Introduction

Reviews for the new ASUS EEE PC 900 UMPC are coming in thick and fast, but none of them seem to go into the sort of depth that the forum members here at eeeuser.com would like. With that in mind, and with my new 900 sitting on the dining room table waiting to be unboxed, I decided to attempt to answer some of the more technical questions that people have been asking on the forums, and to compare the 900 with the 701 machine I already own.

About this particular EeePC.
This machine is an official UK Eee PC 900 model, supplied by Clove Technology (www.clovetechnology.co.uk), running the Xandros Linux operating system.

UPDATE : A note about the performance measurements.
Since writing this review, I found out that setting the 900 to Power Saving mode has no effect if the machine is connected to the mains supply. To get the BIOS to actually do this means pulling the plug and running it on battery power alone. So when I saw no difference in performance between Performance and Power Saving modes in my review, I was being mislead - it was all effectively in Performance mode, since the machine was plugged into the mains. I’ve since added some more results in real Power Saving mode, and they seem to indicate little or no gains over the 701 (obviously the Performance mode does give a real boost, though).

Unboxing the EeePC 900

Before we get to the nitty gritty, let’s take a very quick look at what is in the package.

The box is exactly the same size as the 701’s box. What you find on unpacking is the machine itself, the power supply with separate cable to connect to the mains socket, a 4400mAh battery (more on this later), the Quick Guide and full User Guide, a pair of DVDs (one is the restore disk, the other the support disk) and a carrying pouch. The pouch is not made of neoprene like the 701’s pouch; it is a soft foam-padded material which looks like it will protect the machine well, but pick up a lot of dirt on the way. It looks like light grey colour will not help in this regard - I would have preferred it if ASUS had stuck to black.

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yapyap on our forums has come across some photos on Flickr of a Black Eee PC 900. It looks really sleek, but also seems to be sporting the 4400mAh battery.

You can read the related post here.

If you haven’t been following the news of the Eee PC 900’s release in Hong Kong- some initial users have reported getting 4400mAh batteries with their new Eee PC devices. The problem? Early reviews showed the Eee PC 900’s came with 5800mAh batteries- a considerable difference.

But ASUS has stepped up to the plate to give this story a good ending: they are going to replace the 4400mAh batteries of the early adopters with the better 5800mAh ones. Good work, ASUS!

It’s pretty apparent why ASUS chose Hong Kong as the first market to get their hands on the Eee PC 900. On the release day, lines to get inside several retailers were very long, even as it rained heavily. You can see for yourself with this video and this video on YouTube. Pretty cool!

[via yapyap on the forums]

Tech Radar is reporting that the Intel Atom based Eee PC 900 will be released in the United Kingdom at the end of June this year. This is according to an ASUS representative.

Look for the worldwide Atom-based Eee PC 900 introduction during Computex in Taipei, which spans from June 3 to the 7th.

ASUS has confirmed that the new ASUS Eee PC 900 will begin to be sold in the United States on May 12. Two models will be released: a Windows XP version (12GB) and a Linux version (20GB). The price will be $549 for both models. You can read more at Computer World and Notebook Review.

Also, the complete specifications of the Eee PC 900 can be seen here.

For those interested in seeing the real insides of the Eee PC 900, check out this thread on VR Zone and this multi page article from bit-tech. Both provide a lot of photos and a lot of information on the exact components that make up the new Eee PC.

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:

• CNET UK: Eee PC 900
• Stuff TV: Eee PC 900
• PCM’s Asus Eee PC 900 Retail Version Review
• Bit-tech Unboxing the Eee PC 900
• Trusted Reviews: Eee PC 900

The folks over at XEPC have gotten their hands on an Eee PC 900 new in box. If you head on over to this link, you can see all the pictures which show off the large screen goodness!

Microsoft recently announced that they will be keeping Windows XP alive until 2010, mainly for the Eee PC and other low cost tiny notebooks.

This goes hand in hand with Best Buy now offering a version of the Eee PC 4G (the 4G-X) that comes with Windows XP preinstalled. It is available in black, and apparently is (or will be?) available in actual stores. I ran a couple zip codes into the store availability/inventory part of the Best Buy website, but none seem to be in my area at least.

Users in the last post we had about this have done some investigating, and while the Best Buy employees don’t seem to know much, it looks like inventory might start to arrive on April 14th.