The Eee PC 901 is here. Its mission: to re-establish the Eee brand as the number one in the netbook space. It's based largely on the hugely successful Eee PC 900, but has several improvements, including a more stylish chassis, a better mouse, better battery life and more powerful components.
Asus says it'll go on sale on 1 July. Windows XP and Linux versions will be available for the same price -- £319 -- although the specs will vary slightly.
Design
The 901 is approximately the same size as the 900. It's 100g heavier, thanks to some new additions like a 6600mAh battery, but the 1.1Kg chassis is still barely noticeable in your bag.
Overall, it has a very contemporary aesthetic -- all its edges are now noticeably more curved, making the 900 look toy-like in comparison. Black and white versions are available, both of which have a glossy, pearlescent lid and wrist rest, which is a nice alternative to the matte white plastic used on its predecessor. On our white review sample, however, the keyboard, underside, battery and screen bezel are all slightly off-white -- and that clashes with the glossy bits.
Asus has removed all 'Asus' branding on the Eee PC 901. Instead, the branding reads simply 'Eee' at the top left of the lid and on the lowermost part of the screen bezel. We're presume this is because Asus wants to completely separate its high-end laptop portolio from its super-cheap netbook line-up.
The Eee PC 901 also sports a new hinge. This one seems fatter than before and has large silver-edged rings at each end. The lower section of the laptop has also changed slightly -- as you'll see from our pictures, it now has a larger vent designed to expel more hot air generated from its internal components. The more eagle-eyed among you will also notice twin microphones, or array mics, which helps the 901 better understand voice commands.
The 901's keyboard is exactly the same model as used on the 900. This isn't great news since the keys are small and fiddly, but it's possible to get used to them over time. Just above the keyboard, the 901 has a range of shortcut keys that weren't seen on its predecessor.
One lets you deactivate the screen backlight instantly -- perhaps to help you improve battery life when you've stepped away from the machine. Another changes the on-screen resolution -- like a makeshift zoom function -- and another cycles through pre-set performance modes -- super performance, high performance, auto high performance and power saving.
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User reviews3
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Carl Allen 24 May 2011
Good: nice and small
Bad: can be slow
Comment: The eee pc 901 is a nice small netbook , what for me is the best thing is the inbuilt 3g card slot, no need for a 3g dongle
Constantine 6 September 2009
Good: Size, design, portability, ruggedness, battery life, wow factor
Bad: small C drive, maddening track pad
Comment: I have had the 901 about a year now. To all intents and purposes, it suits my needs perfectly when I am away from my main computer (Mac). Everyone comments on it, I love it and it's great - except. The C drive is only 4Gb. Every programme I download I direct to the larger D drive (8Gb), but somehow there are applications which attach themselves to the C drive and I frequently get the "There is not enough space left on the C Drive". The over-sensitive track pad is infuriating, and I have tried all the adjustments suggested, downloaded patches and so forth, all to no avail. I use a mini mouse, which is fine at a table, but often I am outside, so the track pad needs to be used.. Because of the limited hard drive memory, my music is on a memory stick, but file memory is not an issue, as there is an SD card slot for additional memory. It's the space for applications that is a major issue. As you can see, a kind of love/hate relationship!
Green 26 December 2008
Good: Speed , boot time, applications, design
Bad: keyboard is a tad tricky (but not too bad)
Comment: I'll keep it brief, but ive been using this laptop for 24 hours and i am completely in love with it, i havent put it down and my lap hasnt been empty in that entire time, it is just too fun to play with and type on, having said that I'm still going to do my college work on my dell inspiron, but for general surfage you can't really go wrong with this!
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