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

I'm not sure I can call this a "notebook" so my title says "Portable Computer" instead. I have built and configured computers & laptops/notebooks for many family members of the years as well as my own. I have quite a bit of experience and knowledge when it comes to parts:performance and price:value.

This computer is SMALL. So amazingly small that my mother in law (who I bought and configured it for) can EASILY slip it into her purse and take it with her anywhere she goes. She's never without her laptop or internet now. This may sound a bit "addict-like" but it's really not. You see she uses this computer now to make Skype video calls to her new grand daughter (our child) on a whims notice. It's so cool when grandma video calls in and has a conversation/session with us while she's out and about.

The performance of the computer is not that great once you start updating windows with all the crap & security patches they push. My recommendation is to get ONLY the security patches, skip the "malicious software removal tool" (because it really is worthless for what it does considering the performance hit you take having it installed), and DON'T get any non-priority updates (I think they call these "optional" updates). You won't get ANY of these options if you don't select the "CUSTOM" update. If you choose "EXPRESS" you will get EVERYTHING.

This computer has very limited C:\ space when it arrives. The first thing I did was change the default installation directory to a new 16GB SD card I bought and put in the computer. You have to make this change in the registry but it's rather easy to do. The reason you do this is because not ALL programs allow you to select the destination installation folder when you install them. Changing this in the registry defaults them to the installation place of your choice even if they don't give you the option. Go here on how to do that: http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/how-to-change-the-default-location-for-installing-applications-in-windows/

This will allow you to keep what little precious C:\ space you have. Don't even bother changing it to D:\ though, as you'll quickly out grow the 5GB that is left on that as well.

I'm a little annoyed by the "Auto-Performance Engine" that always self-selects what mode to run the processor in, but if this is how they're achieving the incredible battery life I can live with it I guess - after all my mother in law is using the computer and has far more patience than I do since she doesn't know any better. If my normal desktop performed like this I would literally smash it with a mallet and toss it out the window into our pool. It can be frustrating at times.

Overall I personally would own and use this computer. When I was configuring it for my mother in law I carried it with me for about 7 days and used it every where I went (I have the computer tethered to my bluetooth Sprint phone by Bluetooth so it can use my EVDO from my phone for the internet capability - it's essentially using my phone as a modem). This works out great when I'm somewhere that doesn't have WiFi - I even made a Skype video call over my cell phone with this computer and it was pretty darn impressive considering I didn't think it would even work!

The computer is extremely portable and great for someone who needs access to web, email, Skype, office documents, etc. My mother in law also uses it to watch my Tivo I have here at my house via a Slingbox I have. I installed the Slingplayer application (it's free) on the computer before I sent it to her. She loves this. TV anywhere she goes in case she needs some entertainment - but not just any TV - Tivo like she was here at my house watching & controlling it.

The computer is NOT good for someone who wants to do hardcore graphics gaming, video or audio editing, etc.

***UPDATE*** Price dropped from $574 to $483 and Amazon customer support gave me a $90 price adjustment!!!! (I just bought the computer a few days ago). I am so happy with them right now, I just purchased another $300 worth of merchandise I've been needing (well, sort of needing! :o) )

I ordered my 901 in white with XP from Amazon at 4:45 PM n Thursday, paid $26 for next day shipping and got it via UPS around 11:30 on Friday...great shipping!

I love this little laptop! It looks great in white, the keys sound good when you strike them, though I would say the keyboard is 78% of the size of a standard keyboard, and not anywhere near 95%, it's really pretty fast considering it has 1G or RAM, 12 GB of SSD and the atom which clocks 1.6, or you can change it to 1.8 in "super" mode using the third button to the right on the quick keys at the top left of the power button. Which brings me to the battery, I have it in super saver mode, I honestly can't see any difference between either of them in the screen appearance, and it says I have 100% with 6:10 remaining. It's really pretty nice and I am glad that I bought it. I mainly just surf the web at home and watch videos on youtube everynow and then, and it's perfect for full screen on those because the "FULL" screen is taken up. I use it a lot in bed before sleep and it's light, cool running, and perfect for lap/stomach use. I really like it.

Cons; small KEYS, the tab, back space, period, delete and alt buttons are so small they are almost unstrikeable, you will need to set up your tray icons because this displays all of the crap they load on at first and you have to search for necessary things like the battery meter, the wireless icon, the volume icon...kind of annoying, and if you want to control what starts at turn on the run command is msconfig, the mouse pad is a little unsteady even though I set it to my slower speed and you need to be prepared to HOLD DOWN the button on the left or you'll do an accident, like dragging and dropping folders that only go half way to the destination, yes you two finger scroll, but again you need to be careful or you will scroll right past what you were looking for, the screen color is great and bright and true, but the screen has a kind of speckled look to it that makes you think there is a layer of hand grease on it and I continue to try and wipe it off, the keyboard is not level, the stickers appear to have been thrown on in every effort to get it to my door instantly, the webcam software link is burried in the my computer folder which is stupidly placed, there is even a software loaded to manage the sound, annoying, and when you try to plug in a set of headphones, it blinks up and asks you what you want to do...well, maybe I want the sound to go into my headphones since I just plugged them up, how about that?, finally I would gripe that it is impossible to move the bluetooth link on the desktop and that drives me crazy, any attempt to put it into a main folder of useless crap only creates a "shortcut" and leaves the original on the desktop...who needs to use bluetooth that much?..and you can be certain there is also a link for bluetooth on your webpage task bar as well as in the system tray down to the right..way overkill!

But, dont take all that too much to heart, I really love this thing. Its solid and well balanced, super quiet and cool running, is lightning quick to respond if you keep it on standbuy, and just looks great. I am going to go pick up a 2G stick of 667 memory and pprobably one of the 8G SD cards to go in this little slot. I will tell you, unless you really really download a lot of music and videos pictures, etc, you will not need more than 20 G ever. I replaced a dell inspiron laptop with this and ironically it had the exact same specs, and in the 5 years we have owned that, my wife and I have only used 16G of hard drive space, with itunes, photos, videos, etc. So don't freak out about how small the harddrive sounds...

I really love mine and feel comfortable about choosing XP. Again, it's really not worth taking on such a responsibility wth Linux just to get 8 G of disk space...forget that. This thing is great!

I purchased the XP 901 asus eee and charged it for 18 hours. I was able to surf the net for ~3 hours. I then charged the computer for about 14 hours. I only got 30 minutes of net surfing. I had been expecting 5-6 hours of internet use. I was able to return the product to amazon with the above explanation. Wonderful size but I purchased a lemon.

I own a small business, and when I go on vacation several times a year, I use GoToMyPc once a day to check in briefly with my office, put out any fires, assist an employee, etc.

I was sick and tired of dragging a large and heavy laptop through airports, and bot an Eee pc 901 last week, prior to an upcoming vacation.

I got the Windows XP model,as GoToMyPC requires XP. I'd rate it a 10, far exceeding my expectations. It is well made, really solid, and works perfectly right out of the box. I wish it had XP Pro rather than XP Home, but that's minor.

I removed MS Works and some unnecessary programs to save disk space, then installed Excel and Word. Internet Explorer 6.0 was on it, so I upgraded to I E 7 to get tabbed browsing.

Since it has no CD drive, I used a 160 gb Passport drive that I already had. Using my desktop PC, I copied several software CDs and the XP support DVD that comes with the Eee onto the passport, then used the Passport to install the programs I needed.

I wish it had more disk space, but for the applications I use, there is enough. It runs fast and with no issues at all. The Passport is very small, so I'm taking it along with me too. I'm a serious photographer, mostly shooting 9 mb Raw files, and I can upload my pictures onto the Passport. I recommend getting a Logitech VX Nano mouse.

I read much about the small keys. Not an issue, period. My fingers aren't that big, but my son, who is a very big guy with big hands, used it tonight for a while, and had no trouble.

I'd highly recommend this unit for light, occasional use away from home if you don't need to run any large programs like Photoshop.

PC 901 - XP version. Very well built, smaller than letter size piece of paper. Keyboard is small - but that is what it is. Very portable, like grabbing a paper back book. C drive is 4 GB, D 8 GB. Have lots of applications loaded. Installed all applications to the D drive. For application that are used rarely I keep in a virtual machine on USB portable HDD. Application to keep things clean, like Ccleaner, Regseeker or Auslogic BoostSpeed keep the trash from accumulating. I use an external monitor and keyboard at home. The 1.6 Ghz Atom processor is impressive, display is excellent. I have nothing negative to say, would buy another, no questions asked. Thanks go to ASUS for a excellent product.