This video is my little rant/story time about the ASUS Eee PC 701 and why I can’t honestly call it “the first netbook”… even though it kind of is. The term “netbook” existed way before 2007, and I walk through that earlier era where netbook-like machines were already roaming the earth—palmtops, PDAs, and small form-factor computers from the early 90s through the early 2000s. HP had Jornada machines, Nokia had Communicators, Sony had their handhelds, and there was even the Shin “netbook” (and yes, lawsuits). Then we hit the 2004–2007 doldrums, and the OLPC momentum helped kick the affordable portable computing idea back into the mainstream. From there I dig into the Eee PC 700 series, specifically the 2G Surf model I picked up. It’s a tiny, plasticky little 2-pound laptop with a 7-inch 800x480 display, a 900MHz Intel Celeron M, Intel GMA graphics, and DDR2 RAM (upgradeable). The keyboard and trackpad are honestly frustrating because they’re so miniaturized, but the lightweight Xandros Linux + solid state storage combo is way snappier than you’d expect. My takeaway: the Eee PC wasn’t the first netbook ever, but it absolutely was the first affordable consumer netbook that helped define what people mean by “netbook” today—and it paved the way for stuff like Chromebooks.