Asus Eee PC S101 review

Eee PC S101 Review

Reviewed by: Rory Reid

Reviewed on: 17 October 2008

Software comes in the form of Windows Live Suite and the Microsoft Works office productivity suite, which includes word processing, spreadsheet and database software.

Performance
Since the S101 uses similar components to the previous Eee netbooks, performance is pretty much identical to that of previous models. It managed 1,522 in PCMark 2005, which is about the same as the Eee PC 1000H. In real-world terms, this means the S101 can comfortably cope with everyday applications, and even the odd bit of light multitasking. 720p video plays quite comfortably without any sign of dropped frames, although 1080p video isn't so reliable.

Battery performance isn't quite as good as we'd hoped. The 4-cell 4,900mAh battery lasted 3 hours 23 minutes in our BatteryEater classic test, which runs the CPU at full tilt to drain it as quickly as possible. The Eee PC 1000H lasted around 3 hours 56 minutes, while the smaller Eee PC 901 lasted 4 hours 30 minutes.

Conclusion
The S101 is a stunning netbook -- the best we've seen to date. Its battery life isn't quite as good as its some of its bedfellows, and it's a little more expensive, but it's the perfect choice if your mission is to make the Joneses look poor.

Edited by Marian Smith