I bought this laptop specifically for a 3-week vacation in Europe, and it's my new favorite computer. It's the one I'm using now to write this review. After having used this computer every day for three weeks to write a travel blog and back up photos I can say that this computer is everything I was looking for, and I recommend it for anyone who is looking for a small, lightweight laptop.
When the Eee PC 901 first arrived I was a little worried about the size of the keyboard. It's small, for sure, but after just two or three days your fingers will be hitting exactly the right keys without a problem. One issue I've encountered a lot while typing is the cursor jumping around. I'll be typing and then all of a sudden the cursor will have moved to a new location so that I end up typing in the wrong place. I think it may be a result of my left thumb brushing up against the touch pad while typing. Whatever the cause, it happens fairly frequently. It's the only problem I have with the keyboard. I use the touchpad exclusively, but you can get a bluetooth mouse if you prefer a wireless mouse option.
A lot of people worry about hard disk size. I have another big laptop with a giant hard disk on it, and only 12 GB of disk space is being used. My Eee 901 has a 12 GB solid state drive capacity, which is plenty. If you're worried about the hard disk space on this mini laptop you should consider what you'll be using it for. It certainly can't be used to store all your digital images at the same time, or for installing lots of different programs. I'm used to using Microsoft Word for word processing, but the Microsoft Works word processor works just fine, and has the same look and feel as Word. So there's really no reason to install Microsoft Office. You'll save space by making decisions like this. The 20 GB of free storage space available at YoStore is useful if you're running out of space and don't have any other means of storage (which is unlikely). It's easy to use, too, but you need an internet connection to use it.
The primary benefit of the solid state drive is that it's durable, with no moving parts that can break. Also, the solid state drive makes the computer absolutely silent.
Right after I purchased the laptop I read complaints on user forums about the factory-installed WiFi card. I was concerned it wouldn't work very well so I purchased the Gigabyte AirCruiser Mach AG Mini Card, that supposedly picks up WiFi signals really well. I haven't installed the new WiFi card because the factory card seems to work just fine, reporting a signal strength of Very Good when it's 50 feet away from the wireless router in our den. On our European vacation the card was picking up WiFi signals just about everywhere we went. There's a network cable port if you need it as an alternative to WiFi.
The built in camera is cool and can be used to record video. Combined with the pre-installed Windows Movie Maker you can make and edit a simple video (with a title screen and end credits) in just a few minutes even if you've never done it before.
Battery life is really good at over 5 hours. I've noticed that the converter in the power cord can get really hot when the computer is being used while it's plugged in. I'm not sure if this is just a 240V issue, or if it happens on 120V power outlets as well. Even on 240V, though, the issue can be resolved by letting the converter cool down, and then by plugging it in again while the laptop is turned off. When the laptop is off, the converter does not get hot at all.
At just over two pounds this thing was easy to carry around in our day bag every day of our vacation. It's power cord has a 240V converter, so the only thing we needed was a 240V surge protector to use it safely in Europe. Check out the Voltage Valet EuroSurge.
All in all, I love the Eee PC.
