Does ASUS really want to sell Eee-PCs (in Belgium)?
in [UK Linux]
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From: hugocoolens on 5 Dec 2008 09:06 Reading some reports concerning the Asus 901Go I decided to try to buy one. As I'm living in Belgium and being a Linux-fan I wanted the model with a Belgian Azerty keyboard and Linux pre-installed, in fact I also would like to have 2GB of RAM. Here is my story: I first found out there was a dealer in Belgium called "laptopshop.be", I mailed them with a request for the Eee-PC 901 -not a Go which wasn't available then- with Linux pre-installed, they answered they didn't sell that model and that was it, end of the line, no alternatives, no suggestions. I then tried out "http://www.linux-onlineshop.de", they do have a very nice hardware section which offers the Eee-PC 901Go, you can even ask for 2Gbyte RAM and for an extra 16Gbyte SDHC-card, all done quite nicely, unfortunately they don't sell it with a Belgian azerty- keyboard (which I can understand, it's a German shop). There is also a company which sells Eee-PCs in the French-speaking part of Belgium http://www.ldlc.be/, when asking them whether they offer it with a Belgian azerty keyboard, they answer it is a _French_ azerty keyboard (which is quite different from the Belgian version), once again: end of the line. I then decided to go to the official website of the eee-pc: http://eeepc.asus.com/ The website is very slow, needs flash installed and you first have to register to be able to post something. This is all not very customer-friendly, let alone potential-customer- friendly. Nowhere on the website you can find an email-address for sales support. (In fact there was one to a northern european country and I tried it twice but I never got an answer) Note that the Eee PC 901Go is still not on the website (I'm writing this december the 2nd of 2008) I posted a modified version of this mail in their forum, of course without any result. There is a warning on that forum telling you > There is no ASUS engineers online to provide direct support via this forum. If you are looking for >direct support from ASUS, please kindly fill a quick technical support form from the link below, and >the professionals from our Technical Support Team will answer your query shortly via email: > http://support.ASUS.com/techserv/techserv.aspx?SLanguage=en-us So I tried that link out too, unfortunately it's once more unusable for me as you have to enter all kinds of identification tags first to be able to post your request. As I don't own an Eee-pc yet I can't give them those identification tags...(catch-22) I went a step further and called the phone number for Belgium (+32-(0)-78150231), and asked where I could buy an Eee-pc 901(Go) with azerty keyboard and Linux in Belgium. They told me that model IS sold in Belgium but they couldn't tell me where also mentioning they were a technical support line only... they also couldn't give me a phone- number nor an email-address for further information, end of the line once again What is it with Asus?, they have a bestseller but I guess they don't realize why: the Eee-pc 901(Go)), the format is ideal, not too large (I don't want a 10 inch screen), not too heavy, great battery life, (better) SSD-technology, Linux-support, nice price, but they just don't seem to know how to sell it, I even start wondering whether they actuallly want to sell it. I also tried to mail to jerry.shen(a)asus.com, help(a)asus.com without any result. Anybody here with further suggestions how to reach the ASUS- management? Hugo
From: Ian on 5 Dec 2008 12:05 On 5 Dec, 14:06, "hugocool...(a)gmail.com" <hugocool...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Reading some reports concerning the Asus 901Go I decided to try to buy > one. As I'm living in Belgium and being a Linux-fan I wanted the model > with a Belgian Azerty keyboard and Linux pre-installed, in fact I also > would like to have 2GB of RAM. You may just have to put up with a non-Belgian keyboard. Would it hurt so much? Ian
From: Will Kemp on 5 Dec 2008 12:31 Ian wrote: > On 5 Dec, 14:06, "hugocool...(a)gmail.com" <hugocool...(a)gmail.com> > wrote: >> Reading some reports concerning the Asus 901Go I decided to try to buy >> one. As I'm living in Belgium and being a Linux-fan I wanted the model >> with a Belgian Azerty keyboard and Linux pre-installed, in fact I also >> would like to have 2GB of RAM. > > You may just have to put up with a non-Belgian keyboard. Would it hurt > so much? It would be silly if Belgian azerty keyboard models do actually exist. -- http://NovemberEchoRomeoDelta.com
From: Craig Wallace on 5 Dec 2008 16:02 On 05/12/2008 17:05, Ian wrote: > On 5 Dec, 14:06, "hugocool...(a)gmail.com"<hugocool...(a)gmail.com> > wrote: >> Reading some reports concerning the Asus 901Go I decided to try to buy >> one. As I'm living in Belgium and being a Linux-fan I wanted the model >> with a Belgian Azerty keyboard and Linux pre-installed, in fact I also >> would like to have 2GB of RAM. > > You may just have to put up with a non-Belgian keyboard. Would it hurt > so much? Or pull the keys off and rearrange them as needed? According to this page its quite easy to do that on the Eee PC: http://techreport.com/discussions.x/15893 -- Craig Wallace http://craig.neogeo.org.uk http://www.neogeo.org.uk
From: Ian on 5 Dec 2008 16:42
On 5 Dec, 17:31, Will Kemp <w...(a)xxxx.swaggie.net> wrote: > Ian wrote: > > On 5 Dec, 14:06, "hugocool...(a)gmail.com" <hugocool...(a)gmail.com> > > wrote: > >> Reading some reports concerning the Asus 901Go I decided to try to buy > >> one. As I'm living in Belgium and being a Linux-fan I wanted the model > >> with a Belgian Azerty keyboard and Linux pre-installed, in fact I also > >> would like to have 2GB of RAM. > > > You may just have to put up with a non-Belgian keyboard. Would it hurt > > so much? > > It would be silly if Belgian azerty keyboard models do actually exist. I'd be quite surprised if they were made for such a tiny (southern half of Plucky Little Belgium only, I presume) market. Ian |