ASUS Eee PC 900 review roundup

It's like this: if you found yourself all giddy playing with the Eee PC 701, you'll be absolutely enthralled when handling the 900. At least, that's the verdict being blasted out from reviewers web-wide. More specifically, CNET found the 9-inch subnote to be superior in quite a few ways to the 701, and felt particularly impressed with the ability to run multiple applications more easily due to more screen real estate and the included 1GB of RAM. However, they were none too thrilled with the keyboard (still), and echoed Trusted Reviews gripes of lackluster battery life. Yeah, that last dig could be fairly substantial if you're looking to stay untethered completely for hours on end, but if you're confident you can locate an AC outlet when necessary (and can't afford to wait for an Atom-based version of the machine), it seems the 9-inch Eee is well worth a look.

Read - CNET review (8.7 out of 10)
Read - Trusted Reviews review (...the Eee PC 900 still represents staggering value for money.)
Read - Stuff.tv's video review

[Nate @ Apr 16th 2008 9:50AM]

Considering Cnet has one of these, can we assume that the US launch is imminent?

[Nate @ Apr 16th 2008 9:51AM]

Never mind. I should have clicked the link. It's a UK Cnet review, duh.

[Jeff @ Apr 16th 2008 9:58AM]

Speaking of which, is there a US date scheduled?

[Nate @ Apr 16th 2008 10:05AM]

Nope.

[Josh Warner @ Apr 16th 2008 1:38PM]

Not sure why they're sitting on it for the US - perhaps they are just now ramping up production, and fear the black hole of demand that will be these United States.

Equally possible, Intel may have paid them to keep the new version out of the US until the Atom is ready so they have an instant Atom-enabled product to showcase when the gates are lifted on that processor.

[retro77 @ Apr 16th 2008 9:51AM]

Anyone want to buy a 701 8G? I might trade up to this.

[emailtabs @ Apr 16th 2008 11:54AM]

I got a 701 4G going with a touchscreen and 1gig ram installed.

Any takers?.

[tom @ Apr 16th 2008 9:53AM]

I particularly love that fact that those two black bar is gone and replaced with display real estate =D

Still, hate the keyboard!

[Homeboy @ Apr 16th 2008 10:02AM]

The keyboard can easily be increased in size........................................if you don't mind a 1-2 inch black border surrounding the screen.

[Mark @ Apr 16th 2008 1:43PM]

Now that I know to look for the tilted space bar, I can't stop noticing it. Help!

[Travis @ Apr 16th 2008 10:17AM]

10400 MaH (77WH) batteries are available on eBay.

[Jeff @ Apr 16th 2008 10:37AM]

That explode.

[jay.viz @ Apr 16th 2008 4:00PM]

Don't they all?

[payne @ Apr 16th 2008 10:04AM]

Is the atom processor substantially more energy efficient than celerons? I haven't been keeping up.

[PrimoLevinas @ Apr 16th 2008 10:20AM]

Yep. From 0.6 to 2.5 Watt

[PrimoLevinas @ Apr 16th 2008 10:22AM]

Sorry. Missing was that Celeron M 900 takes 5 Watt

[Moo2 @ Apr 16th 2008 11:14PM]

but... a 900mhz celeron M apparently outperforms a 1.6 ghz atom...

[Jeebus @ Apr 17th 2008 9:15PM]

Yeah, but that's not what's sucking battery life. It's the backlit LCD screen. So Atom won't make much difference.

[FrankTheCrank @ Apr 16th 2008 10:14AM]

Wow...what is the big deal about this sub standard sub notebook?

From what I hear, it runs slow and is somewhat limited. Why bother?

Why don't you just pick up a 12 inch laptop running XP pro with a 1GB or RAM. It would run circles around the EEE.

Don't shoot me, just sayin'.

[Cakeface @ Apr 16th 2008 10:21AM]

The eee 900 does have 1GB of RAM

[Ninjakamster @ Apr 16th 2008 10:25AM]

If you don't like it, nobody cares. There's plenty of EEE fans that will snatch this up. People like you have used the stupid (but I can buy a bigger and more powerful lappy for the same price) argument everytime there's EEE news, I don't want to debate with you anymore, I'm just too tired.

[Jasper @ Apr 16th 2008 10:31AM]

While those two option are priced about the same I think the advantage goes to the Eee for many people because of the size. These things are tiny, so much more convenient to just throw in a bag. And a notebook like you described will easily weigh about three times as much as the Eee. For students already carrying around books, that is more weight they might not want to bother with.

[scottbirse @ Apr 16th 2008 10:29AM]

Well i guess it depends on your individual needs, if all you want to do is be able to surf the net, email, word process and watch the odd video/listen to music you really don't need more power than this provides.

And many people will appreciate that it is alot cheaper than most 12inch laptops, and even those will be alot bigger and heavier. You have to spend more like £1300 to get something thats fully featured and as small and light.

[MarkZ @ Apr 16th 2008 11:38AM]

@Ninjakamster

Paraphrasing: "Yes you make a valid point, however I love it for no reason and don't want to state my arguments. You're an idiot."

Yes, I'm sure EEE fans will snatch it up. That's not what Frank's saying. He's making an argument against the logic of buying the device.

[Mark @ Apr 16th 2008 1:35PM]

Why don't I pick up a 12" laptop running XP? Show me a 12" laptop running XP for this price ($500 in case you hadn't bothered to read the article before running your mouth).

At least those who came before you were marginally more honest in comparing the EEE to a 15" notebook, which you can actually get for $500.

[Lupo @ Apr 16th 2008 1:40PM]

bang, now your dead

[NIckF @ Apr 16th 2008 4:33PM]

One word: size

[Moo2 @ Apr 16th 2008 11:23PM]

@scottbirse
actually, these things can play games fairly well. look at some of the youtube vids (look for the non-fake ones (ex: not crysis) )
-Unreal Tournament 2004
-Morrowind
-Oblivion
-Quake3
-GTA whatever
and yeah, youre at the lowest settings, but who really pays attention to that on a 7" screen anyways?

but what id like to do is get one of these "cheaptops" since theyre so tiny and light and put the rest of my money into building a nice gaming desktop. the eee would only be used for taking notes and surfing the web

[ncmach1 @ Apr 16th 2008 10:18AM]

So did anyone find the speakers? The sound on my 4G sounds way better than $2000 laptops I have seen.

[Scott @ Apr 16th 2008 10:28AM]

Yeah, the sound on this thing is a big perk. I stepped up to this laptop coming off a 6 year 5 month romance with a 600MHz G3 iBook. So, in terms of perfomance, This thing is a workhorse comprared, and at $400, quite the catch. People will yell, "for $200 more you can have this and that and this..." well I don't have $200 extra to spend.

Asus Eee PC, it does the job in a Rock Solid and Heart Touching way.

(just can't wait to install Ubuntu 8.04 onto it~)

[emailtabs @ Apr 16th 2008 4:07PM]

Underneath at the front on your lap.. not 100% on how much volume is affected by this move.

[Striker @ Apr 16th 2008 5:58PM]

I can't wait until I get this thing as a graduation present (it is only 8th grade) and I install Hardy Heron on it, I've been dying to have a Linux PC for like 6 months. Thank God my brother at CalTech showed it to me on his T60, now I know how much I want it...

[Alex @ Apr 16th 2008 11:00AM]

I don't get why they can't just make it marginally bigger to get more battery in there. Yea i know aftermarket battery, blah blah blah. Itd be awesome if out of the box it ran 8 hours though, I mean, c'mon, that 9inch screen can't draw that much juice, no moving hard drive parts or optical drive...no reason for short battery life. itd be so much more useful too if u didn't have to carry the power adapter with you.

[Saad @ Apr 16th 2008 2:07PM]

Where can I buy this bad boy (I live in Canada).

[MacBookOwner @ Apr 16th 2008 11:49AM]

2 hours battery life? That can't be right. No optical drive, no hard drive, nice small screen, designed to be used on the go? That can't be right.

[WarMouse @ Apr 16th 2008 12:28PM]

Actually, in the CNet review, they said during DivX playback, they only got 90 minutes of battery life, or "Just enough for a feature film."

...just enough for maybe half of the feaure films out there. It seems like with the other half, you're going to half a laptop that dies before you can even watch a movie. And for me, that basically kills it. Yeah, you can find a slightly less processor intensive way to watch movies, but no matter what the case is, it seems like if you want to watch a movie, you better make sure it's 100% charged, and start watching the second you turn it on. Few things are as frustrating as starting a movie somewhere...and then just not being able to finish it. Ugh.

I could see paying for something like this if it was just a sleek, simple PMP, with a huge screen, word processing, and basic functions. Not like the iPhone---I mean something you could take to the park, type a report on, watch a TV show with some friends, blah blah blah, those kind of things. If you have to find an outlet right away...what's the point?

[Cakeface @ Apr 17th 2008 12:10PM]

I'd be curious to see if there is a battery life difference between the XP version and the Linux version.

[Nirmal @ Apr 16th 2008 2:33PM]

And when are they adding a touchscreen to this??
Or was it just a rumour??

[Jayayess1190 @ Apr 16th 2008 3:07PM]

It was just a rumor, could come in future versions along with gps, hard drives, bluetooth, and hopefully Atom in June.

[PEZ @ Apr 16th 2008 1:25PM]

I think waiting for the Atom version, with the potential of built in GPS is worth it.. though, I would like to try one of these, definately.

[Sean @ Apr 16th 2008 12:25PM]

*Spasms* Are they ever going to tell us how much this damn thing is going to cost, and if the other ones are going to get a price cut?

[harishmukundan @ Apr 16th 2008 12:50PM]

When and where can I get one?

[d @ Apr 16th 2008 12:59PM]

retro77 and emailtabs: how much? i need one by the middle of May, and i dont think these will be hitting stateside by then.

[emailtabs @ Apr 16th 2008 4:04PM]

Dude, gotta point out Its the 7" versions we have,
i'm sure they've got them in your local toys R us (Or US equivalent). Plus I'm in England so postage would be exorbitant. if your still interested (though highly doubtful) then find one of my posts and reply.

[Bryan Garcia @ Apr 16th 2008 1:38PM]

Any ideas on when the black version will be out?

[Mark @ Apr 16th 2008 1:37PM]

Forget GPS, this is a price sensitive ultraportable. Get a Bluetooth GPS... oh wait, we don't have Bluetooth either. LOL.

[Bryan Garcia @ Apr 16th 2008 1:39PM]

I am also torn between waiting for the eee and getting HP's Mini. Help!

[James Cameron @ Apr 16th 2008 2:07PM]

I was looking forward to picking one up but the battery life is a BIG turn off. Going to wait and save money on a smart phone instead.

[Hoos @ Apr 16th 2008 2:36PM]

For all you gadgeteers who don't understand why they don't "make it bigger" for a battery "or put in a real hard drive" or what have you - it's the weight that's appealing. In addition to the fact that the thing actually works.

2 lbs. period. That makes it portable. Carrying around my "lightweight" laptop with 4-6 hours of battery time, a hard drive, and a bigger screen means 8 lbs. to lug around. Before adding books, cables, cell phone, blahblahblah.

For me, the 2 lbs. weight is the break point for me. And keeping it at a low cost point helps tremendously. I'd rather break/lose/have stolen a $300 notebook than a $1,400 notebook.

If you can design a 2 lb. notebook with a 14.1" screen, a 500G harddrive, and gets 6-8 hours of battery life, why the hell are you posting here? Get to work! :)

[DeJa Vu @ Apr 16th 2008 4:35PM]

I have the 7in beast and yes the battery won't last longer than two hours, no matter what you do, but you can use it holding it up in one hand. Having suffered the windows lag for so long its so refreshing to use a machine that doesn't have to think about it and just does it. In fact often I'll plug it into my home monitor and plug in a mouse and keyboard and sit back and use it like my own desktop.

If you don't like it fine, it's not for everyone but there are plenty out there who just love it. I've never looked back and I've all ready pre-ordered the PC 900 as love the upgraded storage, screen size etc.

Love it or Hate it. It'll be here for years to come.