Asus EEE for new user?
 

I wanted to get a xmas gift for mother something along the lines of a PC. Her knowledge of computer is sadly less than my grandpa's so I need something very simple. I think the best would be the new Asus. All she will use is some type of instant messenger, email, and word app and thats about it. Since it has wifi, I can set up network printing in the house and office so she can print stuff everywhere and I think that would be perfect for her.
Thoughts?

Maybe you had missed the earlier thread that folks are buzzing about their first-hand experiences:

Asus EEE PC now available...

I did read that, but my question is a bit more specific to see for someone who never used a computer before if this would be a good option.

<disclaimer>I'm by no means a mac fanboy, in fact I've only used a mac a handful of times in my life</disclaimer>

Everything I've read about people in your situation point to a Mac as being a good choice. I realize they cost more than the EEE but I would assume you could get a refurbished Mac for not a lot more? Maybe a refurbed mac-mini from apple.com?

IMO it'd be very good for her. You don't have to know much at all about using a PC but it has everything one needs to be functional. Get her a DSL connection, set it up with WiFi and let 'er rip. So long as she'll be ok with the size, she should be fine. I quite like it aside from the screen being too small. I just am used to MUCH more real estate.

We got wifi Cable at home and office :)

I just received my EEE PC. It is of course small, and for me typing on it properly is nearly impossible. I can still manage pretty well with several fingers.

I'm keeping the Linux distro on it but have added a start menu and additional workspaces, along with VLC media player and GIMP. IM, Email and Skype are my favorite travel pals. It's a great travel tool to replace my Dell Axim PDA that was stolen from me by a gang of kids in Romania. (Laugh, if you must!)

Was this difficult to do?
How much media will you be able to fit on it?

Very very very easy to do. Instructions here. The thing has about a gig left on the SSD but an 8 gb SDHC card and/or a 200gb USB HDD really do wonders as far as media goes.

www.eeeuser.com - lots of good stuff there for experts and novices alike. Includes a growing WIKI.

You can permanently switch it to advanced mode (which really just loads a different xwindow manager, KDE) but I prefer the "easy mode" default. Just modifying it to have a custom start menu and task bar.

On the 4GB version, if you learn how to uninstall the apps you won't ever use (i.e. Thunderbird - I use webmail on the system, I don't need a mail client) and anything else will free up a lot more. But as mentioned, using an SDHC card (8GB right now, a few expensive 16GB cards available), a USB flash disk or USB hard drive gives you all the storage you need.