PortablePwnage Part 1: Choosing an UMPC. (updated x2)

So I decided to buy an UMPC so I could have some more portable "fun".

Last week I was looking at the HP Mini 2133 vs The Asus eeePC 901. At first sight, the HP seemed to have benefits like being somewhat larger, sporting a bigger keyboard and a 80GB harddisk etc... but it's also more expensive and has less battery life then the 901. The thing that really made me go for the 901 is that I couldn't find the HP in any PC shop in Belgium. I don't like to order electronics from eBay or outside Belgium (postorder) for various reasons.

My previous article mentioned that the HP Mini did have more performance then the eeePCs but this was before the arrival of the 901 with the Atom Processor. As this CPU test from notebookreview.com shows:

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Asus Eee PC 901 (Intel Atom @ 1.8GHz)	111 seconds
Asus Eee PC 900 (Intel Celeron M ULV @ 900MHz)	203.734 seconds
HP 2133 Mini-Note (Via CV7-M ULV @ 1.6GHz)	168.697 seconds
Asus Eee PC 4G (Intel Celeron M ULV @ 630MHz)	289.156 seconds
Asus Eee PC 4G (Intel Celeron M ULV @ 900MHz)	200.968 seconds
Everex CloudBook (VIA C7-M ULV @ 1.2GHz)	248.705 seconds
Fujitsu U810 Tablet PC (Intel A110 @ 800MHz)	209.980 seconds
Sony VAIO VGN-G11XN/B (Core Solo U1500 @ 1.33GHz)	124.581 seconds
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.2GHz)	76.240 seconds
Dell Inspiron 2650 (Pentium 4 Mobile @ 1.6GHz)	231.714 seconds

The Atom CPU does rock it seems. Comparing the 406€ (umpcshop.be) to the 726€ for the HP Mini (only available for me via the Netherlands), my decision was made.

To defend the HP Mini, there will be an update of this model featuring the Intel Atom or Via Nano, so this disadvantage is only temporary.

So I got my 901 yesterday and my first impression is good. The only part that is bugging me is the small keyboard. I knew that from the start but I need to get used to it's really small size.

Today, I happened to start reading my latest c'T Magazine and saw a review of the Asus eeePC 900 versus the Medion Akoya mini E1210.

Basically, it resembles the HP mini alot featurewise but it sports the Atom CPU!!! So is it the best of both breeds?

The Akoya's only drawbacks are a 3-cell battery, no multi-touch and it's card reader (SD/SDHC) isn't as fast as the eeePC 901. If you are planning to run a second OS from an SDHC card, this is an additional disadvantage. So the battery life from the Medion doesn't come close to the 901 unless you start buying another battery. But then again, you can also buy the 10400MHA battery for the 901, extending it's operation to 8-10 hours.

So I'm not that sad I didn't see this article before. Though I will keeping an eye on this Medion Akoya E1210 (available at ThePhoneHouse.be for 399€) in case I won't get used to using a mini-sized keyboard. Since the Medion is equally priced with the eeePC, it's a really strong competitor.

For the moment I left the copy of Windows XP on the 901 as I will probably install Ubuntu or Backtrack using a SDHC card. More experimentation will follow.

Upcoming parts:

• Hardware upgrades/extensions for the eeePC 901
• Installing Ubuntu EEE for the eeePC 901 on a SD Flash Card
  
• Installing Backtrack 3 for the eeePC 901 on a SD Flash Card
• Installing OSWA for the eeePC 901 on a SD Flash Card
• Installing and configuring OpenVAS for BT3
• Installing and configuring Karmetasploit for the eeePC 901

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UPDATE (25/08/2008): It seems they swapped the Atheros wifi chipset in the eeePC 901/1000 for the RaLink rt2860 wifi-b/g/n hardware which makes this model somewhat less attractive. The same goes for the Medion Akoya 1210 (no atheros).

A reader pointed me to the Acer Aspire ONE A150 which does have the Atheros chipset.

I'm looking at a hardware hack or replacement with the Acer Aspire ONE A150 (Tones.be) for 349€.

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UPDATE (26/08/2008): The Acer Aspire ONE A150 I mentioned above is a UMPC with a 120GB Harddisk. The Acer Aspire ONE A110 is the version with the Solid State Disk. Although it's only 8GB (vs the 901's 12GB) it also has only 512MB RAM (vs 901's 1GB). However it's available from laptopshop.be for only 299€. That's a 100€ difference from the eeePC 901. Acer has a weaker battery, smaller SSD and smaller RAM. But the bigger keyboard on the ONE is a big plus for me.

It isn't a clear choice against the eeePC 901 but a good competitor.

Related articles:

• Ultimate Pwnage UMPC: eeePC 901 vs HP Mini note 2133
• Karmetasploit 3 documentation available. Karmetasploit = KARMA + Metasploit 3