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've had the Asus 901 for a couple weeks now. During that time, I've made two upgrades: a new wireless card and additional RAM (2GB). My wireless connection with the stock card was very weak. I upgraded to an Intel WiFi Link 5300 and wow, what a difference. Now I get a very strong signal all over the house and in places where my original wireless card would not even receive a signal. I upgraded the RAM immediately because I found a good deal with a rebate, so I can't comment on how well the machine runs on the original 1GB ram.

Also, as noted in many reviews the 4GB SSD that Windows is installed on can be a problem. I investigated the Asus 901 before buying and knew about the two 4GB/8GB SSD set-up, but it turned out to be an issue for me because I'm constantly concerned about filling up the 4GB "C" drive. I've compressed the "C" drive to save space, but I don't really want to keep worrying about always installing my programs to "D" drive, not installing Windows updates, etc. So I've also ordered a new 16GB SSD that will replace the current 8GB "D" SSD drive and I will install Windows on it.

The bottom line is that I've had to spend quite a bit of money to get the Asus "up to speed" so to speak, (for my standards) but that's not to say I don't like the machine. For someone who will simply use it to check their email and surf the web while on the go, it's a great machine right out of the box (assuming your wireless card is better than mine - maybe I just got a lemon).

The look and feel of the machine is solid. It is very lightweight and extremely portable. The battery life is very good - I average about 4.5 - 5 hrs run time with the wireless card on. It's also very quiet and doesn't get hot. The smaller keyboard does take some getting used to.

However, in hindsight, considering the money I ended up spending on upgrades, I think I would have been better off buying my first choice in a netbook, the Samsung NC10, but the price is definitely right on the Asus even if you just upgrade the RAM to 2GB and keep your eye on the "C" drive capacity.

If you're a heavier user, I'd recommend getting a netbook with a larger capacity HDD.

I have both the Linux 901 and the WinXP 901 - both excellent machines. I upgraded the bios so I could install SATA solid state drives. In one machine I replaced the slow 16GB SSD with a 32 GB Super*Talent FPM32GRSE. I also replaced the slow 12 GB SSD with a Super*Talent 64 GB FPM64GRSE. Both of these have really fast read and write speeds. The 901 is a perfect size - not too big like a 10 inch and not too small like the 7 inch. I also upgraded the RAM in both machines to 2 GB. Unlike the Acer machines, both the SSD and the RAM were easily changed via a door on the bottom of the computer. These are clearly well thought out machines and are superior to many others on the market!

I've been using this for a few weeks now and feel comfortable giving it the full five stars and then some. This thing's incredible. I wanted something small for traveling that would run modern Office software and perhaps also have some entertainment value. Boy, did I get what I wanted. I'm a big person, and can sit in coach and still type comfortably with this on my lap, even when the idiot in front of me puts his seat back. Can't do that even with an ultraportable standard notebook. I truly could not be happier with the Asus 901, and for ~$[...], it's unbeatable.

Pros
+ form: tiny, like a hard-back book, easily portable, sturdy design; the keyboard is indeed small, as many others have said, but anyone with a modicum of dexterity can get used to it easily; I have big hands, and was touch typing after 10 minutes
+ power: does anything that a mid-range laptop 2-3 years ago would do ; i.e. runs full XP, full MS Office 2007 suite, etc., perfectly and with great speed
+ battery: using the Asus utilities and drivers, the 8-9 hours of battery life advertised in the specs is TRUE, which is incredible (w/ wireless turned on, 5-6 hours)
+ screen: bright, good resolution; videos look great, so do e-books

Cons
- touchpad: it's not awful, and is perfectly workable, but it could be better
- glossy finish smudges easily (not a big deal)
- drive space: this is the only real warning I would give. It comes with a 4GB fast ssd, and an 8GB slow ssd (in the Linux version, 4GB fast and 16GB slow). The 8GB/16GB slow drive is plenty of space for storage and program installations, esp. if you don't plan to carry around tons of music and video (there is an SD card slot for more storage if you want it). But to run XP on the 4GB drive, you need to have some know-how to make it work well. 4GB is a bit too small for a standard XP install (it's fine for Linux). With any updating, you are likely to see low drive space warnings. For best results, it's necessary to reinstall XP with nlite, stripping it down just a bit and streamlining it (you do NOT need to disable ANY of its functions, though). There are lots of good instructions for how to do this on sites such as eeeuser.com, but if you're a computer-phobe and don't like tinkering, one of the standard hard drive models might be a better choice.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this notebook because I ordered it sight-unseen, mainly based on reviews here and its portablity. I've used it mainly for web brousing, word processing, powerpoint presentations, and watching movies on trips. It is fully functional in these areas, and I get about 5 hours from the battery in these mixed tasks. For traveling, it's fantastic due to small size and light weight. Also quite impact resistant inside its (included) neoprene sleve. Toss it in the briefcase or backpack and forget it's even there. Build quality is impressive.

From a speed standpoint, it is about what I expected. Once programs are loaded from the (relatively) slow SDD, they run quite nicely, even switching between tasks. Boot time is repectable, about 20 seconds. One limitation to be aware of is that the SDD is not one 12GB drive but a smaller 4GB (slightly faster) and a 8GB D: Drive. Under my testing, I found that the read/write speeds are as follows: drive C: = 32mb/sec read and 9 mb/sec write. Drive D: = 28mb/sec and 6 mb/sec. This is functional, but not fast by any means...there's definitely a delay while programs load. It is only slightly faster than a fast flash drive or memory card. I plan to upgrade to a RunCore SDD which is supposed to read/write at 75/55mb/sec. The other limitation here is the 4GB main drive will easily get full, requiring altering the windows install or deleting features. Mine had 1.5 GB free from the factory, but after just a few programs added I'm down to about 600mb free. Mine had SP3 factory installed, as of Jan 15th, 2009. It came setup from the factory to not use a virtual disk...this I'm sure helps performance, even more so if you add memory to total 2GB.

The display is fabulous, and much more usable than I expected. Nearly all web pages display without horizontal scrolling. This is a great size computer for toting around (we're going to take it on a trip to Europe.) The 10 inch size eee has a much more usable keyboard and a larger monitor, at the expense of being able to tuck it into a purse un-noticed. I'm sure the hard drive versions are much faster to load programs, but at the expense of shock resistance and power consumption. I'd rate the eee 901 as 4-1/2 stars out of 5....if ASUS had splurged and put faster SDD chips in the machine and set up a full 12GB main drive, I would have rated it 5 stars. My machine will end up costing 470 USD after upgrading components to my standards (370 base + 30 memory upgrade + 70 larger/faster SDD.) Still a good deal, in my opinion, given that the initial price (stock setup) was 599.

I had mine for a week and sent it back to Amazon, but it was my fault for buying the wrong computer. It was perfect for email and surfing the net, but I needed a laptop suitable for all-day word-processing use, which it isn't designed for. I found it strained my eyes and I couldn't type nearly as fast as with a standard keyboard.

However, I was very impressed with the computer's exceptionally small size and weight, and the ease of setting it up and connecting to the net. I also liked the fact that there was a sticker on the keyboard with a toll-free technical support number.

I'm going to try an eee PC with a 10-inch screen now - maybe that will be more suitable for my purposes.