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A Replacement For The Psion 5 / 7 / Netbook? We've Got Proper Keyboard, Wi-Fi, Colour, Good Batteries, Stable Operating System - for under £250!

We Psion fans are going to have to face the fact that there will be no more PDA's from our favourite manufacturer, and we'll have to keep buying second-hand or reconditioned units off eBay. This isn't too bad for 3's, 5's and Revo's, but if you're in the market for a Psion 7 or Netbook, the largest, colour, most powerful sub-compact laptop, things are getting difficult and expensive.

Psion aficionados are chasing a shrinking supply of good condition Seven's and Netbooks, forcing up prices on the auction houses, and even higher from the companies who sell reconditioned units.

So do you just give up on the idea of a tough, small, colour laptop with wi-fi and internet capability that can boot up immediately and contains useful applications and a decent battery life, or bite the bullet and get a budget Windows Laptop (large, fragile) or an expensive sub-compact. (Way too much money.)

There may be now an alternative - the Asus EEE PC 4G 701 Sub notebook.

This tiny laptop could be seen as the successor to the Psion 5 / 7. With a 900mhz Intel Processor, 512mb RAM, 4gb solid-state hard-drive, wi-fi, Ethernet, 7" 800x600 display, the core functions ape and improve the specifications of the Psion, with the same ethos of having a low power device that you can use anywhere. It also has the price to match, it looks like it will be cheaper than a refurbished 7 or netbook.

Running a cut down version of Linux, with full internet capabilities with the Firefox Browser, and work stuff taken care of with Open Office, a MS Word Clone, this Asus opens up a world of opportunities. Small enough to pop into your rucksack, you can fire it up anywhere for data entry, word processing, listening to music or video clips - but if you're in a Wi-Fi hotspot the internet then opens up for you for e-mail and browsing.

I'm a big fan of Googles on-line applications, like Calendar and Docs, so I could see myself sitting in Starbucks sipping on a Cappuccino typing away at a PC 4G surfing the net.

So I guess the EEE PC will appeal to those who want a budget sub-compact notebook, with wi-fi and internet and a reasonable battery life. It will not replace your normal laptop, no optical drive, but if like me you want a simple, small PC with a good keyboard, this looks very tasty.

So the last question is do I get one of these or a reconditioned 5 / Netbook? Although I would love one of the Psion's to complete my collection, the Asus EEE PC 4G 701 has better features and has to top the list.

Watch This Space!

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Comments / Questions:

Thanks to your site, I downloaded the EPOC emulator to my Asus eee running XP. I now have AGENDA running and it is as close to using a 7 / Netbook as I am likely going to get on a non Psion machine.  I have also downloaded Plan for Windows ( Twiddlebit ) for project management.  I am staying clear of Office despite the fact that my eee is running Windows.  I like the lack of clutter and the speed. The only other software I have running on my eee is Ecco Pro and Picasa. I would be interested to hear what you think of this and if like me you hanker for the Psions how we might be able to tweak the eee to suit this purpose. Cheers for now. Chen That's absolutely brilliant! Any chance of sending some photos so we can put some pics up on the site? I'm really excited to hear this - really great work! So why did you like Psions so much? What made you choose the eeePC? How has your eeePC experience been? Was it worth the cost? Good / bad points? How difficult was it to install XP? Did you have to use a big SD card? Have you still got wireless functionality, etc? I guess a tweek we really want is the ability to handle email from within the Psion Apps.  Sorry for all the questions, but this is great news! Well done again,

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