Home > Consumer Reviews > ASUS Eee PC 901 8.9-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB Solid State Drive, 20 GB Eee Storage, Linux, 6 Cell Battery) Pearl White

I was in NYC this summer with my girlfriend and a small portable notebook to occasionally surf the web, check my emails and quickly review & edit my photos is really a must have.
I bought a 901 because the MSI Wind was too big, the Aspire One lacked of autonomy and expandibility and so on.
The EEEPC 901 is a bit bulkier than his brother 900 and noticeably heavier, but the 6 cell battery boost your digital life with at least 5 hour of autonomy (60% brightness and wifi on). I've chosen the linux flavour to enjoy the 20gb of SSD (fast 4gb SSD dedicated to the OS and a slower 16gb slave), I usually work with linux so it's not a big deal, however I really can't honestly recommend to anyone: it's stable, easy and it simply works out of the box, but if something goes wrong, it'll be a real pain to find the problem and fix it if you are not an above average user.

Pros:
This EEEPC is rock solid and have a good glossy finger magnet finish on the top (white is much better than black), the Atom processor is just a tad slow compared to the Celeron 900, but in conjunction with the 6cell battery its autonomy is really awesome.
Cons:
The keyboard is small and crowded and flex a lot in the center.
The multitouch touchpad is a mess: there are no drivers under linux to make it work and, under windows, it feels sometimes clumsy, with the cursor jumping around. A fix from Asus or Elantech is really wellcomed.
The baby runs very hot under average load.

Conclusion:
I'm very happy with the 901, which is far from gaining a perfect score, but indeed it's the best selection among the current generation of netbooks.
It is expensive and overhyped, but with its recent price cut, you'll not regret buying it.

This a great full featured laptop that you can always carry with you wherever you go. I am an IT guy and I love it - it has everything I need. When my wife saw this laptop, she had a very positive emotional reaction. The next day I caught her using :-) and loving it. She liked it so much (especially being able to carry it in her purse) that I decided to get her another (white) Eee. She now takes it everywhere she goes. She even got herself a bluetooth phone so that she can get online where no Wi-Fi networks are available.

One piece of advice to novice/first-time buyers - get a Linux version (Asus 901 20G). No worries about viruses (no need to install a slow and resource eating anti-virus/anti-everything software). The boot time of Linux version is truly amazing. Works right out of the box.

I have another friend who got it as well. He does a lot of blogging, browsing and email. He loves it. He switched from a Windows laptop and does not regret a thing.

Just a week ago our family friends visited us, played with Eee PC and got two of them for their kids.

Of course, they are a few issues with the product, after all no product is ideal. The keyboard is a bit small, but after enough practice you will find yourself typing at normal speeds. The software that comes with it is not going to be enough for advanced users or developers (but there is Ubuntu EEE distro and other tweaks and kicks that you can install on EeePC free of charge ;-)).

This product is a leading laptop in the netbook family and I recommend it to anyone who wants a light-weight, always-with-you laptop.

With linux and without windows - I got the black one.

Twice the RAM and twice the disk space - duhh. But if you want to slow things down with Windows - buy this one - install windoze - and have the faster box.

Voice recognition is a lot of fun. And this linux package with office, mail, wifi, firefox and free patches and upgrades - means you quit paying after you buy it. But if you choose windows you are just beginning your buying spree.

I like the programming tools of perl, python, ruby and java - access to the command line with a ctl-alt-t sets up the terminal.

I plan to slip this into my backpack (2 pounds) and surf my way between large cities in europe by train. The small keyboard takes time - I am 6'3" have large hands, and am up to about 30 wpm.

What I really like is the 6+ hours batter life. I put this on my headboard and when I want the net, I just reach back and boot - about 30 seconds. With wifi I am up and surfing in a lot less than a minute. When I have done what I wanted, it will shut down in about 20 seconds.

It is about as easy as reaching for a book to read.

You can't go wrong with this little linux jewel - if you want everything - and have the ability to travel easily too - 5 stars *****

I've been a Linux user for a year or so now, and that's why I went for the Linux version. I love Ubuntu Linux, and thought this one would be right up my alley, but I was wrong. The Xandros Linux that comes with this little jewel, is close to worthless. So I installed Eeebuntu (standard).

OMG! What a difference. Eeebuntu released more power in this tiny laptop than I thought was possible. Sporting all the bells and whistles, less cd and dvd burning, it has most of the functionality, and eye candy, that my desktop computer has. Compiz runs great, and after disabling hddtemp, it boots fairly fast. Performance wise, it has blown me away. It's incredible. I didn't know this until after I got it, but it has a dual core processor in it. Didn't see that coming. Nice little surprise.

If you're not comfortable installing a new OS, you might consider the XP version, but you can expect slightly reduced battery life. Still 3 hours (from reports I've read) is still incredible. I've gotten over 4-1/2 hours with Eeebuntu.

On the physical side, I have big hands, but I've had very little problems adjusting to the tiny keyboard. On the other hand, my wife, who has small hands, had more trouble with it than I did. So I guess, it just depends on the person. To be fair though, I use it much more than she does.

Even though the screen is small, it is very clear and readable.

Very portable, of course. it's tiny.

This has nothing to do with the computer itself, but you will probably want to buy a new carrying case. I don't like the material of the one that comes with it, and if you have pets, it collects hair, badly.

Bottom line: This computer shattered my expectations, and I would recommend it to anyone. I would buy it all over again.

P.S. I wrote this review on my Eee 901 ! It ROCKS ! ! !

I was really excited to buy a netbook and did a whole bunch of research before I bought the Eee pc 901. I love this computer and I can't imagine how I got by without it, but there are a few things I would like to say about it.

The profile is really small, which is awesome; but I do have to say (just like everybody else) that the keyboard bothers me a little. Let me preface this by saying that I didn't think I would mind and that I've gotten pretty used to it, but it still is a little bothersome to type on and I would have counted it as a bigger negative for the 901.

My battery life is amazing (5 hours easily with full functionality); the wireless card gets great range; the multi-touch touchpad is awesome and I already try to 2-finger scroll on every laptop I use.

I bought the 20G Linux one and right away wiped Linux and installed XP. XP boots quickly (1 minute-ish) and overall the experience is snappy (I did put in 2 gigs of ram). When I'm running Firefox with a ton of tabs, sometimes it starts to drag a little.

I bought this right before the new Wind and the revision of the Acer Aspire One came out, and in hindsight I would have probably bought the Aspire One because the big negative when I bought my Eee PC was the lack of a 6 cell battery, which was fixed in the revision.

I very much enjoy my 901, but if I could do it again, I probably would have bought the Aspire One in order to save 150 bucks.