The life chaning ways of the EEE

So, my EEE arrived yesterday, along with 2 gigs of RAM. After reading some other blogs and posts about the EEE, I decided to go ahead and upgrade the RAM on the thing right out of the box.

The EEE will hopefully fill a void I have had in my computing world for a while. A quick recap of where I’ve been, and where I am:

• 1st person in Central Florida to obtain EVDO.
• Used a Compaq iPaq with the EVDO sleeve on it for mobile computing
• Had a Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop, also used with EVDO PCMCIA Card
• Upgraded to a MacBookPro – could no longer use EVDO PCMCIA Card.
• Purchased a Kyrocera KR1 EVDO Router to fill the gap.
• Upgraded EVDO to USB, no longer using the EVDO Router.
• The Dell is too heavy to lug around, the Mac Book Pro? Yeah, right.

A little background on me:

• Primarily a PHP/mySQL Developer
• Work from home office
• 15 years professional programming experience in various languages
• A+/N+/MSCE/CNA/CCNA/RHCP/…. who knows what else…
• Left feild technician work to program full time.

So, the story is a simple one. I used to work in the feild, fixing computer/network issues. Had a nice customer base that kept me happy and busy. I needed a way to maximize my time, and discovered the Merlin card, before they sold to Sprint. I ended up getting one, and using it with both my laptop at the time, and my Compaq iPaq. Quite cumbersome, but it got the job done.

I began to progam more, and eventually sold my customer base to another techie in Orlando.

For a while, I didn’t really need to be a “mobile professional”. I knew I could work from just about anywhere, and I was happy with that.

Enter the Mac Book Pro. I went out and upgraded… big time. While I firmly believe that purchasing the macbookpro has been the best business decision in my entire life, it can be a little daunting to work with in a coffee shop, airplane, or anywhere else outside of the home office. So, the search began again.

I needed something small, lightweight, relatively inexpensive, non-windows-based, and, well, fun.

After speaking to a fellow coder, I was quite happy to find out about the Asus EEE.

I ordered mine from Amazon, and it arrived just the other day. I spent a little time tweaking it to my needs, and I am happy to report that it seems to be just what I have needed.

After just a day with it, it’s already proven to be an assett to my existing computing needs.