Modding a netbook - Asus Eee PC

hairyleprechaun

I ordered NTL through the carphone warehouse and am getting an Asus Eee PC for €1 using their offer that's on at the minute
(until the end of Oct 09)

More details on the offer here on boards.ie:
upc deals, whats the catch?

& here:

http://www.upc.ie/netbookoffer/

After I had signed on the dotted line I was chattin one of the guys in the shop and he was telling me how I could upgrade the SSD to a bigger one than the 8GB it come with (I don't know how yet, where to buy them or how to install them but I've some friends in college who do!)

He was also telling me about converting it to a touchscreen, I thought that was unreal, I looked on youtube and found this:

How-to: Asus Eee Pc with touch screen

Apparently you can get these kits for very little.


Anyone got any thoughts? I think it's pretty cool.

Has anyone ever done anything like this?

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Can a mod please change the title of the thread from "laptop" to "netbook"?

Thanks!
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unklerosco

Did the same deal myself.. Just realized I never got the voucher to be signed by the installer.. Did u get one??

hairyleprechaun

just ordered it today so I can't tell you.

how long did it take them to come out and install it?

If you go in to the carphone warehouse they'll ring up NTL to confirm you had it installed, at least I think they can do it that way.

unklerosco

It took a week but thats only cause I asked for a certain day.. They should have told u what day u wanted it on and what hours(9-1 or 1-5)... U'll get an email about it n a load of annoying automated phone calls...

hairyleprechaun

I told them to pick the nearest day and to pick me if a spot comes free so I don't know yet. Hopefully they'll come soon.

JBUCD

Nice offer. Have the 20mb package myself and get download speed of 18mb/s and upload speed of 1.5 mb/s. It's brilliant. Although there customer support is awful. Like the guys on the phones dont communicate with the technicians.

unklerosco

Thats true, I've had it before in another house... Once u get a good tech ur sorted tho, guy that came out to me gave me his mobile number n told me to call him direct if I'd any problems... It took about two weeks to get my line sorted but I got free phones and two months free billing so I was happy with that...

hairyleprechaun

It's gonna take a while, they rang this mornin and twill be a week before they get me hooked up, I was playin with the netbook in the shop yesterday and it seems sweet as a nut, all I wanted was somethin cheap and small that'd be handy for college and I figure for €1 I can't go wrong!

Anyone any thoughts on the mods people have made to these things?

unklerosco

I just wish they had the same range that they have in the UK...

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/broadband/laptops

A dell mini 10 for around €30... That'd be sweet!

Log-on

Hey guys! I'm kinda annoyed, I recently moved house and decided to get ntl BB in, i ordered it a few weeks ago and they twice never got back to me about install dates etc,
the mother called and got it ordered and confined there and It's being installed in the morning (twice she had to fax in Passport and proof off address as they lost it and had to reschedule the install date).

i saw the the add on the website off upc a few days ago and thought sweet a new net book, I feel the add was misleading as this is what it says

(Chorus ntl Netbook offer in association with The Carphone Warehouse. The special offer ends 31 October 2009 and is subject to availability. To be eligible for this offer you must purchase our standalone 20Mb Broadband Ultra service or, if you live in an area where only TV and Broadband are available, Digital TV and Broadband (any packs) , if you live in an area where TV, Broadband and Home Phone are available, Digital TV, Broadband and Home Phone (any packs). Your confirmation of your order will include a voucher. This must be signed by the installer once installation of all required services is complete. Return to your local Carphone Warehouse store with this signed voucher to claim your netbook for €1. Alternatively, you can request a discount of €249 on any laptop in the Carphone Warehouse range. The voucher must be redeemed within 3 months from the date of successful install and prior to the offer end date (subject to availability).

The discount can only be redeemed against the laptop range offered by Carphone Warehouse. These terms and conditions are in addition to and do not replace the standard terms and conditions associated with your Chorus ntl subscription.)

I read the offer many times and it doesn't say you need to go into carphone warehouse to sign up to get the offer, It says to be eligible you just need to apply to certain products etc. long story shot i called up ntl once every day for the last few days and asked about the offer, none of the sales team knew about it,

Even the coustmer sevice didnt, I called today and was anxious about it as it's being installed tomorrow i talked to yet another person and they had no idea about it and told me to call back and give them more information. So i went to the link for the text above and called back and gave it to the rep. he looked at it and then told me i need to go into carphonewhere to order it. but 5 seconds earlier he had no idea what i was on about.

I don't belive it's me reading it wrong as i got friends to read it. I would go and cancel my order and reorder it tomorrow but sky is being installed a few days later and ive paid my once off fees for the isntall date so need the line in asap etc. Does any one here agree with my point?

I'm tempted to go in tomorrow or if the mothers free she's go in and order off them and cancel our order under the E.U distance order directive. cheers for the rant
any advice??

unklerosco

Cancel the order n go into CPW n place a new order... I assume when u say u need the line in for sky u mean the phone line??

If u really want the laptop u'll need to cancel the order... U know u have to get the 20mb line or else one of the TV bundles to qualify... I can understand that the add is misleading but I thought it was fairly obvious that it was a CPW promotion.

Log-on

i found an add on one of the on-line papers websites,
Maybe the sunday tribute about a week or more about when it must off came out,
Did a google search for NLT and carphone warehouse and the link i copied was the only thing that came up, done another search there a few mins ago and yeah there was a good few references that indicate you have to go into carphone warehouse and apply. But at the time it wasnt well advertised and the only info about it was on my post earlier which didnt confirm you needed to apply in store etc.

I'm applying for the 20mb the phone.

would it be possible to go into carphone warehouse tomorrow and sign up, get the voucher and such use it with the installer later that day?

they are hardly gonna install twice to the same address etc.

normally id cancel but my sky install is for large multi room on a 3 story house with dodgy line of site due to tree's so i had to pay a decent chuck for a non standard install and funds are tight right now!

thanks for you're advice

unklerosco

Why are u getting sky if ur getting the full NTL pack??

Log-on

unklerosco wrote: »

Why are u getting sky if ur getting the full NTL pack??

Sorry was thinking off sky there for a second, Added it in there by mistake! it's been a long day :P

yeah the 20mb and the phone line.

unklerosco

I doubt CPW will give u a voucher, I'm guessing they're getting some sort of deal from UPC for every order they put through... Easiest way to do it would be to cancel the order for tomorrow n re order it through CPW... It'll be another week before u get it installed tho

Log-on

Yeah you're right, might give it a chance anyway and if it doesn't work just cancel. Ntl don't know where half there orders come from anyway, the guy earlier asked me where did i place my order even after he had my account details and all that stuff typed in, which i could of just said. they have no idea, or they do and it is hard to find out. either way if i apply in cpw i doubt its gonna be a big problem.

i need a netbook anyway and was intending to buy one, Dam you expensive sky install! otherwise i'd be holding out a week!

their pretty sweet netbooks thought!

hairyleprechaun

I would say your best bet Log-on is to cancel and re-order through the Carphone Warehouse, I think they'd need a record of you having ordered the BB through them before they give you the discount.

Anyone any thoughts on the touch screen installation?

hairyleprechaun

Just after buying my new netbook!!
All I could do was laugh when he said that'll be €1 please!

It's class! now to wire in the touch screen!

jaykay74

hairyleprechaun wrote: »

Just after buying my new netbook!!
All I could do was laugh when he said that'll be €1 please!

It's class! now to wire in the touch screen!

Sounds good. If you get a chance please post with how it goes for you. Is the 1 euro laptop the Asus 7 inch 8 gig solid state drive ?

Thanks

hairyleprechaun

Do you mean how the touch screen installation goes or just how I get on with the netbook?

I don't think I'll be puttin in the touch screen for a long while to be honest, it would class I think though!

yeah, it says Asus Eee PC 701SD on the bottom.
8GB SSD, 512MB RAM, ~897MHz processor.

Usin it on the college wifi at the min, she's sweet as a nut!

majiktripp

Severe modding here on the Eee PC Forums :
Flips screen to turn it into a Tablet laptop
Seems there a lot can be done with these little laptops!

hairyleprechaun

One thing I love about it is how it is perfectly silent, because it has a solid state HD. A fan does come on after a while though, but until then... absolute silence

Some of the guys on that website are unreal at what they are doing to their laptops, professional looking finishes to them, some class stuff, wish I could do some of it.

deevey

You can get upgraded SSD's on http://www.memoryc.com

Upgrade your RAM to 2 gigs while your at it