Pandora Vs Eee Pc Specifications

[AireTamStorm]

This is the one comparison I think is completely ridiculous (PC versus Handheld), so I'll end it with a real side by side spec sheet. The Pandora holds its own against the EEE in a variety of areas.

Verdict:
Edit: As there were several objections to my initial overview, that's still in the air until we improve upon the specifications and add their sources.

We now have a Features and Benefits section, Title, and Introduction.

Here is a summary (Chad78):
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=ptN...hTQtPpIhwyqmAOA

The more complete specifications here: (Google Documents)
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=df9b28k5_...b27fw&hl=en

Modified from my other spreadsheet at:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=df9b28k5_...brtcv&hl=en

Bring on the collaborators, as this speadsheet is quick and dirty to the extreme. Some of my sources were iffy. I should have included them in the document, but as this is a modification of my old spreadsheet, which didn't have any sources at all, it would be very hard to re-find and verify them all.

Current Editors:
AireTamStorm (Myself)
Chad78

If you find something wrong or something that you think should be added, please post the incorrect field, the new value, and the source for your value (a link will do) here, or request to become a collaborator via Google Documents. If you find a source to verify any of the current data, please post that link here in regards to the existing value. Thanks a ton in advance.

 

[craigix]

You might want to chuck in the original EEE too

 

[gaterooze]

They're not comparable. One fits in your pocket and has gaming controls, the other doesn't. You may as well compare the EEE with a desktop.

 

[shmuck]

I'd remove the bolding, not all of those are objective wins (personally, I value VGA out more than TV out). Also the Pandora's resolution is bolded, though the Eee's is higher. (Wait, the Pandora wins the resolution contest for density? Even though the Eee's res is higher? Eh...)

Yeah, the 7" Eee should be in there too, being price-comparable to the Pandora.

Aside: Why do they keep adding features/price to these XO clones? The whole point is the fact that they're cheap. There have been feature rich thin/light laptops forever, that's nothing new.

It's a good effort, but I don't think that this comparison is going to be ended this way. We need to wait until we have pictures of an actual unit, then we just do a side-by-side: "This is a pair of pants that can fit a Pandora in its pocket (show normal pair of pants), and this is a pair of pants that can fit an Eee (show pants that are 40% pocket)."

 

[frozenflame108]

They're not comparable. One fits in your pocket and has gaming controls, the other doesn't. You may as well compare the EEE with a desktop.

I agree. Pandora is primarily for handheld gaming while EEEpc is a small laptop.

 

[AireTamStorm]

They're not comparable. One fits in your pocket and has gaming controls, the other doesn't. You may as well compare the EEE with a desktop.

Well, as I said:

This is the one comparison I think is completely ridiculous (PC versus Handheld), so I'll end it with a real side by side spec sheet.

I'd remove the bolding, not all of those are objective wins (personally, I value VGA out more than TV out). Also the Pandora's resolution is bolded, though the Eee's is higher. (Wait, the Pandora wins the resolution contest for density? Even though the Eee's res is higher? Eh...)

Certain areas should be tied, or as you suggested bold removed. I considered VGA better, but clearly the field is labeled: "TV Out". Yeah, I know, HDTVs have VGA most of the time, but still. Alot of the bold was still there from the other sheet, and not updated. Just because the EEE has a higher resolution doesn't necessarily mean it is better. I mean, would you like to have a 640x480 res screen at 22"? No. Higher dpi could mean the difference between blocky and crisp (not saying the EEE has a blocky screen or anything! : ). You also have to note the extremely weird aspect ratio. I'll correct certain areas but I mentioned "quick n dirty" when I first posted this.

Bring on the collaborators, as this speadsheet is quick and dirty to the extreme. Some of my sources were iffy. I should have included them in the document, but as this is a modification of my old spreadsheet, which didn't have any sources at all, it would be very hard to re-find and verify them all.

As a collaborator you can edit the document as well.

I'll try to add the 700 series and fix some of the comparisons.

 

[chad78]

In this line

QUOTE
Screen Resolution Single 1024x600px LCD Single 800x480px LCD


you for some reason have the Pandora's side both bolded (which means it wins) and underlined (which means it's a tie) - but really, it's neither. The Eee PC obviously wins as it has more pixels.

And you have Aspect Ratio underlined in the Pandora column, where it should only be bold.

You also have TV out as a loss for Eee PC and a victory to Pandora, (I assume because the Pandora actually can be used on a TV.) However, VGA out on the Eee PC would yield a much better picture (high-res, better framerate) than TV-out will on the Pandora. I think it should be changed from TV Out to Video Out, and then the victory goes to the Eee PC. - or at least add a "monitor out" or "Video out" row and give that victory to the Eee PC.

And does anyone really expect the Pandora to get 100 hours?!?!?!? of battery life? That's insane.

And the "Operating System" victory should go to Eee PC. Not because of Windows - or Xandros for that matter - but because it currently has one, where the Pandora does not. Two, actually. Several if you count all the ones people have hacked onto it - including OS X Tiger and OS X Leopard. Either way, I'd say the Eee PC can run more operating systems than the Pandora - including many that will eventually make it onto the Pandora (like Ubuntu).

You also might want to add a few columns that might give more "Fair and Balanced" stats for the Eee PC. Something like onboard storage. I have a feeling the Eee PC wins that one. (You'd need to change "Memory" to RAM and add a "Storage" Row.)

 

[Svartalf]

I agree. Pandora is primarily for handheld gaming while EEEpc is a small laptop.

That's why I find the trolls' assertions of the gaming abilities of the eeePC to be so laughable...

The GPU cripples the use of it as a gaming system right out of the gate- some of the more recent claims are...heh...hilarious at best.

 

[shmuck]

In this line

QUOTE
Screen Resolution Single 1024x600px LCD Single 800x480px LCD

you for some reason have the Pandora's side both bolded (which means it wins) and underlined (which means it's a tie) - but really, it's neither. The Eee PC obviously wins as it has more pixels.

Read his notes at the bottom - he's giving the Pandora the win for the higher pixel density and less weird aspect ratio.

 

[chad78]

Read his notes at the bottom - he's giving the Pandora the win for the higher pixel density and less weird aspect ratio.

That's like saying since the GameBoy Micro has a higher pixel density - it has a better monitor than the PSP. No. It does not. I can watch a movie on PSP without my eyes exploding. And I get more detail than I would on a Micro.

That's a very biased answer. I mean, aspect ratio means nothing without context. What is "weird" about any aspect ratio? What makes 65 x 36 any more "weird" than 16 x 9 - or any less "weird" than 193 x 108? (They are all *very* similar, btw.) Nothing except thinking makes it so. People are used to certain resolutions on things. But that doesn't mean I'll have less use for my 1024 pixels across than I would for 1023 or 800. Heck, I'll take 1025 if you'll give them too me.

That fact is a 1024 x 600 screen is far better for some things (like Web surfing, for example) than a 800 x anything screen would be. And it's not like 800 x 480 is a "normal" resolution, either. 800 x 600 is normal. Just like 1024 x 768. is normal. Both screen are far less tall than they "normally" should be.

The Eee PC's screen is suitable for what it is designed for - web surfing and word processing. In that case - bigger is better, no matter the aspect ratio - and wider is better than taller. Scrolling up and down is normal - scrolling side to side is not. That's Web Design 101.

If you are going to assign value to screen, consider its purpose. You already have a row for "Aspect Ratio" - give that one to the Pandora if you must. But when it comes to the screen itself - Bigger is better - and higher resolution is better. Can you come up with some stupid extreme example - like a 1500 inch screen with a 2x30000000001 aspect ratio with a 4,928,129 x 3 resolution. Sure - that would be stupidly useless. But anything close to a 3 x 5 box with close to square pixels is going to be just fine.

 

[sold]

I have an Eee, the 4G with 2GB ram and a 16GB sd in it running XP and its great. Im posting this from it. Gaming on Eee (with a gamepad) is better than I thought, especially after installing the screen scaling app that helps get past the restrictions of an 800x480 display. Its made by a guy called bassam on the eeeuser forum. 3Danalyze helps get games that require hardware T&L working. Overclocking also helps and there is a utility for that too, Eeectl by dci. I use xpadder to map mouse and keys to my gamepad so I can easily control games and XP with it.

N64 works great, and so do many other games, emulators and apps that are x86 and windows dependant that may never hit the pandora or even linux x86 pc's natively. I use the Eee as my main pc until I finish building my desktop, which will be a monster used for sound production and gaming. Hardly portable. And if I break my Eee I'll get over it faster than if i broke a $3000 laptop. It has filled my current needs.

The pandora looks like it will also be awesome. Handheld, touchscreen, gaming controls, and good hardware for such a device, and 2 sd slots was an excellent idea. I think the differences between these devices will mean they compliment each other rather than compete. Bottom line, get a Pandora. And an Eee. Get a DS lite too if you dont have one already. Or dont. Whatever. Choice is yours.

 

[idjit626]

WOW!

All I wanted was to get enough people to complain so the Pandora would get a better screen resolution. >_<

YOU HEARD ME CRAIGX! GIVE PANDORA A HIGHER RESOLUTION!

 

[icurafu]

what a joke. you can't say the Eee PC CPU is only slightly faster. And where did you get the DMIPS value for the CPU?

Also why is the Pandora awarded the GPU prize? Sure, it's more advanced, but at maybe half the performance.

Sure, they can be compared, but this is an obvious distortion of a fanboy.

edit: you also got the polygon rate wrong again for the Pandora.

 

[AireTamStorm]

That's like saying since the GameBoy Micro has a higher pixel density - it has a better monitor than the PSP. No. It does not. I can watch a movie on PSP without my eyes exploding. And I get more detail than I would on a Micro.

Give me another way to compare the screens of two devices, one with a MUCH LESS RESTRICTIVE size requirement.
I gave my reasoning above - higher DPI yields a better image. Of course, you have to take into account how easy it is to view by human eyes. GameBoy micro is hardly viewable with its tiny screen. Pandora is very viewable, so is the EEE. Ultimately it will deliver a more crisp image from the same viewing distance, unlike the GBMicro where you have to hold the device 6" from your eye to see correctly. Had the EEE been equipped with a 1280x800, or heck even a straight 720p screen, it'd have taken the cake for the standard resolution. That being said, I have modified the bold / underline to reflect resolution and screen size only.

That's a very biased answer. I mean, aspect ratio means nothing without context. What is "weird" about any aspect ratio? What makes 65 x 36 any more "weird" than 16 x 9 - or any less "weird" than 193 x 108?
How many applications, videos, games, run with that aspect ratio? From what I can count by the fingers on my hand, ZERO. How many run with 16:9? Alot. 4:3? Alot more. 5:3 is closer to 4:3 (0.11111_ difference when there is a .44444_ difference between 16:9 and 4:3) and the EEE PC's is closer to 16:9. What is the pandora for? Emulation, gaming, and video, alot of that content being in 4:3. It is much more of a compromise rather than some strange deviation from 16:9. I like 16:9 much more than 4:3, but ultimately for the Pandora's purposes 4:3 is optimal and 5:3 is sure as hell closer than 128:75. I re-evaluated and re-bolded / underlined this area.

Biased / "fanboy" doesn't even enter the picture. Need I repeat: "This is quick n dirty". I will spell it out for you:

PLEASE help me edit this document to a much more neutral and refined resource so that the people who are looking for information regarding both devices will have one. Become a collaborator.

Edit: @icurafu The GPU takes the cake for being able do more advanced instructions. Because the GMA 900 cannot do these effects, they would have to be done via software, lowering the quality of the image and ultimately the framerate. The SGX > GMA 900 until you remove nearly every OpenGL 2.0 exclusive instruction in the book. Quake 1? GMA. Quake 3? Probably GMA. Quake 4? The SGX would do better provided it had the memory to work with. My GeForce FX 5950 Ultra gets 10,000 FPS in GLX Gears. The 8500 Gets 6,000. (Identical CPUs) Who wins in Quake 4? The 8500. If you would actually post the poly rate I'll update it.

 

[Adventus]

QUOTE
what a joke. you can't say the Eee PC CPU is only slightly faster. And where did you get the DMIPS value for the CPU?

Also why is the Pandora awarded the GPU prize? Sure, it's more advanced, but at maybe half the performance.

Sure, they can be compared, but this is an obvious distortion of a fanboy.
Yea i agree, Its hard to compare the GPU & CPU performace. The GMA doesnt have HW T&L/vertex shaders.... so thats emulated in software incuring a greater cost to the CPU. Then theres the fact that the eee cpu & gpu share the same Bus & memory. Is this the same on Pandora? Or does it have a dedicated bus.

 

[quartercast]

Biased / "fanboy" doesn't even enter the picture. Need I repeat: "This is quick n dirty". I will spell it out for you:

PLEASE help me edit this document to a much more neutral and refined resource so that the people who are looking for information regarding both devices will have one. Become a collaborator.



Aww, I wanted to pretend it was an authoritative document and bash the hell out of it like everyone else did! :rolleyes: No fun!

I appreciate the effort you put in, Stormy, it just makes it clear to me how futile this comparison is. Really, they're two completely different kettles of fish and each device will suit different purposes. Thank you.

 

[lubidog]

I haven't read through the report, cos it's obvious that they aren't comparable!

Sold said it best, they compliment each other! get them both if you want to have everything and have it portable!

 

[yodaofborg]

I agree, its apples and oranges. They might be nice together, and some people may prefer one or the other, but neither can be compared.

 

[javaJake]

...then how do I decide which one I should buy?

There is some sort of comparison, folks. Just a matter of figuring out what I'd think. This sort of thing would be nice to show people and say "Hey look, it really is better."

 

[lubidog]

...then how do I decide which one I should buy?

There is some sort of comparison, folks. Just a matter of figuring out what I'd think. This sort of thing would be nice to show people and say "Hey look, it really is better."

Better at doing what....?
Jakey, makes no sense! It's like saying "Shall I buy a pandora or a hoover?"