Zealot

I will be buying an Eee in the next few weeks, but I need some advice from those forum watchers who already own one, or have more knowledge then I do.

I have the option to purchase either the 2GB or 4GB Surf. Whichever I choose I will be running Linux and will set up a 4 or 8GB SDHC card as a mapped drive.

My main question hinges on this fact....in the 2GB, the 512MB of RAM is soldered into place, and cannot be upgraded, while in the 4GB it IS upgradable.

Is upgrading to 1GB of RAM worthwhile? Is that a good reason to spend a reasonable amount more for the 4GB or is doubling the RAM simply overkill? Also, does the 2GB main drive limit the performance of the Linux OS?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

Z

PocketBrain

I don't know how much swap space the 2GB machine has set up (distributions made to run from flash often minimize flash read/writes), but with 512MB of RAM, it would tend to use swap space (if it exists) a little more, so this would limit the performance of the system a bit. Typically, a Linux system is set up with double the RAM in swap. Of course, the X windows system runs well on a lean system. If you tend to open several applications, or multiple browsers/tabs, though, you are going to be considerably more likely to run into a limit. A 4GB system would allow considerably more extensibility application-wise, as well. I would imagine that possibility of upgrade would be quite an asset to the pc and would enhance its value. It is up to you to determine whether the extra cost is worth a little extra "future proofing."

Caveat: I am no eeepc expert, I have not even seen one yet. Just a part-time Linux and PC hobbyist.




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Gigi

I don't know much about Linux, but I do own the 4GB Surf. I did the upgrade to 1GB and it has really helped. However, I should note that I am running XP.

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Zealot

I admit I am leaning towards the 4GB and upgrading the RAM immediately. I much prefer devices which can be upgraded and though the Eee is relatively inexpensive I would like to avoid buying another one for a year or two at least simply due to hardware obsolescence.

Andu1960

Try here

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