This isn't going to end well for Asus. Early adopters of the Eee PC 900 in Hong Kong are in a spat with Asus over batteries. Seems the Eee PC 900 ships with a standard 4-cell, 4400mAh battery whereas the battery shipped to the Hong Kong media (and presumably others) was a 4-cell, 5800mAh; the latter Asus is calling a mistake. That would certainly account for the wide ranging Eee PC 900's battery life reviews which have varied from a very disappointing
1.5 hours to a decent 2.5-hours. Of course testing methods will also contribute to lifespan. Regardless, ASUS is now considering giving 900 buyers a free upgrade. Our suggestion? Just do it Asus, and pronto. Else the Eee PC brand you've become so dependent upon is going to take a serious beating.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
bob e @ Apr 22nd 2008 7:59AM
1.5 hours is not acceptable in my opinion
Ryan @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:11AM
Yeah, I'm really disappointed here. I was looking forward to having this as a secondary computer to a new desktop when I get to university next year, you know, for notes and looking stuff up in class.
The only two drawbacks I could see were the keyboard (which is perhaps not a big deal, since I have small, thin fingers) and the battery. Looks like the battery is going to be the deal breaker unless Asus pulls their heads out of their asses.
LondonConsultant @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:14AM
Well, at least Asus didn't put Vista on the Eee 900 - battery power wouldn't have provided enough time for boot up...
david @ Apr 22nd 2008 7:59AM
Bye, bye EEE PC?
tom @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:47AM
for now! Wait until Asus throws in ATOM cpu, then it should be a whole different ball game.(I hope)
Ryan @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:13AM
Eh... I've heard a lot of different reports regarding the predicted effects of Diamondville on battery life, especially in things like the Eee. Can anyone clear up just what kind of improvement we'll see?
ToniCipriani @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:02AM
http://www.hkepc.com/?id=1058&fs=rell
They ARE replacing the batteries. However they might be jacking up the price a bit since the current pricing was based on a 4400mAH battery
kev @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:07AM
The reason why it's so cheap is also that they didn't put in all the effort to try to minimize power consumption; the minimal amount of power it uses is probably still 50% and up compared to other notebooks in the ultraportable class.
Cagrino @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:16AM
Don't get me wrong, I love my 8G Eee, but I better be real close to an outlet if I expect to use it for any length of time.
I wouldn't expect any major improvements with the 900's performance considering not much has changed since the 701.
R-R @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:23AM
They should ship with a well designed/integrated version of the 10400 mAh found on eBay...
kr @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:23AM
I am kind of glad I haven't ditched my 701 yet for this...I don't like the battery life I get even with that!
packetsniffer @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:26AM
"the Eee PC brand you've become so dependent upon"
Call me crazy, but Asus is nowhere near dependent on the Eee PC.
fobunited @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:32AM
+1 The EEE is nowhere close to being Asus' bread and butter. But it is an important step forward in getting Asus' name out to the masses. Honestly, how many people outside of people who built their own computers or were pretty computer savvy had heard of Asus prior to the EEE?
CJ @ May 28th 2008 6:40AM
@Forbunited
Are you kidding? Asus make some of the best motherboards out there
If anything, people who build computers would know MORE about Asus than regular people.
Baz @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:26AM
Either Jerry Shen, CEO of ASUS, is capable of regrowing bits of his body or there is a lot of staff at ASUS Headquarters walking about with crutches - as they seem to spend an awful lot of time shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to the EeePC.
They've yet to resolve issues from the original 700 series (like the 3rd Party software locked away in the OS partition, thus incapable of updating by overwriting - especially important on a small internal drive - their really terrible and unstable update/patch/new software program repos or reports of problems with wi-fi conectivity) and already they're making more work for themselves on the newer models.
And this doesn't include the obvious of pricing themselves out of a market they created.
Korean plastic surgeons must be having a field day....
guerilla779 @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:27AM
and thats why i love my TZ.......get a good 6-7 hours outta it
but its also much much more expensive than the ASUS pc.
The New Guy @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:29AM
Sucks being an early adopter....
Why to tech companies punish people who are the die hard fans?????
Remember the iPhone?? (for all the apple fanboys)
Wannabuy Abridge @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:29AM
>>> ...Seems the Eee PC 900 ships with a standard 4-cell, 4400mAh
>>> battery whereas the battery shipped to the Hong Kong media (and
>>> presumably others) was a 4-cell, 5800mAh; the latter Asus is calling a
>>> mistake...
Mistake.
HA HA HA!
HA HA HA!
HA HA HA!
Oh, those Asus guys have a great sense of humor!
HA HA HA!
Mark @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:45AM
SHAME
adrian @ Apr 22nd 2008 8:51AM
Buy HP2133
bot @ Apr 22nd 2008 1:27PM
2.8lbs? What a joke. They totally missed the point of this type of laptop. My 12" laptop is approximately 3lbs (so .2lbs more than the HP), has insanely better specs (compared to the HP of course) and didn't cost that much more than the higher end HP models. I'm sorry but they really really missed the point on this class of notebooks. Price, weight, OS, and even the specs are inadequate for a laptop of this breed.
Doug @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:10AM
Yeah but the HP 2133 hasn't even been released, nor is there any release date. We have no idea of the price, it could be way more expensive.
I do like that it apparently will address one problem with the Eee PC by having closer to a full size keyboard.
Ryan @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:20AM
What?
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF25a/321957-321957-64295-321838-306995-3687084.html
Looks pretty released to me...
m-p{3} @ Apr 22nd 2008 10:04AM
Hum, they added a $849 version, which only bring a 160GB hard-drive at 5400rpm and a 1.2Ghz CPU.
I'll stick with the 749$ version which has a 120GB hard-drive a 7200rpm and a 1.6Ghz CPU.
The HP 2133 seems pretty available on the HP website, but I haven't seen any retailers offering them right now.
adrian @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:13AM
ok...ok.....bear with me.....I think the story is this.....
1. ASUS don't care TOO much: they are going to sell as many as they can produce to the passer's by who like that idea in the moment, for now.
2. Then there is US. (Excuse me for speaking collectively - I won't represent some); By definition we Engadget peeps are a different breed; there are relatively few of us, and we don't have a very loud voice. We are very particular, in the main, though.
3. We've all got pc's (ok mac's too). Life does not hang in the balance for us on whether we buy one of these UMPC things, tomorrow, or not. However, the intensity is rather distracting... it is a bit like walking past the toy shop window everyday on the way to school and seeing that shiny train set. I just MUST have it !!
4. BUT.....we've all been burnt before as early adopters in something (anybody wanna buy a Sony Clie 70v with a $200 WiFI card that kinda works -sorta ?).
5. THEN there is HP's offering.
6. AND.....we know that the Atom is just round the corner. AND we know that Dell is bringin' out their new stock soon (albeit not the small stuff). Sony ?? (OQO / HTC Palm- wakey wakey, rise and shine !! Palm - Hello ???) We know that the Atom is gonna bring better battery life.....
7. THEN there is HP's offering with the Atom.
8. You know that a touch screen is comin'
9. Some even have half an eye on Displayport...
10. Don't fool yourself, unless you are giving one of these to your niece as a Christmas present (cheapskate !), you ain't buyin' one.
You are gonna wait !!
You know why ? You wanna know the real reason ? --->> coz this is a one shot deal for you : you've been talking about this to your uninterested (previously proved right) wife, and you know this is a one shot deal.... technology is moving fast...but it moves in a step pattern....you put your foot down too soon, mis-time... and blammm face-plant. You want to buy something that will last... and something that she won't find in a draw underneath your old socks in 6 months time.
My engadget friends, you ain't buyin one ......right ??
:-)
jblock @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:28AM
I am... eventually ;)
xkevin @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:47AM
Palm hello? If Palm ignored the ignorant criticism, the Foleo would have been a strong seller: 5 hour battery, 10" screen, instant-on OS and Treo tether. These are meant to be affordable mobile PCs. If you want features, spend $2,000 and you'll have all the features you want. Battery life is the most basic function of a mobile PC. If the battery is going to last 2 hours, whats the point? Companies need to go back to basics and start with battery life and work from there. Stop with the tradeoffs...
substance90 @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:34AM
Wow, since when is a 2,5 hr lifespan DESCENT? I won`t buy a portable PC (notebook or umpc) until they start making battery life at least 7-8hrs.
digitallysick @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:38AM
They knew it would suck power , but they pushed it out the door to beat out everyone else. FAIL
Gaz @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:29PM
Was there any need for FAIL at the end? sounds stupid.
Matt Keller @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:39AM
Needs more Atom, so as to have a 20+ hour battery life.
Zach @ Apr 22nd 2008 3:08PM
even with atom the battery life won't increase by THAT much since everything else will have to compensate. cause they all suck.
sockatume @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:56AM
A lot of Eee 701 owners in the UK have had this problem. They've been getting the normal non-Surf Eee with batteries with capacities ranging from the proper-size battery to the Surf-size battery, and various capacities in between. That they're shipping intermediate-size batteries suggests this isn't a mistake but a really rather dubious get-them-out-however-we-can-to-meet-demand strategy. Bear in mind that about 20% of li-ion battery manufacturing capacity just disappeared recently.
Yuhong Bao @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:57AM
It could be possible that Asus shipped a different system in order to get good reviews, then shipped worse systems to customers. I doubt it, but that is the pitfall for any review unit provided by manufacturers.
Valgas @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:21PM
Just wait for Dell's EEE competitor. Sure it's gonna be at least a little better than the eee 900
Alfa @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:56PM
Dear Asus,
if you are reading this: 5800 mAh battery is the minimun!!!!!
4400 mAh? Are you joking?
Jon2309 @ Apr 22nd 2008 3:02PM
At least that's still more than my Acer gets...
Ryan @ Apr 22nd 2008 6:53PM
So true... My Acer Aspire 5670 gets, at most, 1 hour and 11 minutes on a full charge. Freakin' ridiculous; I was under the impression it would get at least two hours, which is terrible enough.
Ben @ Apr 23rd 2008 4:26AM
I understand that the reason for the difference in batteries is at least in part because of the fire at the LG battery factory.
I got a 20GB EEEPC 900 at the weekend (in Hong Kong), with the 4400 mAh battery. I installed XP and then have run battery eater on it a couple of times. Even with this small battery, it runs on average 2 hours 5 mins until it dies...with wifi on, full-screen brightness, plus a few other windows running in the background too, which isn't too shabby.
Anyway, ASUS have now announced a change programme for people in HK who got the 4400 mAh battery. I called up their office and apparently the replacement 5800 mAh batteries will be available in early May.
Fiisher @ Jun 6th 2008 5:04AM
Just get a good Mugen Power battery with 7800mAh here: http://shop.eten.hu/mugen-power-7800mah-extended-battery-asus-umpc-p-387.html