FOLLOWING UP ON MY EARLIER post about the Asus Eee PC, here’s an Engadget review of the new, slightly-larger 9″ version.

Meanwhile, reader Ed Adams likes his 7″ Asus:

I bought an Asus after reading your review while in Puerto Vallarta – couldn’t get on the resort’s PCs, and was looking for such an “appliance”. It is a lot more substantial than I was expected, and everything works just fine. Love the size and portability….

Yeah. They cut corners, but they did a very good job of figuring out where to cut corners without it seeming cheap.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Billy Beck emails:

I’ve had mine in hand about a week, now. I went for a 1gb RAM stick before I’d decided to install XP. Might’ve thought that through a bit better (XP will see 2gb on this thing), but I’m still very happy, nonetheless. On a lark, I installed AutoCAD (2002). This machine is throwing around shaded 3D models of arena-scale touring lights rigs (300-500 instruments with all trussing, etc.), with authority. I also installed Sony’s Vegas video editor for processing files straight out of my Sanyo C40 Xacti for upload to YouTube.

To be able to do all this in a sub-2 lb. machine at this price is amazing to me. Yes; we could pick nits about it. However, I think that to do that really misses the whole point.

This is what I’ve been waiting for in order to travel with a laptop again, for about seven years now, since my Vaio 505TS… at over two thousand dollars, over three times the weight (fully complimented), and a fraction of the computing power. I think it’s a really good job.

Yeah, I’m impressed that you can run Vegas on it.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails:

I see you keep mentioning the EEE, but haven’t seen if you’re readers have mentioned how great it is for kids.

We ordered one for our kindergartener after the OLPC we ordered (on Day One by the way) didn’t show up for three months.

We got the Asus EEE PC from Newegg.com in something incredible like nearly 24 hours for $433 including FedEx charges. I couldn’t even begin to heap enough praise on Newegg.

It’s been perfect for the kid. When the OLPC finally showed up we just shelved it without even opening the box.

Hurrah for capitalism. And yeah, the Eee PC is good for kids. Plus, Billy Beck sends this followup:

Between the ASUS and the Sanyo Xacti, think about it: throw in the Vegas installation, and you’ve got a ‘Web 2.0′ multimedia rig easier to travel with than von Mises’ “Human Action” (ask me how I know this), for about six to seven hundred dollars.

On my last trip to Tokyo, all my viddies awaited processing until I got home. Them days is gone. I’ll tell you who else should be worried about this: the bloody New York Times.

Yep. The cost of competing with Big Media just keeps dropping.