Asus Eee PC 901 specifications:
Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor
12GB of Flash-based storage (4GB onboard SSD and 8GB PCI-E mini card SSD) with Windows XP operating system/20GB Flash-based storage for Linux model
1GB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz)
8.9-inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution
Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA monitor out, headphone jack, microphone input, SD card reader (SDHC compatible), Kensington lock slot, Ethernet 10/100
Webcam (1.3 MP)
Battery: 6600 mAh 7.2V Li-Ion
Wireless: 802.11b/g/n Atheros, Bluetooth 2.0
Input: Keyboard and Multi-touch touchpad
One-year warranty
Build quality and design
The build quality seems improved comparing to the older Eee 900. The coating of the lid is now glossy, nicer to the touch, and not to fingerprint friendly. It may be vulnerable to scratches, as it is so easy to forget that Eee is a laptop and to just throw it in your bag/purse together with some keys or coins.
The ASUS logo is gone, replaced by the Eee logo, which says much about the branding strategy for the new Eee series. The hinge has also been improved, appearing stronger than the ones of previous models. Overall the design is a pleasant one and the cheap feeling of the original Eee 700 is long forgotten.
Display, keyboard and touchpad
Speaking about the display, nothing changed, really. The colors look natural, if not vibrant, and the viewing angles are some of the best in industry. I would appreciate a higher resolution, but given the small screen 1024×600 is not so bad, also.
For some, the keyboard, which is identical to the one of Eee 900, might seem to cramped. The touchpad is a whole different story. It is visible wider than the one of its predecessor and retains sensibility to multi-touch finger swipes. It has now a grainy texture that some will like and others will not. The single divot bar was replaced with the conventional solution of two buttons, an ergonomy improvement as far as I am concerned.
Under the hood: good performance
I would start with the 6600 mAh battery which gives well over 5 hours of autonomy. While not close to the 7.5 hours declared by ASUS, that’s enough for a day long fair use. One of the reasons for such performance is Intel’s Atom processor, a major improvement over the older Celeron M. Clocked at 1.6GHz, it delivers almost twice the performance as the early published synthetic benchmarks show:
| Notebook / CPU | wPrime 32M time |
| Asus Eee PC 901 (Intel Atom @ 1.8GHz) | 111 seconds |
| Asus Eee PC 900 (Intel Celeron M ULV @ 900MHz) |
203.734 seconds |
| HP 2133 Mini-Note (Via CV7-M ULV @ 1.6GHz) | 168.697 seconds |
| Asus Eee PC 4G (Intel Celeron M ULV @ 630MHz) | 289.156 seconds |
| Asus Eee PC 4G (Intel Celeron M ULV @ 900MHz) | 200.968 seconds |
| Everex CloudBook (VIA C7-M ULV @ 1.2GHz) | 248.705 seconds |
| Fujitsu U810 Tablet PC (Intel A110 @ 800MHz) | 209.980 seconds |
| Sony VAIO VGN-G11XN/B (Core Solo U1500 @ 1.33GHz) | 124.581 seconds |
| Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.2GHz) | 76.240 seconds |
| Dell Inspiron 2650 (Pentium 4 Mobile @ 1.6GHz) | 231.714 seconds |
The difference seems not so great in daily usage. Applications are quick to launch and the system has sufficient power to handle the most frequent office and entertainment tasks.
(picture published on the German news site)
The connectivity is also good, along with wi-fi Eee 901 being the first bluetooth capable in the series. A notable improvement is the inclusion two tiny, but powerful, Dolby Sound Room speakers that spice up the multimedia experience.
Overall the new Eee PC 901 looks like a very strong contender in the mini-laptop market, but we will see if it is able to shadow it’s competitors llike MSI Wind and Hp Mini Note
Eee 901 verdicts by professionals
“As of this writing I’ve only had a few brief moments to play with the new Eee PC. Overall the Asus Eee PC 901 is a very promising upgrade and offers quite a few hints of what we can expect from the newer Eee PC 1000 that should be hitting shelves in a couple of months. The polished look is wonderful, and the much improved gloss white is incredible compared to the older pearl white finish. The biggest change, though, is the new Intel Atom platform. The Atom processor really changes this subnotebook for the better. It is hard to find complaints about a platform that gives quite a large bump in speed and lowers power consumption.”
“There is no doubt in my mind that Intel Atom and mini-notebooks are a match made in heaven. Longer battery life and reliable performance are certainly the outcome of the new 45-nanometer chip. So is the new Eee PC better than its latest rival, the MSI Wind? I can’t say until ASUS announces a U.S. price.
The MSI Wind sports a 10-inch screen with a hard drive for $499. If ASUS can keep the price under $550 I think the system goes head to head with it, though the Wind has a larger screen and a larger keyboard.
On the other hand, the 10-inch, hard drive option Eee PC 1000 is headed our way soon. Overall, the 901 packs more punch and computing power than the 900. Which begs the question, why was there ever a 900 model in the first place?”
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
[...] to me that the specs are in par with the ones of the Eee 901, which is fair enough but lets you wanting [...]