Asus EEE PC 901

Asus was the pioneer of the ultraportable notebooks, more commonly known as “Netbooks” now. It revolutionized the notebook market in 2007 with its ultraportable offering - the Asus EEE PC 701, a 7″ sub notebook with enough power to run basic applications and became the ultraportable of choice. It was the winner of the first round of the “War of the ultraportables”, mainly because there wasn’t much competition in that segment then. However now, the competition has heated up with loads of sub notebooks with similar features and form factors entering the market, the MSI Wind and the HP MiniNote 2133 being the main competitors.

There are many more yet to come, like the Dell 500, ACi Ultra Mini and Acer Aspire One. The main USP of the EEE PC was the small form factor offering maximum portability while the major shortcomings were its small, low resolution screen and low SSD capacity. Asus is back with the new iterations of the EEE PC, the EEE PC 900 and the EEE PC 901 with a higher resolution 8.9″ LCD display and larger SSD capacities. Both of them have exactly the same configuration with a some changes, the EEE PC 901 is powered by an Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHZ processor while the EEE PC 900 still has the older Intel Celeron M ULV 900 MHZ. Both the EEE PC 900 and EEE PC 901 are available in Windows XP and Linux flavors, with the Windows XP version having only a 12 GB SSD compared to the Linux version’s 20 GB.

In this review we check out the EEE PC 901 and see whether it is a viable option and whether it can beat the other competitors like the MSI Wind and the HP Mininote 2133.

Asus EEE PC 901 Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Atom 1.6 GHz N270
• Storage: 12GB / 20 GB SSD (4GB onboard + 8GB / 16 GB PCI-E mini SSD card)
• RAM: 1GB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz)
• OS: Windows XP operating system
• Display: 8.9-inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution
• Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n Atheros, Bluetooth 2.0
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA monitor out, headphone jack, mic input, SD card reader, Ethernet 10/100
• Webcam: 1.3 MP
• Battery: 6600 mAh 7.2V Li-Ion
• Input: Keyboard and Multi-touch touchpad
• Dimensions: 1.6″ x 9.0″ x 6.9″
• Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Price: $599

Design:

The Asus EEE PC 901 is very different from the original EEE PC 701 and the EEE PC 900 which was just a rehash of the EEE PC 701. It has a much more smoother design with a nice glossy finish and rounded edges. The Asus EEE PC 901 is only slightly bigger than the EEE PC 900. The Asus branding has been replaced by an EEE logo. The build quality is superb and the EEE PC 901 feels sturdy and can easily withstand a light drop. It has a new circular hinge which is stronger than the old EEE 701’s. The EEE PC 901 has dimensions of 1.6″ x 9.0″ x 6.9″ and a weight of around 2.5 pounds which make it the ideal ultra portable computer.

The port configuration is pretty much the same as the older EEE PC’s. It houses an Ethernet port, USB 2.0 port and headphone and mic jacks on the left while there is the card reader, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a VGA out on the right. It also has the shiny new activity and status LEDs on the front near the Touchpad.

Display and Sound:

The Asus EEE PC 901 has a 8.9″ LCD screen which supports resolutions of 1024 x 600 px natively and is almost the same as the display of the EEE PC 900. It has good brightness and contrast levels with solid colors. It has decent viewing angles and good visibility under sunlight. The 1024 x 600 px wide screen resolution is a relief after using the default 800 x 480 resolution on the EEE PC 701. Most webpages don’t need horizontal scrolling at all. You can also plug it to any external CRT / LCD monitor or projector using the VGA port. It also comes with a good quality 1.3 MP webcam above the display.

The Dolby certified speakers add to the overall experience of the EEE as a multimedia device with their great sound quality. The volume is louder than most laptops with amazing clarity. You can also plug in headphones of your choice through the standard 3.5 mm audio jack.

Performance:

The Asus EEE PC 901 is powered by the latest Intel Atom N270 which is clocked at 1.6 GHZ with 512KB L2 cache. It is very power eficient and has a very low TDP of 2.5W. It comes with 1 GB of DDR2 667 MHZ RAM, upgradable to 2 GB. It has the Intel GMA 950 onboard graphics which can manage low end games and multimedia playback easily. It comes with two Operating System options - Windows XP and Linux, with the XP version priced at $50 more than the Linux version having the same configuration. It boots Windows XP in lesser time than most notebooks and can handle 4-5 applications without any lag. The difference between the Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHZ and the Intel Celeron M ULV 900 MHZ is noticeable both in terms of performance and efficiency. It is capable of running all the basic Media, Office and Web applications easily. The configuration of the Asus EEE 901 is very similar to that of the MSI WInd except that the EEE PC 901 sports a 12 GB / 20 GB SSD while the MSI Wind sports a 80 GB 2.5″ HDD. Due to this, the EEE is more responsive and fast and consumes less power. It can also absorb shocks easily due to no moving parts. Overall, the performance of the EEE 901 is great and it is very power efficient due to the use of the new Intel Atom processors and the SSD.

Keyboard & Touchpad:

The keyboard on the EEE PC 901 is the same as the one on the EEE PC 900 with minor differences if any. It feels cramped and the key spacing is a bit less. The MSI Wind and HP MiniNote 2133 have much better keyboards than the EEE PC 901. On the other hand, the EEE PC 901 features a bigger multitouch enabled trackpad. It is far more roomier than its previous versions and feels good to work with. You can use multitouch gestures with the trackpad to perform certain functions like zooming in and out of pictures. The functionality of the trackpad is limited but it is surely going to improve with some updates. The EEE PC 901 now has two separate mouse buttons instead of the single clicker in the older versions which is a welcome change.

Adding to all this, the EEE PC 901 also features 4 new buttons on the top of the keyboard which allow you to turn off the monitor, switch between screen resolutions, change between power saving modes. The 4th button is a user definable launcher. There is also a Power button to the extreme right. You can switch between the following resolutions - 800 x 600, 1024 x 600, 1024 x 768 and 1024 x 768 compressed. There are 3 power saving modes, running the CPU at a clock speed of 1.2 GHZ, 1.6 GHZ and 1.8 GHZ respectively to increase battery life. You can also lower the display brightness and turn off Wi-Fi to increase battery life.

Battery life:

The Asus EEE PC 901 comes with an awesome 6 cell 6600 mAh 7.2V Li-Ion battery which is very powerful and can easily keep the EEE PC 901 juiced up for 4.5-5 hrs. This is partly due to the new low power Atom processors being used and the use of an SSD. To extract more juice out of the battery, you can turn off Wi-Fi, use the power saving mode to underclock the processor and lower the display brightness. The battery life comes up to be one of the strongest plus points of the EEE PC 901.

Pros:

• Bigger, Better Display
• Light and Portable
• Multitouch Trackpad
• Great battery

Cons:

• Cramped Keyboard
• Slightly Expensive

Conclusion:

The Asus EEE PC 901 comes out to be an ideal ultra portable, offering a great blend of portability, power and style. It scores nearly the same as the MSI Wind in most criterias and does better it in some like battery life, less weight, smaller dimensions, better trackpad etc. However it is priced higher than the MSI Wind which can account for all the added features. It has some really cool new features like the multitouch trackpad which make it a great buy. However, new customers may want to wait for the upcoming EEE PC 1000 series.

Rating: 4.20 / 5.