The ASUS eee pc 701 was dirt cheap; had limited hardware; had a few problems; but was robust.
It should be easy to replicate it with better hardware and avoiding some of the biggest problems (tiny SSD soldered to the motherboard; weird trackpad; tiny keyboard) especially if you're not trying to cram it into a teeny tiny package.
That's the "original" netbook, isn't it? I can't believe I hadn't ever seen one of those before.
At a quick glance, I think the biggest problem with it would be the 800x480 screen! If screen resolution wasn't an issue, I think a netbook could meet my criteria.
I had an EEE PC 901, which was one of the first 9" netbooks (and considered by many to be the best netbook Asus ever released.) The screen was bumped up to 1024 x 600. It was a nice little machine, but there's lots of stuff that doesn't display very well on something with that low of a resolution.
Comments
The ASUS eee pc 701 was dirt cheap; had limited hardware; had a few problems; but was robust.
It should be easy to replicate it with better hardware and avoiding some of the biggest problems (tiny SSD soldered to the motherboard; weird trackpad; tiny keyboard) especially if you're not trying to cram it into a teeny tiny package.
That's the "original" netbook, isn't it? I can't believe I hadn't ever seen one of those before.
At a quick glance, I think the biggest problem with it would be the 800x480 screen! If screen resolution wasn't an issue, I think a netbook could meet my criteria.
I had an EEE PC 901, which was one of the first 9" netbooks (and considered by many to be the best netbook Asus ever released.) The screen was bumped up to 1024 x 600. It was a nice little machine, but there's lots of stuff that doesn't display very well on something with that low of a resolution.