.
Great value TV
Pros: Great price right now. TV has an ipod dock with a good interface (much better than expected). TV looks good as well.
Cons: I have this complaint with all dynamic contrast ratio tvs/display types and that is the latency drives me nuts. For instance, in a movie with a daylight scene that switches to night the tv visibly darkens, but only after what seems like forever (probably more like .5 seconds). The same thing happens again when switching from night to day. I just find this feature annoying and I believe that the dynamic contrast ratio is a way for tv makers to bloat their statistics.