On startup, Win 7 will ask whether you want 32-bit or 64-bit operatins. Well not having another computer to look up the pros and cons of 32-bit vrs 64-bit and that I didn’t know if this machine handles 64-bit, I chose the 32-bit option. It would have been nice if ASUS had put in a little something about this option.

Win 7 starts up very fast, I’m very impressed. The screen is crisp and clean. The keyboard is just the right size for a small laptop, ( a 10 inch netbook is too small for my fat fingers )

The power supply module does get a little warm when using the laptop continuously. Also the power supply module in the bottom of the laptop, where the power connector snaps in, gets a little warm. As a little preventive maintenance, make sure there is enough space under the laptop for the air to circulate, I’ve added four rubber feet to the bottom of the laptop to aise the laptop up about 1/2 inch higher. But again this is only preventive maintenance. I’m an electrical Engineer first and heat is the killer of electronic components.

Software:
Microsoft office 2007 home comes in a trial version, nothing to add here.
Iternet Security: Trend Micro trial version
Email: Downloaded thunderbird, works great.
Skype: Now we’re talking…very useful app for making internet phone calls to other Skype members. This allowed me to test the built in speaker and microphone audio system and the video. This has a very neat built in video that works very well, be careful whats behind you when your connected, this video will pick up everything.

Also being a professional Photographer, I’ve added the LightRoom Beta 3. The memory upgrade was primarily for my photos and this has made Lightroom acceptable to use. With only the 2GB, manipulating photos was slow, 4GB is really required if you want to process photos. NOTE: Processing photos is probably not what this laptop was designed for but it does work. I can now back up my photo shoots before leaving the wedding reception.

The laptop comes with an SDHC flash card slot. For certain cameras that use SDHC cards and non-proprietary format, the SDHC card slot is for uploading Photos by removing the card from the camera and inserting the card into the laptop. My D90 uses a proprietary format so I have to connect the USB cable to the camera. I’m looking into gabbing a 32G SDHC card, reformatng it and using it as a virtual memory device for the laptop.

Wireless connections: Windows is never as easy to connect as MAC OS. What can I say? And wireless connections are more dependand on the wireless network then the computer. I’ve had no problems so far by when in my home office, I always hardwire anyway, much faster network conneciton that way.

Three (3) USB coneections…probably enough…especially since there’s bluetooth.

HDMI connection for tying directly to HDTV…haven’t tried this yet.

I haven’t really checked the battery life. With WiFI and Bluetooth both on and the power management set for performance, I’m sure the battery life is shorter then the five (5) hours specified.