There are so many fringe appliances that I have bought throughout the years, which now simply gather dust. My bread maker hasn’t seen a loaf of bread in years, my blender sits idly in an upper cabinet, and those three pizza stones that I received at m…

I bought a Samsung Q1B, which turned out not to be quite a disappointment for my needs. The tablet format, without hardware keyboard and pointing device, is a real drag. I ended up buying an external KB and touchpad, which are not only additional costs but also extra bulk to carry. Also, the Samsung boots much slower than the Asus, because it has a hard drive instead of an SSD flash drive. (The SSD version of the Samsung Q1 costs an arm and a leg!!). True the 60GB HD in the Samsung is generous, but after using the Asus for some time I realize I don’t really need too much storage space. In any case, an 8GB SDHC card suffices.

If I had known about the Asus EEE, I would not have bought the Samsung in the first place.

I also have a Nokia N800, which also works very well as an internet communicator (only with WiFi connection though). However, the really small screen and lack of built-in hardware input methods makes it less desirable (The new N810 overcomes the shortcoming of the KB). On the other hand, it is really portable and has better (larger) screen than smartphones. I won’t go into the pros and cons of smartphones vs. internet tablets (without cell phone function).

Well kids, the 21st century is here, and now it starts to get interesting. Asus has finally released it Eee PC 701 “Micro-Notebook” and for the ridiculously low price of $399. The target market for this little gem is the kiddies and cotton …