My EEE 1000H can do 720P with no problems at all, you just need to use Media Player Classic. I feel like I'm the only person who has noticed this; every review of every EEE I've ever read says it can't do 720P.

Shame VLC has gotten so bloated in the last year or two...

T0SSERS!

Im not going to rant even more, I already said enought at; http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/066/1051066/the-inch-netbook-dead

The netbook is DEAD!

Hah, shame on you trying to sneak such blatant April Fool through two days early ;)

Oh, you mean they're actually really planning to do this?

*sigh*

I wouldn't mind a cheap bootable external DVD drive option, but building it in does rather kill the "small" epithet. Optical drives are handy when it comes to replacing/restoring the OS though, and they're useful for ripping/installing. Sounds ideal for a simple docking bay type thing though.

The first eeepc was something different and interesting - a usable "satellite" portable computer (I'm ignoring the Psions of yesteryear for this argument). Now it's all going back to Windows, spinning platters, bigger form factors and now chunky optical drives why bother? Can we look forward to a 15" Core i7 500GB eee-branded notebook in the near future?

I like the idea of being able to load software without an external drive, burn info to a disc, or to quickly ingest a CD into an MP3.

The 4200 RPM 1.8" PATA drives just have horrible performance and will hamstring any computer you put them into. I was a potential customer until I read that. Do the same with a 160GB 1.8" SATA, and I'll buy one.

100% with you on that one mate. I make sure I take extreme care with all my optical media. But most don't and these get scratched and become glorified frisbees before long. Heck with that hole in the middle they even fail at that...

I know people want to use these things as mobile video players, but I for one can't stand optical media drives. For a DVD I'd just as rather rip the DVDs to a file, put them on a cheap 8GB jump drive, and use that instead. Sure beats adding moving parts to the computer, though I guess the EEE already has a real hard drive.