Thanks for the reply, that's helpful. I don't currently have a laptop of any kind now so have been out of the loop on the general state of things for some time, and I mostly need one now because my commute to work is going to be doubling at the very least pretty soon, and I'd have time to do writing stuff on the subway. Plus I'll have to be more vigilant about my computer use at work because I'll be working in a building with three times the employees since our buildings are combining, and that means no more sneaky computer use without getting punished for it later in all likelihood. If I'm ever going to finish my novels, I think a notebook is going to be a necessity.
That makes it tough. If you're commuting that much, the smaller form factor and footprint might make a huge difference. I guess it's something you're going to have to think about, but I really think at this point holding off AT LEAST until the EEE PC 900 (10 inch screen, bigger keyboard, roughly the same size and weight) comes out. Even then, I think Asus stated that they're going to be releasing it with the old processor first and then introducing a new model monthly or even every second month with new features like the new ATOM CPU and a possible touch screen. Even if that's not your thing, you can count on prices dropping pretty quickly once competition heats up and new models are popping out (at least on the current generation.
Is there a Linux version of AutoCAD? Because an Eee PC runs Xandros Linux.
I'm not sure, but like Idol said people are installing XP on it (and just last week Asus launched the EEE with XP pre-installed for an extra $50 or so). The thing is that the EEE currently comes in models with a 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB solid state drive. You obviously have to strip down Windows for the 4 GB version (the 2GB SSD is just too small for XP period) and a lot of people have been using micro-drives for storage. The shitty thing is that a lot of programs won't let you install directly on to a micro-drive so your free hard-drive space fills up quickly anyways. I think this would probably be the case with AutoCAD, and even if it's not it's not the kind of program I can imagine is very usable on this type of device.
The 8GB version isn't really cost effective at all right now as it pretty much starts to get more expensive than cheap laptops once you throw in the extra RAM needed and XP (I think it retails at around $499 before any upgrades). At that point the base
HP Mini-Note with the bigger screen, keyboard, and 4 GB SSD seems like a better idea. OR, ideally you could throw down $549 and get the Mini-note with a 120GB SATA drive (all the models above this one are restrictively priced for what you get).
Like I said, it just seems that it'll be a much better market for people like us in a year or even a few months. More storage, more usable, and hopefully for around the same price as they are now.
