Home Automation Domotica Forum Europe, Bwired Forum

The new Asus laptop can be an very interesting product as home control PC..all in one.and cheap
price is about 300 euro

http://eeepc.asus.com/en/

Will take some time before it is here. And laptops never have the same speed and power as a normal pc which doens't need to have more power. Just my 2 cents.

// Erik (binkey.nl)

For homeautomation...there is no need for speed...(mostly)
this laptop has no spinning parts...


http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/166473/a ... white.html
http://www.pcscomputers.nl/webshop/prod ... cts_id=427

No spinning, thats new for me.. but i think i'am just like pieter. Although i dont need all the power, i still like the fact that i have it.
You can also use it as a intelligent remote?

// Erik (binkey.nl)

Pros (for laptops in general):

- Built-in UPS;
- Low power usage;
- Enough processing power these days to handle any decent HA app.

Cons:

- Less options to connect to "the outside" (Serial, USB etc);
- Less upgradable in terms of new harware;
- No decent screen resolution;
- Keyboard;
- Expensive.

300 euro is not that expensive.. although you can have the following for the same price...

Intel Celeron 3,0Ghz
128 bit 3d 64MB Shared
250GB 7200 Rpm
512Mb DDR2-Ram 667MhZ
DVD Brander +/-RW

// Erik (binkey.nl)

The last system will cost you about 150 euro extra for power consumption.

Good thing about the Asus laptop is:
Low power consumption.
Very small
no spinning parts (SSD harddisk)
fast startup time
you have your screen...no need for extra one.

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ CPU;
- 2 GB RAM;
- regular 160 GB HD;
- regular PSU;
- DVD ROM drive;

With this i have 49W idle. I think i can still improve this to close to 40W.
Compared to my laptop (35 W), that's acceptable, which means power costs don't have to be an issue.

X2 is a great CPU..i have the same in my MCE
When cool and quit is active power consumption will shrink more than 50%

My home automation system is using about 30W (MSI AXIS700)

In Asia the street price of the Asus is about $200 including shipment..150 euro..
I hope 150 euro will be the e-bay price all in..than i will make the switch to Asus EEE

I have been looking at those. Probably will get one when they get here (expected only for Feb 2008).
I would prefer it would have the 10" screen (rumours) - but I'll wait and see.
In Europe it should go for about 399 Eur - definitely not as cheap as first advertised. But still a good price for a UMPC.

I plan to use it with a mobile internet connection, as a laptop to take everywhere with internet always available.
(nice for google maps with a GPS, and for remote access to the home PC)

@niknik
On ebay you can buy it for about 300 Euro including shipment.
I will also try one and see what the possibilities are.

I'm waiting for the 8Gb version... and seeing how that rumour turns out (the 10" screen)
Have a friend at Asus, and he says it's still a possibility - not denying nor confirming it. Can only tell in 2008.

I you are going to use for mobile Internet..than 10" is better.
At the moment I have the Asus R2H UMPC with 7 inch screen.
It's workable but not for long..screen is to small for RDP sessions.

This one will go on e-bay soon.

Yes, that's why I'm praying Asus will surprise us and give us a larger screen version (as they're taking so long to launch it in Europe)
10" 1024x600 or 1200 x something would be perfect.

My Wish
32 GB SSD
2 GB memory
7" screen 1024x 600
touch screen
a bit more CPU power