Another notable trend becomes clear when comparing brands. Here’s the list of nine different brands, ranked from most reliable to least, in terms of malfunction rate:

1. Asus
2. Toshiba
3. Sony
4. Apple
5. Dell
6. Lenovo
7. Acer
8. Gateway
9. HP

Looks like Asus‘ marketing department have a new talking point to advertise, while Apple has another reason to stick its nose up at Dell. I’m also sure Sony would like to mention being second in reliability while pimping its stylish VAIO lines.

The most depressing trend noted, while somewhat obvious, is still a bit depressing: From an average of 7.2% after 12 months of ownership, the average rate of “total failure” rises to 19.7% after 24 months, and steadily rises to 31% by the third year.

Great info from Squaretrade, relevant to makers and consumers alike. What I’d like to see though is a survey on the reliability of desktops. In any case, do you own a laptop? How reliable (or not) has it proven to be?

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Capacities are currently 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB. No word yet on pricing, but El Reg has shared a December debut date. The RAIDDRIVE is of course backward compatible with USB 2.0 ports, but will only achieve USB 2.0 speeds. The only motherboard I know right now that supports true USB 3.0 is the Asus P7P55D-E, available from NewEgg for a hefty $280(!)

ASUS P7P55D-E Premium LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Intel Motherboard

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It’s still worth scoping out both stellar performers. The 400 euro (around $568) ASUS X5DIJ-SX018L (second) features a 250GB hard disk, 2GB of RAM, a 2GHz Pentium Dual-Core CPU, and a 15.6″ screen. The 300 euro ($426) Acer 5235-571G16N (fourth) holds its own with a Celeron M575, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and a 15.4″ display.

Both laptops use the Intel GMA 4500 graphics platform, ensuring attempts at quality gaming will be torturous at best. The ranking discussed in detail over at linuxtech.net may no longer be current as of this writing, given that Amazon bestsellers swap or lose places like track and field athletes vying for the lead at the start of the race. It’s clear though that the lack of a proprietary OS affects pricing.

Ultimately, the list potentially provides insight into the German (or Linux) consumer psyche. They seem more about performance, and don’t mind totally unimaginative product naming, no?

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Featured at the recently concluded Computex, it’s obvious that Google needs to change at least one thing: you don’t tell a laptop owner to turn of his or her “phone”. Interesting though how the apparently unvarnished version of the OS automatically adapts to a laptop’s larger-than-mobile resolution. According to the video’s uploader, Asus was publicizing their own Android-based laptop, but reportedly chose not to showcase a demo unit.

Compal, the company behind the laptop, is known as the outsourced manufacturer for big brands like Dell and HP. It specializes in the production of notebooks and computer displays.

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“We might have offered too many models because of our competitive engineering culture,” Mr. Shih said, adding that the company won’t repeat this mistake. This year, Asustek plans to release three new versions.

Aside from competitiveness, another reason cited for this rapid pace of release makes sense: Asus realized that customers weren’t really going for the original Eee’s relatively miniscule keyboard and lack of hard drive.

In any case, the WSJ story relates a classic tale. A small company strikes gold with a big innovation, then struggles to keep up as competitors with more clout start establishing themselves within the same market (Can anyone say “Internet Explorer”?). But Asus won’t go down fighting, and if Jonney Shih and co. continue displaying the inventiveness that led to the Eee, I don’t think Asus’ future in the market they created looks bad.

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The Eee Top is an interesting machine. It looks like an iMac, but runs like a netbook — with a touchscreen display. I think it’s plenty powerful enough for day to day use if you spend most of your time on a computer using web browsers, editing office documents, making Skype calls, and other light weight tasks. If you need a machine that can play video games, handle high definition video, or even full screen web video playback, the Eee Top might not be for you.

I do agree with another point of Liliputing: why spend $500 on a desktop with somewhat limited specs—even if it boasts a touch screen—when there are more powerful desktop-display combos available at a lower price?

For those who are still interested buyers though, you can buy the Eee Top ET1602 from Amazon. Available in black and white variants.

(image courtesy of Asus)

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Thus began the interesting—but unverified—account of Steam user “The Neighbor”, who describes the results of his tweaks as instructed by a Steam forum thread (which apparently details how to run games on the dreaded integrated Intel GPU).

More of an experiment rather than a desperate penny-pincher trying to get the popular multiplayer shooter running on his basic netbook, the tweaks hardly produce an optimum gaming experience. Neighbor warns that framerates drop to as low as 10 per in outdoor environments, and that the “Discolorations with the characters is bad that you sometimes can’t tell the enemy. (sic)”

Still, chalk one up for Filipino ingenuity! It’s not the kind of original thinking that Takipsilim-haters would love to see, but any Filipino who steps up always makes me teary-eyed.

(reprinted with permission from Technograph)

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That’s right folks! An enterprising member of the eeeuser forums has found a way to give the Asus Eee PC 901 HSDPA.

The instructions, stripped down for the layman, involve opening up the netbook, installing a HSPA or EVDO miniPCI-E card, and setting it up properly in the OS. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, can we expect an add-on kit from Asus? (And how does this mod affect the Eee’s battery life?) While you’re waiting though, feel free to check out the complete how-to here.

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Easier done than said. The staff of The Cult of Mac is probably going apeshit over their newest toy, an Asus Eee PC 1000H that runs on Mac OS X. Interesting how those dock icons practically fill-up the entire low-resolution screen. And what about performance?

“Performance is on par with my MacBook,” says Gilbertson. “Benchmark-wise, I think it comes in around the equivalent of a G5.”

Ha Apple! Expect mass defections as people decide to go for the cheap Asus alternative. Oh wait, maybe that’s why you prohibit people from installing your dear OS on non Apple machinery, right?

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1. Click on the link below:
   More Savings on Some of the Hottest Laptops at Newegg.com
   
2. Look for the “ASUS M50Vm-X1″. Click on it.
3. To verify, click on “Specifications” and see if the “Memory Size” is “4GB DDR2″ and that “Video Memory” is “Dedicated 1024MB”
4. Click Add to Cart
5. $1199.99 + $16 3-day Shipping = $1,215.99

That’s all you have to do! Though take note, as a 15.4″ laptop, the Asus M50Vm-X1 isn’t as portable as say, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9.

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