ASUS Eee PC 900 Review:
The Asus Eee PC 900 provides the power of a full-sized laptop in a compact body with a larger 8.9-inch screen. Even with the larger size of the Eee PC 900 when compared to the original Eee PC, the new model still weighs under 2 pounds–perfect for students toting to school or road warriors packing away to Wi-Fi hotspots. And because it uses flash memory instead of a hard drive (with 20 GB of storage), the Eee PC 900 is optimal for weathering rough handling and sharing space in overstuffed bags.

The ASUS Eee PC 900 isn’t too different to its predecessor, at least aesthetically. In comparison to the Eee PC 701, it’s still ivory white and is still the size of a hardback book. It is, however, 6mm longer than its predecessor and approximately 100g heavier. The speakers that sat on either side of the screen have been removed to accommodate the larger panel — an arrangement that immediately makes the laptop more attractive.

The speakers now live at the bottom of the laptop below the wrist rest — an arrangement that adversely affects sound quality, particularly if you’re using the ASUS Eee PC 900 on your lap. We’ll forgive it this oversight, however, because the quality of the speakers on the original Eee PC 701 was rubbish in the first place.

Other features include a 1.3-megapixel webcam integrated into the bezel above the LCD, a Secure Digital memory card slot, Wi-Fi connectivity (802.11b/g), multiple USB ports, and a VGA output for connecting to a monitor. It comes preinstalled with the Linux operating system, and it’s also compatible with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system.

For the students and professionals, the Eee PC comes with a powerful selection of software to maximize personal productivity–over 40 built-in applications. The Open Office suite of software enables the user to open, edit and create documents, presentations, spreadsheets and databases that are compatible with Microsoft Office. For journalists, photographers and other professionals who need to use a computer in the field to create, to communicate and to collaborate with other colleagues, the Eee PC’s combination of power, extreme portability and rugged build makes it the ideal computing solution.

It’s also a great choice for young students, with a built-in Dictionary that’s great for homework, and it includes two modes of intuitive graphic user interface design to accommodate both experienced and inexperienced PC users. The Eee PC also handles your digital images, movies, and music as well as Internet radio.

Nicely light at just 35 ounces, the ASUS Eee PC 900 has an 8.9-inch wide TFT LCD with a 1024 x 600-pixel resolution (WXGA)–making it more comfortable on eyes than its predecessor. Under the hood is a 900 MHz Intel Mobile CPU with integrated Intel graphics processor, 1 GB of RAM (not expandable), and 20 GB of flash memory solid-state drive (SSD). The SSD provides quiet performance and helps save energy, while its shock-proof solid state design helps to guard against data loss or shock-related damage if the laptop is dropped.

In addition to its wireless LAN, ASUS Eee PC 900 also offers wired Fast Ethernet connectivity and a 56K modem. The Eee PC includes software for Web browsing (Firefox), e-mail, OpenOffice 2.0 for creating and editing word processing documents and spreadsheets, and a suite of other productivity software to help keep you on track.

ASUS Eee PC 900 User Review:

I wish that I could give 4.5 stars rating, with the condition that ASUS Eee PC 900 is used as a secondary computer. And I have used my wife’s MBA for quite a while so I will compare the two. (Yes it’s unfair but interesting, right?)

Good things first. I ordered ASUS Eee PC 900 with a clear mind that it’s going to be my secondary notebook computer and my usage is email, web browsing, remote connect and a few other things. I had a two-year old Dell D620 which still works fine. The Eee PC 900 is light, with slightly better battery life (3+ hours), fast booting, extremely fast shutdown, inexpensive, and with camera builtin (good for video conferences on a trip). After the ASUS Eee PC 900 arrives, it’s just what I expected.

Now bad things first, most of which I already knew when I ordered the 900. First the keyboard is small. I am typing this review with ASUS Eee PC 900. I guess I would type 20-30% faster with my D620 (or a desktop). Moreover, I pay more attention to my typing and that affects my writing/thinking a little bit. Not a big deal though. Most time I will write on my D620. On a trip or a working day full of meetings, fast booting and fast shutdown are more important than typing speed. And hopefully I can improve my typing on the ASUS Eee PC 900 over time.

The battery life could be better. I wished that a single charge would be good for a whole day (5-6 working hours). This one is about 3-4 hours, so I will still need to take the power adapter with me and search (and sometimes compete) for a power outlet. The EEE PC 901 will do it, but I ordered ASUS Eee PC 900 before I knew 901 would be coming (and don’t want the trouble to return this fine looking Eee PC 900).

It is warm and sometimes can be called hot. When the fan is turned on, there is a whipping sound. Not terrible at all but definitely noticeable. But in that measure it’s better than the D620 and the MBA. The D620’s fan is loud and non-stopping. The MBA can be very hot and the fan can spin crazily, much louder than the ASUS Eee PC 900. (But both the ASUS Eee PC 900 and the MBA are fine in a cool room.)

Now more comparison between the ASUS Eee PC 900 and the MBA (Macbook Air, 13″ display). First the comparison is unfair because the MBA is priced at $1800 and the 900 $550; please keep that in mind. The MBA works fine as either the primary or secondary computer. The keyboard is full size and first class quality. Typing on it is no different from a large notebook or a desktop. Actually, the MBA is thin and light but NOT small in area — it is a full “area” notebook computer. If the price is not an issue and one wants just one notebook, MBA is the choice (and it’s much better than 12″ sub-notebooks from other vendors).

The ASUS Eee PC 900 is thick, twice the thickness of the MBA and slight more than that of the D620 (the D620 has 14″ display). A strange thing is that when holding the MBA and the Eee PC 900, the MBA feels the same weight as the Eee PC 900 but the actual weights are 3lbs vs 2lbs. I am not sure why, but possibly because of how they can be held. Holding the 900 at the battery compartment is the most comfortable. I also feel ASUS Eee PC 900 has at least the same volume than MBA. Is the thickness a bad thing or not? Hard to say. When I put them in bags both are just fine.

Overall, I think ASUS Eee PC 900 is almost perfect as a secondary computer (and perfect with 5-6 batter time). However, I won’t use it as a primary computer. Keyboard and display are two reasons. Another reason is software. I have installed many software on the D620; I can do that because of its large hard drive and memory. And the D620 runs windows XP. I won’t install Windows XP on the Eee PC 900 — that will slow it down and defeat the purpose of having fast booting and shutdown times.

By Z. Zhang

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