Eee PC 900 gets dissected, looks about the same as the Eee PC 700

Oh, poor Eee PC 900. You haven't even made it into most people's hands, and already you're getting dissected and inappropriately inspected. Honestly, we didn't mean for that to rhyme. Regardless, the folks over at bit-tech have gone to all the hassle of cracking the little dude open, though what they find inside is apparently more of the same. No new modules, no fancy layout changes, no tiny army of artificially intelligent lifeforms. Still, it's nice to look at. Take peek and see for yourself!

[jason @ Apr 20th 2008 12:16PM]

should have been "disrespected, dissected and inappropriately inspected"

hahaha

[steve @ Apr 20th 2008 12:16PM]

I would guess they'll redesign it slightly when the atom arrives, till then, why bother.

[Karl Viklund @ Apr 20th 2008 12:19PM]

Who cares how it looks inside. Like we can do anything about it.

[thejedipunk @ Apr 20th 2008 4:24PM]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/20/eee-pc-with-all-the-hacks-but-can-it-ever-learn-to-love/

[Rjay @ Apr 20th 2008 7:11PM]

Deep down a lot of computer geeks are hoping that a new machine is opened for the first time only to reveal that a tiny alien life form is controlling the PC with thousands of minute buttons and levers.

[Rofl @ Apr 20th 2008 8:12PM]

Well, the life-form actually lives inside the Intel chip package, they're natural habitat is much warmer than ours, so the packaging is heated to a good 60-70c before they come out of "hibernation".

[Bono @ Apr 20th 2008 12:21PM]

That looks alright, mate.

If only they could shrink the motherboard a little more in the center back to allow for a bigger non sticking out Battery.

[Nova @ Apr 20th 2008 12:29PM]

That's well built. Perfectly fit in the case.

[BK @ Apr 20th 2008 3:34PM]

That's what she said.

[kepstein @ Apr 20th 2008 3:12PM]

Someone help me here. Why would anyone want an underpowered laptop with a 9" monitor for $550 when they can buy a full powered laptop with a 12" monitor for the same price -- sure the 12" unit is going to be last-year's model, but it is going to have a more powerful CPU and graphics processor, faster FSB and RAM. Is it really all about the size/weight trade off?

[Evan @ Apr 20th 2008 12:56PM]

for me, its all about the size.

[Matt Keller @ Apr 20th 2008 12:57PM]

Show me a 1 year old 12" laptop for 550 dollars, with better performance specs and decent battery life.


Seriously, I'd buy it. Tell me.

[Neoprimal @ Apr 20th 2008 1:41PM]

I've been asking the same question since the eee came out. It's apparently about the size of the thing....

I own a compaq, 2gb ram, 160gb hd, cd/dvd burner, 17in wide screen, hd audio that i purchased for ~600 inc. tax and I consider that a deal, but my laptop is almost a desktop replacement (except for the crappy video). While I bring it with me on the road and enjoy using it by starbucks and borders and when I head out of town....I wouldn't dream of carrying it in hand with me, whereas I could do that with an eee-ish pc. I see the eee as a total move to a pretty much digital life. No more paper, anywhere...no more dependence on my smartphone's browser.

I won't ever buy an eee with current specs for 300+ but some of the newer low power/small size stuff coming out will work. MSI/HP, etc. as long as they stay at the value price range they work out nicely. I''m waiting for intels atom/vias isaiah and built in bluetooth on these things to pounce.

[kepstein @ Apr 20th 2008 5:04PM]

Matt, I bought a HP Pavilion tx1205us AMD Dual Core 1.8GHz 12" Convertible Laptop from OfficeMax late last year for $550 after rebates. Dell, HP and Gateway all have 15.4" laptops available in the $499-$550 range, and those are the current units. I have seen the Toshiba Satellite A-series laptops in the $500-$600 range many times. If you monitor the sales (try dealnews.com, xpbargains.com or slickdeals.net), and you don't mind the occasional rebate process (I've done dozens of rebates with main-stream retailers and manufacturers, and ALWAYS received the rebate check). Nonetheless, I really wasn't being critical of the Eee or its price. I was just trying to understand the purchasing motivation.

[Ian @ Apr 20th 2008 6:53PM]

I owned a 14 inch Dell and an eeepc at the same time. And of course a desktop pc.

I found that every time I traveled I took the eeepc, because despite the Dell doing everything better and having a 6 hour battery, the small form and weight of the 701 made it a pleasure to carry everywhere. And it got the job done.I also carry around a Lexar USB 4GB Lightning drive which replicates by desktop somewhat and plugs into any old desktop, if I need a large PC.

Now my daughter has by Dell.

[rv @ Apr 20th 2008 8:39PM]

@evan- thats what she said

[lane @ Apr 20th 2008 12:52PM]

How hard would it be to take the 9in screen and put it on the 7in model? If they are pretty much the same on the inside, it shouldn't be too hard right? They already sale a touch screen mod for the 7in EEE. Someone should begin to sale a screen upgrade for the EEE.

[N30 G30 @ Apr 20th 2008 8:57PM]

+1

You read my mind.

[cartufer @ Apr 20th 2008 1:05PM]

i think most of the increased price compared to the 7" is the 10gb more space, i see where the bluetooth fits, but i see no bluetooth

[Randavance @ Apr 20th 2008 3:43PM]

Is there blue tooth in this one? I went out of my way and purchased a $40 absolutely minuscule usb blue tooth piece for it.

http://us.kensington.com/html/14409.html

[cartufer @ Apr 20th 2008 4:10PM]

http://www.engadget.com/photos/asus-eee-900/720703/
yes it will have bluetooth, but its an extra option i guess

[Nick @ Apr 20th 2008 1:35PM]

So where are the "again Asus?" and "Engadget is promoting Asus!" people now? Right, if it's Apple you guys get mad but when it's Asus it's okay..

That doesn't make sense people.

[Technex @ Apr 20th 2008 3:16PM]

Because Apple sucks nub.

[Chris Macdonald @ Apr 20th 2008 8:51PM]

asus AGAIN!?!?! but there are SOO MANY ASUS POSTS!!!

[Oinquer @ Apr 21st 2008 1:15PM]

ill agree with you when eee pc costs about 1600€ =)

[Gregg @ Apr 20th 2008 1:37PM]

Since Asus is able to sell the 2G Surf for $299 USD, and presumably make a profit, then just let me buy an 8.9" screen version of the 2G Surf. Charge me $50 more for it. I'm pretty sure an 8.9" screen isn't costing Asus more than $50 more than for the 7" screen. I'll happily pay pay $349 for an 8.9" 2G Surf. But there's no way I'm paying $549 for this.

[Tom Davey @ Apr 20th 2008 1:50PM]

what the hell is the hype about all these eee pcs? they seem crap to me!

someone hit back this comment and explain, thanks.

[KEROLiUKAS @ Apr 20th 2008 2:00PM]

Used to be so cheap for such a little laptop. now it's kinda expensive, so no good.

[Randavance @ Apr 20th 2008 3:54PM]

They definitely have gone up, and sure you can get a Dell for about the same price these days, but I think the big thing is the EEE is so tiny. It's seeing one in person that really sells it. Anything else that small is either too expensive, or poorly designed internally.

For a devout Linux user like myself who's use to working with underpowered hardware, it's perfect.

[Baz @ Apr 20th 2008 4:05PM]

People discovered early on the original EeePC actually had a real OS tucked away inside and easily accessed and exploited that - so for less than the price of many PDAs or smartphones with 'portable' versions of software, you could have a well-equipped (wi-fi, browser, email, camera, Skype, full OS with loads of full, free and useful software with room for more) truly portable sub-notebook.

Now a combination of greed and feature creep means the product is nowhere near the 'deal' it once was.

[Esoel @ Apr 20th 2008 3:36PM]

An iBook 12" like the one I'm typing from ;-)
Mine has still more than 3 hours of battery life, a cd burner/dvd reader, a1.33 Ghz G4 proc,two usb and one firewire, eth, modem , bt, wifi, and a real screen you can actually see. And I still got 1 year warranty.
This is not mine
http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-iBook-G4-12-1-2-GHz-768MB-80GB-NEW-CONDITION_W0QQitemZ290222427477QQihZ019QQcategoryZ111422QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
(I don't want to sell mine) however it seems it will sell for less than 500$

[ps @ Apr 20th 2008 4:11PM]

Weight: 4.9 pounds (2.2 kg)

[eyurasian_destiny @ Apr 20th 2008 4:27PM]

Also from 2005 (see description) with less ram than the eee

[Abuzar @ Apr 21st 2008 12:16AM]

And it uses OSX. While it's great for some people, others(like me) don't like using it all that much.

[Gaz @ Apr 21st 2008 5:12AM]

Stop boasting abvout your Apple you little sh*t

[Onetrack @ Apr 20th 2008 3:12PM]

I am much more enthralled with the ECS G10IL - where is IT when can I get one.

[Wonderkid @ Apr 20th 2008 3:17PM]

@Tom Davey: I just bought a 7" and what makes it special is a) Compact size b) All the ports you need (3 x USB, 1 x Ethernet, 1 x Dialup, 1 x Headphones, 1 x Mic), c) Rugged casing + solid state drive, so won't crash/break if dropped. d) Includes literally all the software you need (OpenOffice etc, Photo viewer, Media player, fun games) - all for £250! And I could have got it for less or waited for the 9", but was too impatient. I have it next to my MacBook and use it for business tasks, while the MacBook does the 'power' tasks. When I go out, I take the EEE PC everywhere. Dang, it almost fits into my jacket pocket - almost! I plan to get the 9" when it comes out and give the 7" to family member so we can video conf using Skype plus the built in webcam - that I almost forgot to mention. A Sony of the same size would cost 5 times the price. (No knocking Sony - or Apply, but go play with an EEE PC and you'll be hooked. It what most compact laptops should have been like all along. And this is only Asus's first revision. The Atom one will probably be awesome.) The biggest loser to the EEE PC is probably Apple with the Air which is massively overpriced and lacks the ports to be useful. I plug my Vodafone HSDPA dongle into the EEE PC along with a wireless mouse dongle. You try doing that with a MacBook Air! I heart my EEE PC. Because it does what it says on the box, reliably.

[kibalt @ Apr 20th 2008 3:30PM]

Dear ASUS

I have some order.

Cel M ->atom
add BlueTooth
of course FAN LESS
4+ hours battery life

Would you tell me the price and shipping cost?

Yours faithfully

　　　　　　☆ chink
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
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　 　 　 　　ヽ　＿＿_＼（＼・∀・）　＜　when to Japan !!!???
　 　 　 　 　 　 ＼＿／⊂　⊂＿ )　　 ＼＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
　 　 　 　 　 ／￣￣￣￣￣￣ ／|
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　　　　　　　|　　愛媛みかん　 |／

[Abuzar @ Apr 21st 2008 12:15AM]

What the hell is that?

[Jack @ Apr 21st 2008 8:43AM]

that my dear is what we call fail

[esoel @ Apr 20th 2008 5:25PM]

It has slightly less ram but is still more powerful (discrete graphics, better cpu..). Moreover I find mine to be too small to work comfortably; the screen is too small and the palm rest is too small.So I could never use an eee ;-) but I guess this is very subjective. If I had to buy a small portable device I would probably buy something similar to an N810. It costs more or less the same but does a lot more things (obviously it depends on which things you want to do with such a device). I think the eee has the form factor of a notebook but the size of a mid, I think it has the disadvantages of both: it is not comfortable when you stand, like a notebook, and it is not comfortable when you sit, like a MID(it is not powerful and has a weak keyboard).

@Wonderkid you can use a bluetooth mouse and a bluetooth phone with a macbook air, I use them with my iBook. However I don't like either the lack of ports of the Air, the thing I would miss most would be the ethernet port.

[Valgas @ Apr 20th 2008 8:23PM]

Now we know how it looks inside. Now what?

Something do something amazing like install a 2.5" or 1.8" HDD.

[hkicedude @ Apr 22nd 2008 6:15AM]

I have a 4G Eeepc, so far it is great. The main reason why it sold so well is:
1) Price- if you live in Asia and shopping for a low cost laptop, this is the lowest you could get besides second hand.
2) Small form factor/light in everything - Obvious the machine is small but also take a look at the power adapter. It is small on the 4G Eeepc and now even for the 900 series the brick is extremely small.
3) MS Vista helps Eeepc sell more- Two laptop sitting side by side. Vista, Eeepc (Linux) or Windows XP loaded Eeepc. Vista have shown that with more powerful hardware specs it does not perform better than Eeepc loaded with Linux or XP with it. Startup/Shutoff time is slow for Vista (too many alerts), application running on Vista are beautify but does not look any quicker than Eeepc in general and etc.
4) Eeepc does not have bloatware that let you try for three months than ask for subscription charges with the current Linux version or XP versions.
5) Did I also mention how how low the price was compare to all the other laptop?

[TK @ Apr 20th 2008 10:01PM]

you can also find a dissection of the eeepc at vr-zone:
http://sg.vr-zone.com/articles/Asus_Eee_PC_900_Review_and_Dissection/5726.html

[John @ Apr 21st 2008 7:45AM]

Stop that rhyming now, I mean it!