Customer Reviews

ASUS Eee PC 901 8.9-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 1 GB RAM, 12 GB Solid State Drive, 20 GB Eee Storage, XP Home) Sweet Pea Green

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This 901 has given lots of surprises. First surprise, it has the built-in bluetooth. In the spec, there is no one word mentions it. Second surprise, it supports dual monitor. Third surprise, it includes good software such as Microsoft Works and StarOffice. The only downside the 8GB SSD is slow. The computer may pause once in a while if the 8GB SSD is running. To get the reasonable performance, you may need to invest another $90 to $200 to upgarde the SSD HD. To me, I bought this one for email and internet browsing. I do not want to put much money to it. I just replaced the 8GB SSD with a Super Talent 32GB SATA SSD that only costs $87.

After upgarding the RAM and SSD, I paid about $400 for this 901. Some may say it costs as much as the 1000HE with a 160GB HD and 10" LCD. Yes, it is true, but I still like the size of the 901.

It was a Wired article about netbooks that sold me on the idea by comparing full-sized, full-power laptops (like the one I'm typing this on now) with SUVs, and netbooks with more efficient just-what-you-really-need compact cars. And the truth is, the vast majority of the time all I need is this netbook. People have an SUV for the one day a year they need all that cargo space or room for five people, but there's the other 364 where they're spending a fortune to move one person and a briefcase. But if you can't afford to have two cars, you can probably afford to add a netbook to your computer collection, so while you travel you have something light, easy, with a long battery life, sturdy so you won't worry so much about jostling it, and fully functional.

Much is made of the size of the keyboard and I know a lot of people try it and find it unsuitable for typing, and add on a roll-out keyboard. But I think a lot of those people just didn't try it long enough. After a few hours I really can type at almost my full speed (and that's about 60-80wpm) on it, and I can move between it and my full-sized keyboards without problems. If anything, I have a harder time with the touchpad, even though I have long experience with touchpads. A Bluetooth mouse works a treat to address that without impacting portability.

While the lightness and compactness are much ballyhooed, and the longer battery life is oft-cited, what's really impressive to me about this has been the sense that it's solid and sturdy. I've owned a dozen laptops in my time and most of them eventually succumbed to some problem with the screen, often in the hinge, leaving me feeling like I had to treat it extra gingerly. Maybe it's the smaller size and weight, maybe it's the better construction, but the Eee feels like I just don't need to think about that.

In fact, I took my Eee with me on a short vacation recently, and in addition to using it extensively in the hotel, restaurants, etc., I used a copy of Microsoft Streets & Trips on it with a USB GPS. It was so much nicer than either a full laptop (so heavy, running hot on my lap, feeling fragile, and struggling with power adapters) or a dedicated GPS (so limited, no mouse or keyboard, awkward software and interface, small screen). I think the Eee is an ideal GPS unit, and not least because when you get there it also can do everything else.

About the color, it must be said that it's pretty icky. It's not just a green usually associated with baby food, or what comes up after babies eat baby food, it also has a pattern of pixellated leaves on it that just looks like a bad smudge. The inside is white and has the same pattern in the same green. That said, it's better than plain old white or black. But I wish they'd do a nice blue, or the red model wasn't always out of stock and priced too high, or even a nicer green. They've realized we want some colors, I don't know why they don't make more of them.

One final word: if you're going to use an SDcard or thumbdrive to move your important data between your Eee and another computer, by leaving the data on that medium all the time, invest in a higher-performance card like the SANdisk Extreme III. I didn't think it mattered, one SDcard is the same as another, right? But it really does matter a lot. And they're really not that much more expensive.

I bought this little netbook to replace my larger, heavier one basically for emailing, browsing, writing, etc. I love the color and the size. Has lots of great features. It fits in my current purse. The small keyboard definitely takes some getting used to and the touch pad is extremely sensitive! I am going to buy a small mouse to use with it. I have mistakenly sent several emails without meaning to by lightly going over the surface. You will need a lot more memory. I bought the recommended 2G memory. I didn't attempt to install it; asked the engineer at my work to install it for me along with Microsoft Word which I needed since I am writing a book. He confirmed it is a good netbook. All in all, I love my Eee PC! OH, BTW, it comes with a nice black soft case so don't order the green one they recommend unless you just want it! I didn't realize it came with one and ordered the green one so now I have a spare!

Upgraded from the 701- size difference is just enough to be more comfortable for viewing and typing but still ultra-compact. This windows xp version is compatible with more software than the linux one...

This is a good net book. Really nice, cute, and worth the money I paid. It's just a little too small to type on sometimes, but once you're used to it. It's fine.

The processor will sacrifice speed for battery life sometimes, so the machine may exhibit temporary freezes sometimes.

I am happy with my purchase. The keys are small. Takes some getting used to. The unit is small and compact. That is the whole idea. The color sweet pea is nice.

The look of this netbook is great, a little annoying when at first glance everyone thinks there's dirt on it and may not take the time to notice the adorable leaf designs. But I digress. This is what any good netbook is, compact, barebones, dependable. Asus got all that in this product. I opted for the solid state drive, considerably less space, but I've dropped this thing from table tops a couple times with no screen or drive damage. Get an extra gig of ram too when you order one of these, 1g is worthless in this age.