Holiday laptop

Isn't that just typical? Within five minutes of the courier turning up with my new Asus Eee PC 2G Surf we had a power cut. At least this one only lasted for five minutes so the battery is now charging away merrily.

This laptop is going to serve as a lifeline to the Internet while I'm away from work and don't want to risk taking expensive IT equipment to holiday hotels and the like. I've also (since December) had a 4G on order with the built-in webcam and the possibility of more RAM (the 2G has its 512MB welded to the motherboard). I'll have this one when it turns up and the 2G can go to a colleague.

As all the reports have suggested, set up is a breeze, start up and shut down are fantastically quick and the size/weight is perfect for travelling. As it's so very small, hiding it away should be no problem at all. Or even carrying it with me should be OK, maybe even in shorts and a T-shirt(!).

For the first time in a long time I've got just one dead pixel. Nothing that's going to worry me and I can barely notice it unless the screen is black.

I have been using SSH on my Nokia E61i for remote support of a few customers while I've been out and about. This is great but can be slow with the tiny keyboard, especially sending 'Esc' and pipe characters. Being able to have a full-size keyboard on a laptop running Linux with me will be even better.