The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Another Day, Another Eee! Anthony Caruana © |
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In the May 2008 issue of PC Update, Melb PC member David Willing reviewed his
latest tech purchase, the Asus Eee PC 701 4G. Running
Xandros Linux, David concluded that the Eee PC was a great
low cost laptop that, within its limitations, provided great utility.
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Since the release of the 701, Asus introduced the 900
series Eee PC. As well as
the customised installation
of Xandros (which is a development fork from
Debian) the Eee PC 900
can be purchased with
Windows XP Home Edition. There's no price difference between the two. We
tested the Eee PC 900
with Windows XP loaded.
In addition, there's Star
Office and a few Asus-specific utilities. However,
given the limited
storage, about 11 GB
that by default is split
into two partitions,
the lack of extras
isn't a bad thing. Even though Windows XP is now off the shelves and replaced in retail channels by Vista, Microsoft is still selling XP for use in the Ultra Low Cost PC category. This category is defined by its compact size and low cost. Interestingly, the announced Eee PC 1000 may not qualify for the category as it has a slightly larger form factor and 10" screen. The rest of the spec sheet isn't dissimilar to a circa-2004 PC, The Celeron processor is the same as that of the Eee PC 700 but the CPU is clocked at 900 MHz CPU rather than 630 MHz. There's 1 GB of RAM. The Eee PC 900 also differs from the 701 as its screen is significantly larger at 8.9" (compared to 7") and runs at a substantially enhanced resolution of 1024 by 600. The larger screen also seems significantly brighter than that of the 701 and when browsing the Internet and reading documents, the improved display delivers a far superior experience than that of the Eee PC 701. |
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The Eee PC 900's keyboard is the same as that of the 701 but the trackpad and
mouse buttons are significantly larger than the 701's. The larger trackpad and
buttons mightn't sound a big deal but
they make the Eee PC far more user friendly although typing on the undersized
keyboard requires plenty of practice. The trackpad doesn't have a dedicated
button for scrolling but uses a far easier
system through running two fingers up and down the trackpad.
One of the great advantages of the Eee PC is that most folk can be productive
with it as soon as it's out of the box. Star Office is a competent office suite
that provides compatibility with Microsoft
Office up to Office XP. (Office 2007 formats aren't supported.) There's Outlook
Express for email
although we'd strongly recommend a more secure client such as Thunderbird. As
the Eee PC 900
is running Windows XP SP2,
you'll want to upgrade the
browser to a more secure
application such as Firefox
or Internet Explorer 7.
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PC Update Ratings: Ease of use: 8 Features: 7 Documentation: 8 Value for money: 8 We liked: Small, light, great screen, nice trackpad Disliked: Small keyboard Vendor: Asus Australia 1 300 278 788 http://eeepc.asus.com Price $549 |
Boot time for the 900
was slightly faster than
the 700 from a cold start
with both machines in
factory condition. Even
though Windows XP carries
more operating overhead than Xandros the higher specification of the 900, compared to the 700, gives it a performance edge. Even with Microsoft One Care installed for protection against viruses and spyware (purchased separately) boot time was just 90 seconds. Battery life, with WiFi active, is quite impressive. Our "real world" test involved using various applications and web browsing wirelessly and the display was running at full brightness. It showed that the 5800 mAh Li-Ion battery could sustain the Eee PC 900 for more than 3.5 hours. If you've been an Eee PC 700 owner, the 900 offers a significantly improved experience. It's faster, has lots more storage and RAM and the improved trackpad, larger buttons and better display overcome many of the 700's usability issues. The small keyboard represents a compromise that is unavoidable if you're after a functional computer that's not much bigger than an A5- sized notebook. The recommended retail price of $549 can be bettered by some judicious shopping around with sub $500 prices achievable. |
Note: Anthony Caruana© Permission to copy
or quote extracts from this article may only be done with the written permission
of the author.
Reprinted from the August 2008 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
