Home > Consumer Reviews > ASUS Eee PC 901 8.9-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 12 GB Solid State Drive, 20 GB Eee Storage, XP Home, 6 Cell Battery) Pearl White

This is a very small laptop and it does take some getting use to.All in all it's an ok laptop but not a lot of memory space on it.

Not so fast!
So far you have been reading good reviews. Now its time that you get a bad one. All the features of the Asus eeepc901 are very nice, and when it works it works nicely. But I bought mine almost a year ago to learn Russian on. I started with an eeepc900 it developed a capital lock problem, which caused me to have to send it back.
I had become aware that the 901 was much improved, so I asked Asus if I could upgrade if they were going to replace the computer. They refused, and sent me back a new one with all my programs and data gone. I had backed up so it wasn't catastrophic. After wrangling with Asus and the company I purchased it from I finally got a new eeepc 901 to replace it. Only the battery wasn't charging past 50%, so Asus sent me a new battery that would not charge past 15% so Asus sent me another battery, which didn't work at all. So I sent the computer back for repair. When I got it back the battery charging problem was repaired, but now it was intermittent on battery power. So I sent it back again, and again I got it back with the intermittent battery problem solved, but now the audio is intermittent and I must send it back again. This is a shortened version of the story. Asus has a record of six repairs going on the seventh. I have not studied my Russian and cancelled my trip there because of it. Asus doesn't care about anything. They don't even question or care that I have been out of using this computer for a whole year!
I strongly recommend that if you want a netbook look elsewhere, like the
Acer Aspire Netbook or an HP. The Asus Company doesn't care and doesn't have their act together!
Avoid trouble pick another brand!

I ordered the ASUS Eee PC 901 on the basis of generally good reviews and that ASUS was an originator and leader in the field of netbooks. I got the netbook only to find that it froze constantly, without warning. I returned it after one day and received another. Same result. We spent hours with ASUS tech support, only to conclude that there was no resolution for the problem.

At this point a computer should operate out of the box. I ordered this approximately a month ago, and still have no netbook. If I purchase one, it will not be an ASUS.

At first blush the ASUS Eee PC 901 was a great idea, with the right size, speed and functionality. The problem is, according to their tech support, the designers hard wired two SD cards to the mother board to use for solid state storage (hard drive). The smaller of the two is 4 GB and has the designation of C: drive with the operating system on it. The second one is 8 GB for storage. But when you use the internet, all temp files are stored, by default, on the C: drive, which starts running out of disk space and starts giving a really annoying message about running out of disk space. This limitation made this design useless for my use. If, at any point they decide to make the C: partition 12 GB, I will buy it in a heart beat.

Disclaimer; This was my SECOND Eee PC. The first was the previous model, (the 900). And maybe I just have VERY bad luck.

I ordered this Eee PC 901 in hopes that I COULD have a neat, handy little computer. As I said in my disclaimer - I had previously tried the old 900 model.

As I always do with a new computer - I set it up (consisting of snapping in the 6 cell battery), and turned it on for the first time. WOW! I was all excited at how well it worked, and it was notably faster than the 900 which I had to return to another company before.

I set it up to work with my Wi-Fi, no problem. I updated ALL the drivers, no problem. I got on the net to view some websites, no problem. I was SO happy!

So, I turned it off to allow it to charge, (I was using it plugged in, and batteries seem to charge faster when you aren't using the device).

The next day, I picked up my cool new mini-laptop to browse the web. Cool - it's fully charged and I'm ready to go. All seemed Okay. Upon shutdown that day - all seemed well in Eee PC land for me. I was exstatic over my FINALLY getting a working Asus Eee PC.

Then came the end of bliss for me and my Eee. On Saturday, March 29; I picked up the small wonder to use while watching TV. Boot-up was normal, (if strangely faster than before). But I thought Hey, nothing wrong with faster - right? WRONG!

I'm not sure what the lightning fast boot into Windows was caused by, but my troubles began once the desktop loaded. Strangely - the desktop was oriented on it's side rather than normal. I immediately began to go to the display settings and adjust some settings. To my surprise - the keyboard was virtually DEAD. I became EXTREMELY angry. I tried the track pad to move the mouse curser. It kind-of worked for a second, and then it just began working sparaticly. Keep in mind - I'm turning the thing on it's side so-as-to attempt to read the mal-oriented screen. So I thought - time to restore things.

I pressed the power button which thankfully shut down the laptop. I restarted and attempted to boot in safe mode just for laughs. No luck there. So, I shut it off again and attempted to go into the good ole BIOS settings upon re-starting once more. I attempted to tweak some things, but no luck.

I forgot to mention there was also NO SOUND on this day when troubles began.

Then - I officially voided my warranty by opening the laptop to check for bad connections, but everything seemed in order with the tiny inner-workings.

So, I now have a $270 worthless mini laptop. Maybe I can at least crack open some "un-touchable" things to see how they SHOULD work.

My final word on this little beast is DON'T BUY IT!

Though many report success with it - I've tried two models in Asus's Eee line, and I WON'T waste any more money on them. There are other small laptops out there that are sure to be made better.

By the way - many parts of this mini FEEL cheaply made, and I guess they are!

A note about Amazon; there service is GREAT. They always ship my orders quickly, and I'm sure if I had not opened the device in a moment of SCREAMING frustration - they would have replaced, or refunded my purchase. But I went and cracked it open in anger. I still LOVE Amazon for their service and prices.

Update: July 3 2009

After a great deal of research and hours of tinkering with BIOS, and system settings - I have the Eee 901 working again.

The problem mentioned in the earlier review resulted from old, faulty drivers and a bad BIOS.

I had to restore Windows to the default settings, install several driver updates, and update the BIOS version.

These things SHOULD be done by the manufacturer, but they aren't. They seem to ship the Eee 901 with the very oldest drivers and BIOS version available. Trust me - this was a major pain. But - it's now working!