ASUS Eee PC T101MT review
By Joanna Stern 
posted April 27th 2010 11:20AM
posted April 27th 2010 11:20AM
Look and feel
Size-wise, the 1.2-inch T101MT is thick, but at 2.8-pounds it's comparable in weight to other netbooks out there. In slate mode, we wouldn't say it was cumbersome to hold it in the crook of our arm, but something about it didn't feel as comfortable as the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t. Learning from its mistakes with the T91, ASUS managed to cram three USB ports, an Ethernet, VGA, mic / headphone jacks and an SD card slot around the chassis.
Keyboard and touchpad
Screen and touch experience
For a resistive panel, the touchscreen is actually quite responsive, though unsurprisingly requires a firmer press to make selections. But since we have become so accustomed to using capacitive tablets we had to get the hang of having to really give icons a firm press or use a fingernail to maneuver through menus. Multitouch gestures are just not as smooth as they should be – there's just something unnatural about having to firmly press two fingers down on the screen to scroll. The stylus, which pops out of the right side of the screen, was pretty much our best friend given the display frustrations and the lack of finger-friendly software. ASUS' included PenWrite software is supposed to optimize the finger touch experience, but we didn't really notice much of a difference when using the utility.
And this brings us to the "uh, we just don't get it" question: why in the world would ASUS ship a $499 multitouch-capable tablet with an operating system that doesn't support multitouch or even have integrated touch capabilities? That's right, the T101MT ships with Windows 7 Starter, which -- regardless of not supporting pinch-to-zoom or two-finger scrolling gestures -- doesn't include handwriting recognition or an onscreen keyboard. The company does make up for the latter concern by including SoftStylus' keyboard, but you have to manually bring it up anytime you want to input text (i.e. into the address bar), and the handwriting recognition is quite sluggish. It's for those reasons that we spent most of our time with the netbook in clamshell mode. When we did flip it into tablet mode, the stylus didn't leave our hand since the OS doesn't let you drag a finger up or down the screen to scroll or flick to move through pages. Even though ASUS does include its TouchGate software layer, it's really just enlarged shortcuts -- if we had to pick the "killer touch app," it'd be the big-buttoned calculator. Yeah, it just isn't a good situation.
To say the netvertible with Windows 7 Starter is lousy is an understatement, but how is it when you upgrade it yourself to Windows 7 Home Premium? (Note: it's a $49 upgrade from Starter to Home Premium.) Sure, it's better, but the resistive touchscreen still makes things easier with the stylus. When we surfed the web in slate mode we preferred to input URLs with the pen on the virtual keyboard, and as we mentioned before, two-finger scrolling required a firm press and was ever-so-janky. We do see the touchscreen being helpful to those that want to take notes – it was a bit slow, but our handwriting was accurately converted to text in Microsoft Word. The T101MT doesn't have an accelerometer, so you have to rotate the screen by holding down the button on the bottom bezel – we'd actually be okay with that if we didn't have to wait five seconds every time we wanted to rotate the screen.
Performance and battery life
The T101MT's four-cell, 35Wh battery lasted four hours and 13 minutes on our video rundown test with brightness set to 65 percent. That's actually not too bad for a netbook with a flush battery, and in real usage it lasted a bit closer to five hours. The battery oddly ejects from the bottom-front of the system so even if you do pick up an extra it wouldn't be higher capacity. Like other ASUS laptops we've recently reviewed, the T101MT comes with a cluttered desktop – we could really do without all of the ASUS utilities and eBay / Boingo deleteware. You can also head into ASUS' ExpressGate Instant-On OS before booting up Windows, but in all honesty we never really spend much time in those pre-boot environments.
Wrap-up
@Fanfoot I get PC?? Eeewww. PC stand for Puke of Crap. I want this one cause it has USB ports, my god, how much we need it in every device, I mean I wish I could put one in human beings and Without Flash OMG, I think my existence will not be complete. I'm sure it realllly multi task too and you know, I have to have 5 Apps running in the background, so what if Windose crashes 20 millions times. Aren't we as Windows users so use to of crashes and viruses and installing OS probably 5 times a day in order to breath. We are so use to of all of this, that even if we have a choice for better OS we don't wanna switch. I WANT THIS OK.
Looks like a great start but this is more netbook than tablet. Based on the specs I knew what to expect however I was only interested in the battery life and 4-5 hours is pretty good.
"we just don't get it" question: why in the world would ASUS ship a $499 multitouch-capable tablet with an operating system that doesn't support multitouch or even have integrated touch capabilities?"
Well, it is better than getting a $499 "half a computer" with no keyboards, camera or every other standard features found in most notebook. You can save a bundle by not ordering one with Windows. With that in mind, netbooks starts to make so much sense in comparison and are even more formidable now that they can run mobile operating systems.
And lastly, why does Joanna write "we" instead of "I"? Either way I'm not sure if this can be classified as a good and conclusive review.
@mrsamo Seriously? Joanna knows her shit, and wrote a very solid review. Just because yet another netvertible turns out to be crap is no reason to give her crap. Sorry you're upset, but this isn't a good touch screen computer.
If you don't want to buy an iPad then don't. That doesn't make everything else in the world good. Some Android phones might be good, some bad. Some laptops good, some bad. Deal with it. Life is complicated. Jeez.
@Fanfoot cheer up, like others have said, this review was disappointing and non-conclusive.
well its "Kinda" selfown to buy the 1gb RAM version, sure that multitouch and other things are slowly then.
as i said- ive buyed the 2Gb RAM version- and EVERYTHING is fine and smoothly, even the multitouch works perfekt here.
i can open the firefox browser, the media player and even playing a good fullscreengame all at once- no lag, no slowlyness...
i cant confirm the tests results here. (and im working with that netbook since ~1 month). sad that this test wasnt with the 2gb one :-/
(50dollar more version of the T101 not only got windows premium. it also provides 2GB RAM (instead of 1) and 320GB HDD (instead of 160) sadly that this part is also missing in this review and even more sadly that the review isnt based on the better version.
btw- life isnt complicated, if you can deal with it :P
@DahIzzo deal w/ it or can handle it :D
its not my native language :-o
As an owner of a T101mt for one week I agree that an upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium is required to make the tablet worth while. Also half a gig is more than enough extra. (Had 2 + 1/2 in my other laptop). But I adamantly disagree with a number of points the reviewer made.
1) Two finger scrolling in the web browser? Try 1 finger it works great. You can even adjust the sensitivity to your liking. 2 fingers in one note works great for panning, unless you have..
2) Pen mode on! Try writing with Pen mode. The increase in speed and accuracy is fantastic. Plus is a single click icon to switch so it's not inconvenient. Infact it is very nice depending on whether I am browsing causualy or want to write. Overhead ~1sec.
3) As one of the few people to also have linux installed on this machine with working touch screen I have to say that it is not a hardware limitation that requires the screen to be touch firmly( I thinkt it's pretty light myself). I can't touch the screen light enough for it to not register in ubuntuu.
It seems that windows is looking for a sharper, not firmer press. If I use the back of my finger for scrolling, I have no issues at all.
Also with regard to hand writing recognition: It is fantastic. Within no time the machine will go from great to nearly perfect with the windows hand writing input tool as it learns.
Over all I am disappointed in the review. I had poor expectations for this tablet when it arrived and it has done better than I would have ever anticipated. People used to iphones or ipads may describe touching the tablet with firmness, but that is only in relation to 0 pressure. I purchased the T101mt with the goal of organizing my scientific research with the ability to write on and store lpdfs. I would not give up this ability in order to go from an almost no pressure screen(resistive) to a capacitive no pressure.
EWP, PhD.
One last note: Quoting Joanna "ASUS' included PenWrite software is supposed to optimize the finger touch experience, but we didn't really notice much of a difference when using the utility."
Penwrite, it helps when you are writing with a pen. Try cursive. The algorithms are designed to look for continuous inputs and excel at recognizing even the most garbled mix of cursive and print. The more you can keep the stylus on the screen the better and faster you can write.
This woman, what does she knows. She was paid by Apple to talk crap about such flawless device. I mean it has USB ports and and and it can multi task and and, did I say USB ports, and yeah, it supports the god almighty FLASH. I WANT IT, I WANT IT SO BAD.
Is it just me or does it look like they banished Joanna to the basement? They've moved her desk 4 times already this year. She used to be over by the window and she could see the squirrels and they were merry - Also, she prefers the Swingline stapler over the Boston because it doesn't bind up as much.
I purchased the EeePC 701 when it started this netbook upheaval and loved it (wish I still had it). My replacement is getting tiresome and I'm looking for a netvertable or slate. I was frustrated by the outing of the HP slate and this was my fallback. So much for that plan - I love Asus products generally, but I very much dislike this product after Joanna's review.
@TractorNipples
If you read the comments of several users who own and use this device you'll see they are pretty satisfied with this device. It does take some tweaking and upgrading to get it really going good and its really unfortunate that Asus made it that way.
I'm pretty sure Sascha from Netbooknews.com has made this his main mobile computer but he was able to put a Runecore SSD in it.
Don't give up on it based upon one review, I've seen better reviews. From what it seems like you will get the expected netbook performance with the bonus netvertible form factor. You just have to factor in the RAM upgrade and the Windows 7 license to the cost (if you live in the US that is.)
@notlofty
Well Said, dont let engadget be the only source you use when considering a new product
@chnwa3 and @notlofty - It's not my only source - but this review put the nail in the coffin and having seen what I was worried about IN the review again - kills the deal.
but wheres the point of making a bad rewiew on the whole device- based on a low RAM version?
buy the big RAM version with the full Win7prem.- and ure fine!
no need to say the whole EeePC is shit if youre useing low specs.
its like buying a 16GB iphone (instead of a 32gb) and then complaining that 16GB much to less.
poeples should start thinking more- instead of just read some reviews and belive everything.
It seems completely disconnected to reality to expect or even hope for a "well-rounded" device. I've been a gear-head and a gadget freak for a couple of decades now and I have NEVER found a "perfect" anything (and I use Apple products, so that's saying something). To me, it's always a matter of weighing what you like about the device against what you have to put up with. In this review we're treated to a comparison of what this machine does versus what the reviewer would like it to do. She should be reviewing films with this mentality, not devices.
My iPhone is sluggish. An iPad is a closed system. Apple doesn't make a netbook, let alone a netvertible, that will run full MS Office, or other apps that I already own. Also, any netbook is free of the horror that is iTunes. So, comparing the T101MT's screen to the screen of the iPad doesn't help me, since, with the gorgeous screen of the iPad I have to put up with Steve Jobs fingers pressing buttons for me.
I understand, in an abstract way, comparing tablets to the iPad, but on a practical level, you're literally comparing Apples to oranges. Just tell me what is good and bad about the netbook in the context of the netbook--and not the context of your preconceived notions of what a netbook should be (or at least separate that out and put it at the end). I know what I want from a netvertible and what I'm willing to put up with. This review doesn't help me because it's too busy expressing disdain for an imperfect device.
cmon... handwriting support is never going to work without digitizer under the hood. Why Joanna even bothered to test it is unusual.
I am an owner of a t101mt and it really is pretty good. I made it good by the following
1. upgrading to win 7 home premium
2. deleting LOADS of bloatware (including instant on crap- this actually took a few days because of initial slowness)
3. changing accessibility features of win 7 (making scrollbars wider, buttons bigger for easier touch, etc
4. installing kinetic scroll extensions for chrome and firefox (scroll with touch)
5. adding 1gb ram
6. using 4gb in readyboost
7.installed adobe acrobat pro and kindle software for reading, highlighting, etc
Extremely fast, battery life acceptable, blows away my old 1000he. The only thing I don't like is the antiglare screen.