Eee PC 900 Reviews
April 20th, 2008 by antIt looks like some of the big websites are getting their hands on Eee PC 900 devices and publishing some reviews. Here are some you can check out:
It looks like some of the big websites are getting their hands on Eee PC 900 devices and publishing some reviews. Here are some you can check out:
April 20th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Three cheers for our favorite UMPC!
April 20th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Why not yet bluetooth in Asus 900 as a standard device?
Is it costly to manufacture?
April 20th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
a UMPC has a touchscreen, this isn’t a UMPC. =)
April 21st, 2008 at 2:33 am
No touch screen, not a UMPC? Call it a UMPCWATS! (Ultra-Mobile PC Without A Touch Screen)
I’m not sure how much integrated Bluetooth modules cost. The only point of reference I have is Dell offers Bluetooth upgrades on their laptops for $20. People on message boards all across the Internets seem to be up in arms over the price tag on the 900 (US$549 last time I checked), so if they added Bluetooth it would only drive the price tag up and infuriate more people that seem stunned that larger screen + more storage = higher price. But I digress.
Rumored features on future models include Bluetooth, a touch screen, and of course the Atom processor. Handy additions, although if they keep adding features, they’re going to have to equip the thing with a bigger battery sooner or later. The Atom processor is supposed to take less of a bite out of the battery than the current Celeron. I really hope there will be after-market batteries available with more than 4 cells. 2.5 hours is nice… but not nice enough IMO.
April 21st, 2008 at 2:49 am
The first unpacking… I was kinda hoping their mouse was included like with the 8G 701.
If they would just sell it outside of US/CAN :/
April 21st, 2008 at 5:10 am
@infinityDUCK
Not sure about the definition of UMPC includes touchscreen but bluetooth I’m very much sure that it would make it more mobile than it is. You can establish a connection between your BT to a cell phone and make small internet But to make the eee pc more mobile
April 21st, 2008 at 5:20 am
@infinityDUCK
OOOOPs, did not finish my previous comment.
Not sure about the definition of UMPC includes touchscreen but bluetooth, I’m very much sure that it would make it more mobile than it is. You can establish a connection between your BT to a cell phone and use the internet for short periods of time. Of course this would be the case where you have no hotspot around. But to make the eee pc even more mobile, ideally it would have a wireless cell phone modem card included for data transmission.
I can buy a wireless USB bluetooth dongle/adapter for US$20, this includes device casing, packing and delivery. So I guess the BT chip costs at most only $US3. What is the problem to include this chip in the asus ee pc motherboard? I can’t belevie it is that diffult or costly. They can almost do it for free… probably?
April 21st, 2008 at 6:00 am
It’s funny that during the launch of the Eee PC 900, the CEO of Asustek now officially confirmed the launch of a 10″ model.
http://eeepc.itrunsonlinux.com/the-news/1-latest-news/63-asus-will-launch-an-eee-pc-with-10-inch-screen
April 21st, 2008 at 6:06 am
This first retail version comes with a 4400mAh battery instead of the expected 5800mAh battery.
http://my.ocworkbench.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=430179#post430179
Dutch: http://core.tweakers.net/nieuws/53059/asus-levert-eee-pc-900-met-kleinere-accu.html
German: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/Asus-verkauft-Eee-PC-mit-kleinerem-Akku–/meldung/106493
April 21st, 2008 at 7:05 am
Then the 8.9″ model will not get the ATOM/DIAMONDVILLE chip and the 10″ model will?
Looks like I will wait a little longer to get the 10″ model then coming up since I hate the currently keyboard’s size. Initiatively, I was thinking of getting the 7″ EEEPC but after hearing of the new 8.9″, I had put my wallet away and waited. And since the 10″ is coming, the logic thing to do is wait a little longer before I invest for a mini-notebook.
With ASUS’ strategy plan, releasing a new EEEPC model and telling to the public, ” Hey, we will releasing a better model soon”, will I ever getting an EEEPC?
April 21st, 2008 at 7:17 am
Omg 10 inches!
A new one will have 11 inches!
Hay guys, lets wait for 12 inches!
Whoa 17 inches!
Did people suddenly forget what made Eee attractive in the first place?
April 21st, 2008 at 7:26 am
@Iceboie
If you always think like that, probably you will never get a notebook to your hands. Technology is always improving and getting cheaper. Why chasing for the latest model if after a few months it’s already obselete. You’re so dumb!
April 21st, 2008 at 8:01 am
In order to stay ahead of the competition, Asus had to rush out the 900 before the Atom chip was available and while battery supplies were limited because of the factory fire. I have no doubts that in a couple of months a 900 will be released with Atom chip and better battery. I will wait for that one.
I do not want a Eee PC with larger screen or larger keyboard or HD instead of SSD storage. Then there would be no reason anymore for wanting the Eee PC. I want the Eee PC because it is small and light and shockproof.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:00 am
Arg. I was hoping the 900 would have a larger keyboard, given that even as a secondary computer, I would be using it for a lot of word processing.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:50 am
Asus is working on a 10-inch Eee PC:
http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2008/04/21/forget-the-eeepc-900-heres-the-10-inch-atom-based-eeepc/
April 21st, 2008 at 10:57 am
@DaMan
This is fake news. Pictures are cropped from photos that are about a year old. Asus has initially announced 10-inch EeePCs, but they have ditched those plans after deciding that such a model would infringe on their high end ultra-portable notebook models.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:33 am
I’m surprised none of the reviews have mentioned the charging time for the battery.
If one was to assume they’re using the same battery then charging would be the same. I was really disappointed with the time it took to recharge the battery while using the eee - and it wasn’t great when it was switched off charging.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Have to agree with Malmer and Ronald on the question of the point of the EeePC: small, light (<2lbs), fast (SSD+Linux), and cheap (~$500 or less).
The screen creep is ok until it causes the lid (and over all dimensions) to grow by first one millimeter then another. The weight by one gram then another. Etc.
This is not to say there isn’t room for improvement. A faster processor, a bit more SSD space, Bluetooth, a more efficiently designed keyboard (a la HP Mini Note), etc. would all be nice, but not at the expense of shorter battery life, more weight, and bulk. (A bigger battery defeats portability.)
April 21st, 2008 at 1:16 pm
will the atom cpu be a 1.6 ghz?
April 21st, 2008 at 1:20 pm
@Me
It’s called “SMART SHOPPING” my friend and I am positively sure that most consumers will feel the same way to.
April 21st, 2008 at 1:30 pm
@Iceboie
These things are just like the ipod, a newer better updated model is just down the road
“Smart Shopping” isn’t just waiting for a newer model
April 21st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I like the 900, but I want better better battery life. Most reviews seem to only get about 2 hours and that sucks.
Hopefully the Atom based 900 in the summer will be better.
April 21st, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Sorry. I love my eeePC, but why the hell would I pay £330 for this when £20 more would get me, say, an Acer Aspire 5720Z with a dual-core, 2gig of ram, an optical drive, an 80gig HD, Windows and - to my eyes - an only slightly larger footprint?
(http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer_Aspire_5720Z_Gemstone_Laptop_LX.AL90X.002/version.asp?tref=fpg-Acer%20Aspire%205720Z)
April 21st, 2008 at 2:22 pm
@Iceboie
You call that Smart Shopping? Don’t think so! Smart shopping is buying something with extra features for the same price or cheaper. In your case, you want to buy an improved model that is actually more expensive and you’ll have to continue to wait in frustration until it comes out. I call that selfishness and narcissism. Like the film: bigger, longer & uncut…
So go ahead, as you mentioned above: “And since the 10″ is coming, the logic thing to do is wait a little longer before I invest for a mini-notebook.”
You are little bit confused of what you want. You have to set your priorities. The 10″ screen is not an UMPC, so buy a regular notebook, don’t buy an EEE PC.
Still, I’m sure that if you continue waiting you’ll be happier than ever, if it is worth it… Hey wait a minute. If you wait a little bit longer, probably you’ll get extra inches: the Asus Eee PC 17000 with 17″ screen… ha ha ha ha
April 21st, 2008 at 2:24 pm
@TheTurnipKing
That Acer Aspire 5720Z is a full-size 15.4″ laptop, a very different and much larger machine. It has a relatively low price in common with the Eee PC, but It is not ultraportable, small, light and shockproof. If you want an affordable laptop and do not care about the ultra-portability, then the Eee PC is indeed not for you.
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:04 am
I hate such arrogant guys like TheTurnipKing. You can repeat 1000 times what Asus Eee is intended for and they still complain that for the same price they can buy huge, heavy laptops.. It’s comparing apples to oranges.
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:27 am
Next model needs TV OUT and a touch screen
to make the extra cost worth it
Otherwise for the same cost might aswell get a normal laptop
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:34 am
Do I smell trolls?
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:41 am
Why do people keep asking for TV outs? Any HD Ready TV must have a VGA port on it and you wouldn’t want to run the thing on a SD TV?
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Has been said again but apparently some people only read their own posts.
It doesn’t need bigger screen, tv-out, hard disk (especially since the life cycle of the sd will outlive other vital components.),
I would like it to have a touchscreen but nearly for everyone this is a luxury than a necesity.
As for bluetooth if u realy want to use it with ur cell phone then get an external and plug it off when you don’t use it.
And PLEEEEEEASE, if you want for the same money more power buy a laptop or even better a desktop personal computer. Seriously, have you seen the market prices for any mini-notebook with 7, 9 , 10, 12 inch screens? They are way more expensive and their usability is prety much the same.
Unless of course people do actually tend to play FPS games in a 9 inch pc or edit or use photoshop on their bed or trains.
EEE pc 900 is close to perfect
What I would like it to have is a cooler procesor so that it doesn’t need a fan or it will run less often and quiter, (and it will have that)
So if you don’t like it just don’t buy it and leave the comment space for people who actually post something usefull (unlike my post) so the rest of us can actually get informed for actuall news that users find.
Thanks
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Just read it on Tomshardware, the 900 shipped to the reviewers are battery 5800mAh, but the ppl bought it in the store actually only get a 4800mAh battery. =(
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/asus-eeepc-battery,5216.html
April 22nd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
yeesh lot of flaming going on in this one, anny way it all comes down to do you really want an UMPC these things are made for ultra portability and small scale projects. they’re not monster rigs to play hi end games on the go or get that flash/photoshop monster project on the road ( I think someone already mentioned this) if anything the EEE is just to go about your day and do some common tasks such as writing , reviewing excel sheets, surfing the web, and catch an episode or movie that you’ve Divx’ed that you’d rather see on a bigger screen then your Ipood. Personally I’m just waiting for the 900 to come with the ATOM ( thats confirmed right?) for the longer battery life so I don’t have to look for an outlet too soon. If you want the 10″ screen there are a number of laptops out there about with more under the hood. I don’t think any of them are cheap
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I have read a lot about the eee, but i could not find anything about it’s noisy and heat. Can anyone that have both models (700 and 900) compare and coment about this! It would be very helpful
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:07 am
When is the 10″ screen EEE coming out?? Inevitably, its going to cost more than $500 USD…
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:20 am
@gurugurutex
According to this link http://www.xepc.org/2008/04/12/eeepc-900-intro/ it is neither 5800mah or 4800mah.
But 5200mah??!!?
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:27 am
I still love my 701.
Though that love will be over as soon as the Atom lands
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:34 am
Is Diamondville faster than the current Celeron? We already know silverthorne is slower…
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:12 am
@ELDER
Both machines are the same under the hood save for 1gb of ram and more SSD HD space for the 900 so they should have the same nuiances. If it comes out with the ATOM thats what I want to see where the comparisons change. For those of you with questions I suggest you hit the forums and post your question there seeing as it would get a dedicated topic vs just people scrolling down the comments
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:26 am
It seems that in Hong Kong (the only place where the Eee PC 900 has been sold yet) Asus will replace the provided 4400mAh batteries by 5800mAh batteries for free for those who received the Eee PC 900 with the 4400mAh battery.
http://hk.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=10967
Can someone confirm that that is what this Asus Press Release in Chinese says?
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:30 am
The translated site indeed mentions free upgrade and replacement of the batteries:
http://www.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fhk.asus.com%2Fnews_show.aspx%3Fid%3D10967&langpair=zh%7Cen&hl=nl&ie=UTF8
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:24 am
I don’t know why you guys are all fired up about this model not having a touch screen - all that happens is that very soon your nice clean screen is covered all over with finger marks that can take a deal of shifting - especially if you have been eating a sticky bun at the time !
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:36 am
actually the touchscreen would protect the screen behind it.
also many touchscreen’s are fingerprint proof.
when your dealing with screens under 10″ it only seems reasonable to have a touchscreen,
unless you want your customers to strain their eyes and develop worse eyesight…
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
@Ronald: i’m quite happy with my 701. To me, it has the perfect balance of price vs functionality.
The 900… It’s kinda wandering out of that zone and into battle with regular laptops, of which the Aspire was intended as merely an example. I find myself questioning the benefits at that price point. You’re trading off a lot of processor grunt and storage space for that mobility.
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I agree with TheTurnipKing, £200-250 is the right price for this kind of machine with this level of functionality.
Manufacturers forget the sales success of the 701 at their peril, including ASUS. Over £300 is just too much for what will always be a limited (but VERY useful and attractive) platform, as it is in immediate competition with “normal” laptops. I really don’t buy the argument that EEEs are more expensive in the UK due to VAT. For example, the Cloudbook apparently costs around $360 in the US but £300 over here - that’s almost a 100% increase but VAT is only 17.5% - rip-off Britain!
What percentage of users actually spend large amounts of time travelling AND working with a UMPC, very few I guess.
I’d like a 900 but the price, for what it is, is just too much. And don’t get me started on the price hikes that will happen when there is a shortage just after the first release, UK corporate greed should not be pandered to!!
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Well, I suppose it all depends on how much the small size is worth to you. It may sound strange to some, but if I had the choice between a EeePC 900 and a full size laptop with much more processor power and storage space at half the price, I would still prefer the EeePC. I have a desktop computer that can do anything I need at home. The EeePC would be perfect when I am on the move. I do not need more power for the few things I will use it for, the installed software on the Xandros version is even more than I will use. I do not need more storage, I have more than 1.5TB of storage at home. I do need the small size and portability. With the 1024×600 screen, the 900 is almost perfect. I may wait for a version with Atom processor for longer battery life.
April 24th, 2008 at 5:46 am
The small size I can get with my 701… and as you say, the installed software on Xandros is good enough for most, if not all, of the few things you might want to use it for on the move.
The 900 is an uncomfortably priced entry that’s competing with the 701 on one hand and a standard laptop on the other.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Again, it depends on what one wants. I prefer the larger screen of the EeePC 900 and I do not want a standard laptop. Judging by responses here and elsewhere, I am not the only one who feels that way. If the 900 will sell well, then the price is right. It is as simple as that.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Obviously, I’d prefer the larger screen as well, but I don’t think it’s worth what it would cost me.
It goes without saying that your mileage may vary
April 24th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Just a question here: how is the anticipated Atom processor expected to be different from/better than the one Asus is using now?
April 24th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
With the Atom processor I expect the battery to last longer between charges and possibly the Atom processor will produce less heat.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Yes, I too would like to know the answer to visotor1’s question. I hear it takes less power. Is it also faster than the current Celeron?
I used to be irritated when people complained about the EEE’s prices, but I realized opinions will always vary as to what is worth it and what isn’t because people just value different things. There will never be a settled agreement. It’s just a matter of HOW MANY people think one way, which determines a market. The fact is, as long as there are enough people who think the EEE’s price IS worth it, Asus will continue selling it to that market. Like Ronald said, if the 900 sells well, there’s not much to say about it, except “I guess the EEE wasn’t marketed toward me.” If it sells horrible, it means you can say, “See? Everyone agreed with me: the price wasn’t worth it.”
April 25th, 2008 at 6:30 am
I agree with the view that am item is worth what someone thinks it is worth - i just think that if ASUS could sell the 900 for £250 they would sell two very large piles of the things, instead of one.
When the various competitors start to arrive, will there be a price war? I certainly hope so
April 26th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I scrolled though the page
and i saw one question that was never answered…
Is the new atom processor faster than the current celeron??
April 26th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2008/04/16/Asus-Eee-PC-900/p3
this page here
says the touchpad
has capabilities of zoom and scrolling
with multi-touch enabled
i tihnk thats definitely a plus for this comp
April 26th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I won’t be hangning around for a 10″ model, the size of that screen defeats the purpose of an eeePC, plus looking at projected costs due to the 10″ LCD not being mass produced, I am not going to be happy with the price. Hopefully it will be the 901 or something that will have all same spec + Atom processor, maybe even a slightly newer GFX chipset. That’s the one I’m waiting for anyway, the first with an Atom processor. Am really upset that the 900 model has such poor battery life relative to other laptops with this mobility.
May 4th, 2008 at 4:12 am
I think a ten inch model would be great. it would make it more like a real laptop, yet incredibly portable still and a at a great price and currently there is nothing like this on the market