I broke down last night and unboxed the wee baby Asus (since it was never intended to be a Christmas gift anyway). It’s the Linux one with the tiny little, almost-full out of the box 4GB that’s $279 at Best Buy. Since all I was looking for is the equivalent of the Alphasmart but backlit, with more than 4 lines of text and keys you don’t need a sledgehammer to press, there was no sense in buying a bigger one. I’ve only tinkered with it a bit, but so far:
The good: It’s so tiny and light, as the photos below—taken with my monster Toshiba laptop—will attest.
The bad: The space bar is just high enough I have to lift my hand and twist my wrist to hit it with my thumb.
The ugly: It comes with a Tetris-knock-off. I can’t resist Tetris, which is why it’s never been added to the desk- or laptop. Uh-oh. Time suck, we has one.


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oh it’s so cute. I love it! :cheer:
I so understand things that suck up time and are not productive. I added Word Warp to my iPhone. Omg…massive time suck. Charlie and I both wear the battery down on the phone playing that game. But hey, at least it’s on the phone and not on my laptop.
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I think I might have paid less for the wee baby computer than the husband did for the Alphasmart years ago.
And as for using the Alphie, if you add up all the sporadic times I’ve tried to use it because it’s so awesome in theory, it might be three hours. I simply can’t type on that keyboard. If there was a way to take WD-40 or something to the keys so you don’t have to practically jab at them to make them type, I’d probably have more hours on it than I do in my car.
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Oh purty wee baby puter! (Mine is green
) I luuuuuuuuuuurves me my baby puter.
Happy holidays!
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Oh, I totally want one! Look how cute and little! But dh wants to know why I can’t just use the Alphasmart that is sitting in the closet. Because I want a baby computer and I can’t seem to write on the Alphasmart (not that I’m writing much anywhere else mind you!)
Hmm, I will have one of these wee computers. I will! :nod:
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It IS cute. You have lots of cute little things. Cute little puppy…cute little computer…lots of cute…lots of little. I want all your cute and little things. But I covet that way. It’s on my resolution list to knock off the covet.
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I wanted the purple one, but they’re all sold out, so I went with white. I might skin it, though.
Annmarie, I’ll trade you my wee baby computer for your wee baby BMW. :groucho:
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*hugs jumbo ergonomic keyboard, without which I will not type EVAR*
It’s adorable and all, but my carpal tunnel flares up just looking at that teeny little thing.
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My DH would skin me if I traded the BMW for the Asus.
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A lion came within about 50 yards of the camp once. I think during that one Africa season. That season was hardcore. Awful drinking water, dirt, sand, no beach and a lion.