TEO Linux Netbook: Ultra-Sturdy

The Teo feels sturdy. She's a beefy little girl, not as thin as other netbooks, but still very portable. The screen is beautiful; it is bright and sharp, and quite readable even for me and Terry, with our don't-like-small-print eyes. Colors are excellent, with true bright whites, and good saturated reds, blues, and greens.

The keyboard is smaller than a standard laptop keyboard, but it didn't take me long to get used to it. It has good feel and response, and does fine for finicky touch-typists like me. Though I have small hands, so users with large hands might not be as comfortable. Terry's hands are a little larger, and she kept hitting the forward-slash key instead of the period key. Terry is a great test subject for computers, representing ordinary users with brains. She uses Linux every day for college homework, editing digital photos, and audio production, though she would not call herself a guru

The six-cell battery is shaped to elevate the Teo slightly, putting it at a good comfortable typing angle. The screen has a wide viewing angle, so you don't have to fuss with getting it just right. Sitting on my lap it is a little top-heavy, but not too much.

Operating System, Everything Works

The standard operating system is Ubuntu 10.04, which brings to mind a funny thing. You know how those great big-time computer vendors need months and years to ever update anything? ZaReason was shipping 10.04 right after it was released.

While Ubuntu is the most popular customer choice, ZaReason offers other Linuxes: Ubuntu Netbook Remix, which is Ubuntu with a netbook-optimized appearance, Kubuntu, Debian, Mint, or Fedora. Real Linuxes with all the bells and whistles, not weird little crippled-for-netbooks Linuxes.

Read the rest at Linux Planet.