Asus Eee PC T91MT-PU17-BK 8.9 inch Intel Atom Z520/1 GB/32 GB SSD/W7HP Netbook Computer (Black)
Product Information
| Screen Size | 8.9 inches |
| Screen Resolution | 1024 x 600 |
| Max Screen Resolution | 1024 x 600 pixels |
| Processor | 1.33 GHz Intel Atom Z520 |
| RAM | 1 GB DDR2 |
| Hard Drive | 32 GB |
| Graphics Coprocessor | Intel GMA 500 |
| Chipset Brand | Intel |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 5 hours |
| Brand Name | Asus |
| Series | Eee PC |
| Item model number | T91MT-PU17-BK |
| Hardware Platform | Pc |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Home Premium |
| Item Weight | 2.1 pounds |
| Item Dimensions L x W x H | 8.86 x 6.46 x 0.99 inches |
| Color | Black |
| Processor Brand | Intel |
| Computer Memory Type | DDR2 SDRAM |
| Flash Memory Size | 32 GB |
| Hard Drive Interface | Solid State |
| Audio-out Ports (#) | 1 |
| Battery Type | lithium_polymer |
| Power Source | AC |
Additional Information
| ASIN | B002UAR8SK |
| Best Sellers Rank | #6,713 in Computers & Accessories (See top 100) |
| Shipping Weight | 3.8 pounds |
| Shipping | Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. |
| Date First Available | June 17, 2003 |
Warranty & Support
Amazon.com Return Policy: You may return any new computer purchased from Amazon.com that is "dead on arrival," arrives in damaged condition, or is still in unopened boxes, for a full refund within 30 days of purchase. Amazon.com reserves the right to test "dead on arrival" returns and impose a customer fee equal to 15 percent of the product sales price if the customer misrepresents the condition of the product. Any returned computer that is damaged through customer misuse, is missing parts, or is in unsellable… Read more condition due to customer tampering will result in the customer being charged a higher restocking fee based on the condition of the product. Amazon.com will not accept returns of any desktop or notebook computer more than 30 days after you receive the shipment. New, used, and refurbished products purchased from Marketplace vendors are subject to the returns policy of the individual vendor.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
188 of 195 people found the following review helpful
By Lucas
(Note - The T91MT is released in Black and White versions, I have the White Version.)
Since I've started using Ipod Touch generation 1 a couple of years back, I decided the future is all about touch screen and I told myself I would only buy mobile devices that would have access to touch screen. So I was looking forward to this netbook, as it was exactly what I've been hoping for in terms of concept and design.
Initially I was disappointed with the touch features due to lack of response, but after over a week I've started to like it. Don't get me wrong, the T91MT uses a resistive screen so it is never as responsive as the IPhone Capacitive screen but once you get used to the amount of pressure you need to apply, the T91MT response pretty well to touch commands. The main culprit of lag and unresponsiveness is the low powered CPU. I've notice while it is tablet mode, the processing power is restricted to only 800mhz. You will only get the full performance of 1.33ghz in netbook mode, this may be purposely implied to lower the system temperature in tablet. The difference in performance is very noticeable while watching online videos.
Multitouch zooming is not highly inaccurate, instead of making small smooth changes; it makes leaps that zoom from 100% to 125% or 100% to 75%, depending on the program. Some program has smooth animation between zoom to give the illusion that the zoom is more fluid. The biggest problem here is still processing power. If you are running zoom while low in processing resources you will likely to make inaccurate zoom, going over the desired zoom level due to lag.
There is a official demo video floating around on YouTube of the T91MT, this is the same video that is installed onto the netbook that shows every time you startup. It can be misleading; the video shows a different version of Touch gate that has a different background graphics. They have show very smooth animation in their software, it is unlikely the real thing will perform this well, due to once again, lack of processing power. The real thing is much choppier.
However on the positive side, the design of the netbook itself is solid and reasonably attractive, one of the big selling factor of this notebook is the small form factor and the tablet option. The netbook is very portable, I find myself getting it out during long queues like I would usually do with my Iphone. It can operate in tablet mode without going back to the keyboard, thanks to the virtual keyboard in windows 7.
The battery life is reasonable to good; it runs down quicker in full performance setting, around 3hrs, which is what I usually have it in due to the lack of processing power. I installed the extra 2GB ram memory right away; it didn't make much of a difference in terms of system performance. In addition, a lot of online videos are unwatchable or choppy. Youtube content cannot be played in HQ and depending on the video some will be choppy even in LQ mode while in tablet mode. Youtube is much more playable in netbook mode. Hulu has the same problems, more severe than Youtube since a alot of their video is in a higher quality format, Hulu is barely playable in netbook mode. Watching video's from hard drive is a different story, they play rather well, they don't suffer like those online videos.
I will also mention Asus's in-house software. The Touch Gate and Eee docking software are rather poor. In the touch gate, the online radio has a trial period and a link to Internet explorer was very unnecessary. Touchgate was designed for the XP to give them some touch screen functionality on that platform which was lacking in touch functions, but in windows 7 they are rather redundant since windows 7 was designed for touch screen. On top of this, the program itself is laggy.
Another problem I ran into is the palm rejection. The palm rejection software "Intelliwriting". It only works with sticky notes and windows journal. But this is not its only problem, this software is inaccurate, causing you to draw with your palm. It also distorts your text, making productive work very frustrating. I've turn this feature off and train myself to write without pressing my palm on the screen by using landscape mode making use of the side of the screen as a form of physical palm rejection. Updated - After a couple of weeks testing the T91MT, I can tell you that palm rejection is a lost cause. It is very difficult to write for longer than a few words on this net book, the palm rejection software distorts so badly that it is not worth turning on. A active digitalizer would've made a world of difference. Writing is only useful for making a couple of annotations.
The netbook has 2 USB ports and 2 SD/SDHC slots if you have the money, you can purchase 2 SDHC cards to increase the disk space by 64gb(2x32gb). This is kind of expensive, but does give you the option to expand without compromising portability.
The netbook is functional for reading PDF's and Amazon's Kindle. It is easier to read Amazon kindle, as that is less processing intensive. PDF magazine with lots of graphics can load slowly between pages and zooming can cause lag if you use the tablet mode, due to the reduced clock speed. I've learnt to use the pdf software's internal function to change screen orientation rather than using the netbook's function, that way you will scroll your books from the side like they are naturally. Another interesting fact is the notebook fits very well on the standard book holder at your local gym, so you've the option of working out while reading your pdf books or watching a movie on your netbook.
I've installed Photoshop CS4, Illustrator CS4, ArtRage and Corel Painter 11. Photoshop works surprisingly well despise the low processing powers. Applying filters only took a few seconds. Photoshop demanded much less power than I had imagined it would.
There was initially a problem with the drawing tools on all these programs, they would not perform short strokes and sometimes would not draw at all. After some tweaking with settings, I worked out that this problem was caused by touch gestures sending both commands for drawing and moving the canvas at the same time, which confused the software. To fix this, I disabled "Single Finger Panning" under "Pen and Touch" control panel, this solve much of the drawing problems.
In conclusion, this device is not bad but could've been much better with more power. The touch screen function gets more responsive as you get used to it. The portable format lets the user to work anywhere. It works very well as a portable tablet. However the palm rejection is a lost cause, realistically you cannot do any kind of productive handwriting on this netbook, this netbook desperately needed a active digitalizer. The other main let down of this netbook is the processing power. The overall lag caused by this is discomforting, if Asus had put in a high powered cpu and gfx, this would be a award winning product. Note that your processing power will be lowered in tablet mode(800mhz), you can however work around this by putting your netbook to sleep during netbook/laptop mode then change to tablet mode while it is powered off. Once you repower on you will keep the same clock speed as the laptop mode(1333mhz), but this may cause heating problems.
I was initially very angry with this netbook, as Asus make a deceiving marketing video giving false expectation of the netbook, but as time went on this netbook grew on me. It makes a nice toy for reading and watching movies on the move, it is a cross between a iphone and a netbook. But as a first generation touchscreen netbook, it is not much of a productive tool in it's current form.
Since I've started using Ipod Touch generation 1 a couple of years back, I decided the future is all about touch screen and I told myself I would only buy mobile devices that would have access to touch screen. So I was looking forward to this netbook, as it was exactly what I've been hoping for in terms of concept and design.
Initially I was disappointed with the touch features due to lack of response, but after over a week I've started to like it. Don't get me wrong, the T91MT uses a resistive screen so it is never as responsive as the IPhone Capacitive screen but once you get used to the amount of pressure you need to apply, the T91MT response pretty well to touch commands. The main culprit of lag and unresponsiveness is the low powered CPU. I've notice while it is tablet mode, the processing power is restricted to only 800mhz. You will only get the full performance of 1.33ghz in netbook mode, this may be purposely implied to lower the system temperature in tablet. The difference in performance is very noticeable while watching online videos.
Multitouch zooming is not highly inaccurate, instead of making small smooth changes; it makes leaps that zoom from 100% to 125% or 100% to 75%, depending on the program. Some program has smooth animation between zoom to give the illusion that the zoom is more fluid. The biggest problem here is still processing power. If you are running zoom while low in processing resources you will likely to make inaccurate zoom, going over the desired zoom level due to lag.
There is a official demo video floating around on YouTube of the T91MT, this is the same video that is installed onto the netbook that shows every time you startup. It can be misleading; the video shows a different version of Touch gate that has a different background graphics. They have show very smooth animation in their software, it is unlikely the real thing will perform this well, due to once again, lack of processing power. The real thing is much choppier.
However on the positive side, the design of the netbook itself is solid and reasonably attractive, one of the big selling factor of this notebook is the small form factor and the tablet option. The netbook is very portable, I find myself getting it out during long queues like I would usually do with my Iphone. It can operate in tablet mode without going back to the keyboard, thanks to the virtual keyboard in windows 7.
The battery life is reasonable to good; it runs down quicker in full performance setting, around 3hrs, which is what I usually have it in due to the lack of processing power. I installed the extra 2GB ram memory right away; it didn't make much of a difference in terms of system performance. In addition, a lot of online videos are unwatchable or choppy. Youtube content cannot be played in HQ and depending on the video some will be choppy even in LQ mode while in tablet mode. Youtube is much more playable in netbook mode. Hulu has the same problems, more severe than Youtube since a alot of their video is in a higher quality format, Hulu is barely playable in netbook mode. Watching video's from hard drive is a different story, they play rather well, they don't suffer like those online videos.
I will also mention Asus's in-house software. The Touch Gate and Eee docking software are rather poor. In the touch gate, the online radio has a trial period and a link to Internet explorer was very unnecessary. Touchgate was designed for the XP to give them some touch screen functionality on that platform which was lacking in touch functions, but in windows 7 they are rather redundant since windows 7 was designed for touch screen. On top of this, the program itself is laggy.
Another problem I ran into is the palm rejection. The palm rejection software "Intelliwriting". It only works with sticky notes and windows journal. But this is not its only problem, this software is inaccurate, causing you to draw with your palm. It also distorts your text, making productive work very frustrating. I've turn this feature off and train myself to write without pressing my palm on the screen by using landscape mode making use of the side of the screen as a form of physical palm rejection. Updated - After a couple of weeks testing the T91MT, I can tell you that palm rejection is a lost cause. It is very difficult to write for longer than a few words on this net book, the palm rejection software distorts so badly that it is not worth turning on. A active digitalizer would've made a world of difference. Writing is only useful for making a couple of annotations.
The netbook has 2 USB ports and 2 SD/SDHC slots if you have the money, you can purchase 2 SDHC cards to increase the disk space by 64gb(2x32gb). This is kind of expensive, but does give you the option to expand without compromising portability.
The netbook is functional for reading PDF's and Amazon's Kindle. It is easier to read Amazon kindle, as that is less processing intensive. PDF magazine with lots of graphics can load slowly between pages and zooming can cause lag if you use the tablet mode, due to the reduced clock speed. I've learnt to use the pdf software's internal function to change screen orientation rather than using the netbook's function, that way you will scroll your books from the side like they are naturally. Another interesting fact is the notebook fits very well on the standard book holder at your local gym, so you've the option of working out while reading your pdf books or watching a movie on your netbook.
I've installed Photoshop CS4, Illustrator CS4, ArtRage and Corel Painter 11. Photoshop works surprisingly well despise the low processing powers. Applying filters only took a few seconds. Photoshop demanded much less power than I had imagined it would.
There was initially a problem with the drawing tools on all these programs, they would not perform short strokes and sometimes would not draw at all. After some tweaking with settings, I worked out that this problem was caused by touch gestures sending both commands for drawing and moving the canvas at the same time, which confused the software. To fix this, I disabled "Single Finger Panning" under "Pen and Touch" control panel, this solve much of the drawing problems.
In conclusion, this device is not bad but could've been much better with more power. The touch screen function gets more responsive as you get used to it. The portable format lets the user to work anywhere. It works very well as a portable tablet. However the palm rejection is a lost cause, realistically you cannot do any kind of productive handwriting on this netbook, this netbook desperately needed a active digitalizer. The other main let down of this netbook is the processing power. The overall lag caused by this is discomforting, if Asus had put in a high powered cpu and gfx, this would be a award winning product. Note that your processing power will be lowered in tablet mode(800mhz), you can however work around this by putting your netbook to sleep during netbook/laptop mode then change to tablet mode while it is powered off. Once you repower on you will keep the same clock speed as the laptop mode(1333mhz), but this may cause heating problems.
I was initially very angry with this netbook, as Asus make a deceiving marketing video giving false expectation of the netbook, but as time went on this netbook grew on me. It makes a nice toy for reading and watching movies on the move, it is a cross between a iphone and a netbook. But as a first generation touchscreen netbook, it is not much of a productive tool in it's current form.
129 of 134 people found the following review helpful
By Y. Z.
1.5 years later.. Apr-08-2011 - A quick and probably one final update..
- Long live the King?
As sweet as the T91MT has been for me, I wish it also came with a GPS & 3G connectivity options. Thankfully, the playing field is changing with the coming Asus 10.1" Transformer, Motorola XOOM w/Android 3.0 OS, or the iPad2 tablets; one of which could become the next stepping stones in my electronic life. The T91MT will NOT collect dust even if I do go for any of the newer tablets because of its versatility, attached keyboard and being a Windows 7 OS.
- Memory upgrade:
Real life usage proves how valuable the upgrade to 2GB is. In many instances the 1GB is fully used, slowing down response time. With 2GB RAM not only is that not an issue, but there is now up to 762Meg dedicated to Video rendering instead of 250Meg with the 1GB. That translates into better video playback when streaming, saving the agony of waiting for the buffer to fill up. Switching from embedded video to full screen is now faster too.
- Performance:
If the additional weight is not an issue for you, go with the more powerful and larger 10" screen in the T101MT. The T91MT is long due for more power for sure.
- Battery life:
With battery lasting 5 hours at most, I ended up getting a second Charger to keep it running all day when I am at the office, saving the need to carry a charger around with me. They only cost 10-15 dollars and are a great investment.
-----
Updated: May-2010
After using the t91mt daily for 6 months, I still think that this is one of the best electronic products I have ever used. This is an update with some corrections and additions, including notes on Firefox, ready-boost, the iPad vs. t91mt, and using of the t91mt's keyboard/touchpad to control my Home Theater PC.
My personal learning experience with this Tablet was very satisfying . After using it for extended periods of time over the 4-day long Thanksgiving (2009) weekend, and then on my daily commute and at the office for occasional use, it easily fulfilled all of my expectations:
1. Reading any size of PDF files was a breeze. Acrobat 9 runs quickly on the T91MT. You can switch between portrait and landscape modes by a push of a button on the frame, and although it's a nice to have, I found it to be most useful to read just about everything in the default landscape-mode. Want to read Amazon eBooks? - just download the Kindle-for-PC and let the reading begin..
2. Internet use was as fast as on my dependable desktop. Both PCs access the Internet via wi-fi and downloads to the T91MT were even a bit faster than what I get on the desktop. (1MB/sec from fast servers!).
3. Web Browsers and Multi-Touch:
Update: May-2010 - Initially I defaulted to using MS-Explorer for a few of months because Chrome which I liked on a desktop does not support well the multi-touch features, but After trying out the Opera, Chrome, and Mozilla's Firefox, the latest version of Firefox turned out to be superior in any respect to the Windows Explorer browser. Firefox responds to ALL of the precious Multi-touch features, and most importantly, uses less RAM which proved very beneficial for speedy response. I still have 1GB of RAM and the usage of it dropped from a common 90% with the MS-explorer to 65% with the Firefox! Firefox also lets you configure the Browser's look, icons etc. to make the most out of the 8.9" screen.
Its zooming comes at much smaller increments than the huge 25% jumps of the MS Explorer, and that provides for adjustments to the pages.
Touch-ability: The scrolling of pages and zooming are quick - zoom in/out using two fingers sweeping away or toward each other. Right or left flicks with one finger will take you back or forward on the internet pages. You can also enable diagonal flicks (Control Panel --> Pen and Touch) to Cut, Copy, Paste and Delete at a fingers move.
3. Watching videos: An episode of a TV Series which I played with a "VLC player" was jumpy, but once I switched to Windows Media player, the picture was smooth again. Darker scenes are not very detailed/clear on the t91mt however. Streaming video was smooth for the most part. Upgrading RAM to 2GB improved thing dramatically.
4. Power levels: the T91Mt has several power levels. Should the video not run smoothly, or any other action not be fairly fast, it may be an indication that it is in 'power-saver' mode. To bring it back to higher power usage, simply click on the small battery icon on the the toolbar and select 'high power'. (it defaults to the latter when plugged in).
5. Battery: with declared battery life of of 5 hours, I initially carried the charger with me to the office and back, then realized that I can use it as one would use his cell. When needed, it comes out of 'sleep-mode' in only 3 seconds (!), or 'Hibernate-mode' in 20 sec. ready with Internet pages and other forms just as I left them, and goes back to sleep instantly at the slide of a button. After occasional use during a full day of several minutes at a time, there is still 3+ hours of life in the battery to last me the 45 min commute back home. You can improve on battery life by turning off unused bluetooth and other devices, or keep the screen brightness at just the right level or do other tweaks easily with the provided power options. Eventually I ended up buying a second Charge to keep at the office to be able to leave it on all day long.
7. CPU: If you are looking for a powerhouse of a multi-tasking-supporting machine that can play demanding games, then this machine (and most available netbooks probably) are not for you. For daily use of Internet, Music playing, eReading, and other common activities, the t91mt does a great job.
8. Sound/Equalizer: You cannot expect too much from the small standard speakers on the t91mt, so the sound quality is fair. It gets far better with headphones or a good set of PC speakers where the sound card does a great job. Both streaming audio from Pandora and mp3 on the local disk sounded great.
9. Booting / Other Comments: The initial booting+setup took ~15 min and was without any glitches. Just hang with it and reply to the prompts. Setting up the Wifi Connection was very fast. Windows 7 may be Vista based but is a delight to work with. Many functions are intuitive. To me it seems like Windows has really matured. The t91mt has no moving parts (except for maybe a tiny fan on the CPU?). It hardly gets warm, and is totally silent.
10. Update: May-2010
Readyboost - Buying a SD/SDHC fo add memory on its own is fine, but do not buy one for a 'ready boost' option because the internal SSD is already taken as fast enough, which is why the readyboost option is not there for added flash drives.
iPad versus t91mt: Initially I thought the iPad was going to beat the t91mt in every area. The iPad sure is an extremely potent device, but if I had to chose all over again, the t91mt would have still come up on top for me because it is a real computer that can multi-task (the iPad - cannot), can play flash (iPad - no), has a Keyboard/touchpad and can easily connect to a monitor (iPad - needs costly external hardware), has 2 USB connections (iPad - NONE!), is a totally open system - sweet Windows 7 onto which you can easily download anything (iPad - requires conversion + sync from external PC/Mac to be able to watch movies/play music) and the list goes on.
Being a sibling of the iPhone, those who own one will find the iPad a familiar territory of course and may take the iPad as a no-brainer decision. It's all about knowing what you are getting with an iPad, and just as important - what you don't.
Anti-virus: I use the free and excellent 'Microsoft Security Essentials' which gets the protection job done better than any other A-V I have used so far: It takes very little resources from the machine, never slowed Internet access and is continuously updated with new virus info. - Highly recommended for any PC you have.
Using t91MT as a remote control: Having the t91mt 100% of the time with me, meant I have it right there when sitting in front of the TV as well.
It played perfectly into also using its Keyboard/touchpad to control the HTPC. Just download this small free installation to your t91mt and to your HTPC and 10 min of configuration later, you don't need any dedicated wireless keyboard/mouse. Google for "synergy2 sourceforge" to find that download.
Final thoughts:
I was aware of this tablet coming out already in Jan-2009, and the wait was well worth it when I finally bought it in Nov-2009. Asus has created a well rounded and refined product with attention to detail, from a well laid out keyboard to a nice suite of software. I did not find any need for the Asus Gate utility and uninstalled it altogether. I mostly use the virtual keyboard, and although initially liked the stylus, I did not find it useful.
If you had in mind to buy any extras for the T91MT, an upgrade to 2GB RAM is highly recommended, you may also chose to go for an additional Memory because the T91MT may come with a 32GB SSD but about 12GB are taken by the system + programs software.
As with any sophisticated device, it may take a little getting used to. Normally the T91MT runs fast and the display is responsive, bright and sharp.
Initially I though I would wait for the 10" T101 by Asus, but the 9" is light & more compact and was a good choice to take anywhere especially when my daily commute requires the use of public transportation. It also comes with the great Windows 7 Home Premium, enabling multi-touch, which is not available with the Windows 7 Starter. Read more ›
- Long live the King?
As sweet as the T91MT has been for me, I wish it also came with a GPS & 3G connectivity options. Thankfully, the playing field is changing with the coming Asus 10.1" Transformer, Motorola XOOM w/Android 3.0 OS, or the iPad2 tablets; one of which could become the next stepping stones in my electronic life. The T91MT will NOT collect dust even if I do go for any of the newer tablets because of its versatility, attached keyboard and being a Windows 7 OS.
- Memory upgrade:
Real life usage proves how valuable the upgrade to 2GB is. In many instances the 1GB is fully used, slowing down response time. With 2GB RAM not only is that not an issue, but there is now up to 762Meg dedicated to Video rendering instead of 250Meg with the 1GB. That translates into better video playback when streaming, saving the agony of waiting for the buffer to fill up. Switching from embedded video to full screen is now faster too.
- Performance:
If the additional weight is not an issue for you, go with the more powerful and larger 10" screen in the T101MT. The T91MT is long due for more power for sure.
- Battery life:
With battery lasting 5 hours at most, I ended up getting a second Charger to keep it running all day when I am at the office, saving the need to carry a charger around with me. They only cost 10-15 dollars and are a great investment.
-----
Updated: May-2010
After using the t91mt daily for 6 months, I still think that this is one of the best electronic products I have ever used. This is an update with some corrections and additions, including notes on Firefox, ready-boost, the iPad vs. t91mt, and using of the t91mt's keyboard/touchpad to control my Home Theater PC.
My personal learning experience with this Tablet was very satisfying . After using it for extended periods of time over the 4-day long Thanksgiving (2009) weekend, and then on my daily commute and at the office for occasional use, it easily fulfilled all of my expectations:
1. Reading any size of PDF files was a breeze. Acrobat 9 runs quickly on the T91MT. You can switch between portrait and landscape modes by a push of a button on the frame, and although it's a nice to have, I found it to be most useful to read just about everything in the default landscape-mode. Want to read Amazon eBooks? - just download the Kindle-for-PC and let the reading begin..
2. Internet use was as fast as on my dependable desktop. Both PCs access the Internet via wi-fi and downloads to the T91MT were even a bit faster than what I get on the desktop. (1MB/sec from fast servers!).
3. Web Browsers and Multi-Touch:
Update: May-2010 - Initially I defaulted to using MS-Explorer for a few of months because Chrome which I liked on a desktop does not support well the multi-touch features, but After trying out the Opera, Chrome, and Mozilla's Firefox, the latest version of Firefox turned out to be superior in any respect to the Windows Explorer browser. Firefox responds to ALL of the precious Multi-touch features, and most importantly, uses less RAM which proved very beneficial for speedy response. I still have 1GB of RAM and the usage of it dropped from a common 90% with the MS-explorer to 65% with the Firefox! Firefox also lets you configure the Browser's look, icons etc. to make the most out of the 8.9" screen.
Its zooming comes at much smaller increments than the huge 25% jumps of the MS Explorer, and that provides for adjustments to the pages.
Touch-ability: The scrolling of pages and zooming are quick - zoom in/out using two fingers sweeping away or toward each other. Right or left flicks with one finger will take you back or forward on the internet pages. You can also enable diagonal flicks (Control Panel --> Pen and Touch) to Cut, Copy, Paste and Delete at a fingers move.
3. Watching videos: An episode of a TV Series which I played with a "VLC player" was jumpy, but once I switched to Windows Media player, the picture was smooth again. Darker scenes are not very detailed/clear on the t91mt however. Streaming video was smooth for the most part. Upgrading RAM to 2GB improved thing dramatically.
4. Power levels: the T91Mt has several power levels. Should the video not run smoothly, or any other action not be fairly fast, it may be an indication that it is in 'power-saver' mode. To bring it back to higher power usage, simply click on the small battery icon on the the toolbar and select 'high power'. (it defaults to the latter when plugged in).
5. Battery: with declared battery life of of 5 hours, I initially carried the charger with me to the office and back, then realized that I can use it as one would use his cell. When needed, it comes out of 'sleep-mode' in only 3 seconds (!), or 'Hibernate-mode' in 20 sec. ready with Internet pages and other forms just as I left them, and goes back to sleep instantly at the slide of a button. After occasional use during a full day of several minutes at a time, there is still 3+ hours of life in the battery to last me the 45 min commute back home. You can improve on battery life by turning off unused bluetooth and other devices, or keep the screen brightness at just the right level or do other tweaks easily with the provided power options. Eventually I ended up buying a second Charge to keep at the office to be able to leave it on all day long.
7. CPU: If you are looking for a powerhouse of a multi-tasking-supporting machine that can play demanding games, then this machine (and most available netbooks probably) are not for you. For daily use of Internet, Music playing, eReading, and other common activities, the t91mt does a great job.
8. Sound/Equalizer: You cannot expect too much from the small standard speakers on the t91mt, so the sound quality is fair. It gets far better with headphones or a good set of PC speakers where the sound card does a great job. Both streaming audio from Pandora and mp3 on the local disk sounded great.
9. Booting / Other Comments: The initial booting+setup took ~15 min and was without any glitches. Just hang with it and reply to the prompts. Setting up the Wifi Connection was very fast. Windows 7 may be Vista based but is a delight to work with. Many functions are intuitive. To me it seems like Windows has really matured. The t91mt has no moving parts (except for maybe a tiny fan on the CPU?). It hardly gets warm, and is totally silent.
10. Update: May-2010
Readyboost - Buying a SD/SDHC fo add memory on its own is fine, but do not buy one for a 'ready boost' option because the internal SSD is already taken as fast enough, which is why the readyboost option is not there for added flash drives.
iPad versus t91mt: Initially I thought the iPad was going to beat the t91mt in every area. The iPad sure is an extremely potent device, but if I had to chose all over again, the t91mt would have still come up on top for me because it is a real computer that can multi-task (the iPad - cannot), can play flash (iPad - no), has a Keyboard/touchpad and can easily connect to a monitor (iPad - needs costly external hardware), has 2 USB connections (iPad - NONE!), is a totally open system - sweet Windows 7 onto which you can easily download anything (iPad - requires conversion + sync from external PC/Mac to be able to watch movies/play music) and the list goes on.
Being a sibling of the iPhone, those who own one will find the iPad a familiar territory of course and may take the iPad as a no-brainer decision. It's all about knowing what you are getting with an iPad, and just as important - what you don't.
Anti-virus: I use the free and excellent 'Microsoft Security Essentials' which gets the protection job done better than any other A-V I have used so far: It takes very little resources from the machine, never slowed Internet access and is continuously updated with new virus info. - Highly recommended for any PC you have.
Using t91MT as a remote control: Having the t91mt 100% of the time with me, meant I have it right there when sitting in front of the TV as well.
It played perfectly into also using its Keyboard/touchpad to control the HTPC. Just download this small free installation to your t91mt and to your HTPC and 10 min of configuration later, you don't need any dedicated wireless keyboard/mouse. Google for "synergy2 sourceforge" to find that download.
Final thoughts:
I was aware of this tablet coming out already in Jan-2009, and the wait was well worth it when I finally bought it in Nov-2009. Asus has created a well rounded and refined product with attention to detail, from a well laid out keyboard to a nice suite of software. I did not find any need for the Asus Gate utility and uninstalled it altogether. I mostly use the virtual keyboard, and although initially liked the stylus, I did not find it useful.
If you had in mind to buy any extras for the T91MT, an upgrade to 2GB RAM is highly recommended, you may also chose to go for an additional Memory because the T91MT may come with a 32GB SSD but about 12GB are taken by the system + programs software.
As with any sophisticated device, it may take a little getting used to. Normally the T91MT runs fast and the display is responsive, bright and sharp.
Initially I though I would wait for the 10" T101 by Asus, but the 9" is light & more compact and was a good choice to take anywhere especially when my daily commute requires the use of public transportation. It also comes with the great Windows 7 Home Premium, enabling multi-touch, which is not available with the Windows 7 Starter. Read more ›
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Rick
Amazon Verified Purchase
Pros: sturdy, nice tablet mode, fast sleep and hibernate
Cons: non-removable battery, small keyboard
I bought this machine as an experiment, to see if I could avoid lugging my laptop around for day trips, meetings, and even around the house, for email, web-surfing, and document editing. I'm pretty pleased with it. I use gmail and a document-sharing website, so most of my environment is always available, and I can move other files with an SD card (the Asus supports two!)
Obviously, any netbook could also do the job for me, but they do not provide the T91's "tablet mode" which I find handy. I'm still experimenting with it, but a tablet seems less obtrusive being used in a meeting, more convenient when walking around or standing, and in other cases.
I bought the T91MT model, even though the multi-touch seemed of limited value to me, because I wanted the MT model's 32GB solid state disk. After 2 weeks I'm still not using the multi-touch much, and I don't even find the 32GB necessary if I uninstall software that I don't need, but I'm sure I'll expand to use the space over time. 32GB might seem really small to you, but remember, that was a reasonable hard disk size not that long ago, and the SSD is faster. If you are using more than a few gigabytes for your documents and email, you might take a look at whether you can really need all of that... of course, if you have special uses like video that's another story. Asus also provides 500GB of web space with this machine, I haven't tried using that yet.
On battery power, when the machine is in "stamina" versus "speed" mode, I do notice that the machine is sluggish, but it runs fine for simple text editing and simple web sites, and you can click on the battery icon to change to higher speed if you need it for videos, etc. File copy seems to be fast, perhaps because of the SSD. The wifi seems fast. The Asus takes about 4 seconds to load a really large MS Word file (while running IE and PDF reader), and about 25 seconds to restart from hibernate. I later upgraded to 2GB of memory; the Word startup was slightly faster, and hibernate restart was the same (surprisingly, since it has to reload more memory now).
I have never run down the battery. I plug the Asus in at night, and it makes it through several hours of work during the day, no problem. By default, it sleeps when you flip the power switch, but I've changed that to hibernate to save power (maybe that wasn't necessary).
The keyboard is acceptable, but I'm definitely typing slower than on my regular laptop. I sense it would be much better if the keyboard (and Asus) were just 1 cm wider. The space bar was a problem for me, it's just a bit too short... I accidentally hit the right-side ALT key with my thumb instead. I used AutoHotKey to reprogram that key to be a space bar. That worked. I disabled the touchpad "click" to avoid accidentally selecting things, I use the two-sided button under the touchpad to click, and I often use my finger on the screen for selection, scrolling, etc.
The biggest negative to me, if you accept the necessary compromises in keyboard and screen size, is that the battery is not user-replaceable. If you search on the web you will see that the battery can be replaced by removing some screws, but that voids the warranty. I confess I almost never replaced the battery on my laptop (only as a spare on a long plane flight). However, it will be a pain in a year when the Asus T91 battery needs to be replaced.
By the way, if you do need to carry the A/C power supply, it's really small, but the A/C cord is more bulky than the box itself. If you replace that cord with the following 1-foot cord, the whole thing is smaller, and you still have about 4' of the (much thinner) low-voltage cord on the box:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BSLS0W/ref=oss_T15_product
Cons: non-removable battery, small keyboard
I bought this machine as an experiment, to see if I could avoid lugging my laptop around for day trips, meetings, and even around the house, for email, web-surfing, and document editing. I'm pretty pleased with it. I use gmail and a document-sharing website, so most of my environment is always available, and I can move other files with an SD card (the Asus supports two!)
Obviously, any netbook could also do the job for me, but they do not provide the T91's "tablet mode" which I find handy. I'm still experimenting with it, but a tablet seems less obtrusive being used in a meeting, more convenient when walking around or standing, and in other cases.
I bought the T91MT model, even though the multi-touch seemed of limited value to me, because I wanted the MT model's 32GB solid state disk. After 2 weeks I'm still not using the multi-touch much, and I don't even find the 32GB necessary if I uninstall software that I don't need, but I'm sure I'll expand to use the space over time. 32GB might seem really small to you, but remember, that was a reasonable hard disk size not that long ago, and the SSD is faster. If you are using more than a few gigabytes for your documents and email, you might take a look at whether you can really need all of that... of course, if you have special uses like video that's another story. Asus also provides 500GB of web space with this machine, I haven't tried using that yet.
On battery power, when the machine is in "stamina" versus "speed" mode, I do notice that the machine is sluggish, but it runs fine for simple text editing and simple web sites, and you can click on the battery icon to change to higher speed if you need it for videos, etc. File copy seems to be fast, perhaps because of the SSD. The wifi seems fast. The Asus takes about 4 seconds to load a really large MS Word file (while running IE and PDF reader), and about 25 seconds to restart from hibernate. I later upgraded to 2GB of memory; the Word startup was slightly faster, and hibernate restart was the same (surprisingly, since it has to reload more memory now).
I have never run down the battery. I plug the Asus in at night, and it makes it through several hours of work during the day, no problem. By default, it sleeps when you flip the power switch, but I've changed that to hibernate to save power (maybe that wasn't necessary).
The keyboard is acceptable, but I'm definitely typing slower than on my regular laptop. I sense it would be much better if the keyboard (and Asus) were just 1 cm wider. The space bar was a problem for me, it's just a bit too short... I accidentally hit the right-side ALT key with my thumb instead. I used AutoHotKey to reprogram that key to be a space bar. That worked. I disabled the touchpad "click" to avoid accidentally selecting things, I use the two-sided button under the touchpad to click, and I often use my finger on the screen for selection, scrolling, etc.
The biggest negative to me, if you accept the necessary compromises in keyboard and screen size, is that the battery is not user-replaceable. If you search on the web you will see that the battery can be replaced by removing some screws, but that voids the warranty. I confess I almost never replaced the battery on my laptop (only as a spare on a long plane flight). However, it will be a pain in a year when the Asus T91 battery needs to be replaced.
By the way, if you do need to carry the A/C power supply, it's really small, but the A/C cord is more bulky than the box itself. If you replace that cord with the following 1-foot cord, the whole thing is smaller, and you still have about 4' of the (much thinner) low-voltage cord on the box:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BSLS0W/ref=oss_T15_product
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