In Use (continued):
As mentioned earlier, the 800x480 resolution may be the toughest thing to get used to. While typing on a more compact keyboard ranks near the top too, the way things look on screen takes some getting used to. The images below take a look at Bigbruin.com on the ASUS EEE PC 4G 701 netbook. The site is optimized for screens at 1024 pixels wide (or higher), and here we see that an 800 pixel wide screen chops the side of the site off. On the content page people might not care, as it is mostly cutting out advertisements and links to other sections of the site, while leaving the core content visible. On the forum it may be a bit more annoying, as the posts themselves will be chopped prematurely.
Other things I noticed on Bigbruin.com, and other websites, is that items that have a fixed size may break the layout of a site when shown on a display with such a low resolution. As shown in the above right image, the Google Search box is apparently too large, and disrupts the typical layour of that side column of items.
A more interesting example of such an on screen problem can be seen at You Tube. The image below takes a look at a video playing at You Tube, and as you can see, the bulk of the video is "below the scroll". You can only see the top of the video at this resolution, and the easy fix is to watch everything full-screen. Going to full-screen mode scales the video to fit, and shrinks it to fit.
The final image in this section takes a look at an iGoogle page, a good example of a site stretching to fit a display of just about any resolution. Even though it looks good on my other systems with resolutions of 1440x900 or 1680x1050, the layout is still usable and fairly attractive at 800x480.
In use the ASUS EEE PC 4G 701 netbook is simple and fun to use. The specifications rule out doing any serious work or play on it, but the included hardware and software all work well together. For those who like what it does, but need more desktop real estate, you can attach a monitor of your own to the 15-pin VGA connections. While the built-in display may be capable of just 800x480, you can change the resolution on the "Settings" tab and take advantage of a bigger screen. Running at 1680x1050 looked good on , and with a separate mouse attached I nearly forgot I was on the EEE PC at times.
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