Product Summary
7.9
out of 10View score
The bad: More expensive than similar Netbook configurations; hard-to-use, tiny keyboard.
The bottom line: ASUS packs the same basic components found in other Netbooks into a stylish, slim chassis for a modest premium in price, but some unfortunate keyboard-layout compromises make the S101 harder to use than it should be.
Read full review of the Asus Eee PC S101 »
Average User Rating
from 7 users
7.9
out of 10CNET Asia Review
With the basic parameters of what makes a Netbook fairly set in stone, it's becoming harder than ever for a new model to stand out from the crowd, as evidenced by largely identical recent Netbooks from Dell, Lenovo, and HP--though the HP Mini 1000's impressively large keyboard was a plus. To this fray returns Asus, the company that arguably created the Netbook market with its Eee PC line, with a new take on the familiar Intel Atom/Windows XP combo. The Eee PC S101 takes the same components found in other Netbooks and dresses them up in a sharp new chassis that wouldn't look out of place in a high-end ultraportable.
| Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.
|
Design
At S$1,099 (US$792.24), the S101 is on the high end of the Netbook price range, but it is certainly cheaper than most laptops with brushed aluminum wrist rests and bodies only a hair thicker than the MacBook Air. If you don't mind the performance compromises of a Netbook, but want something more substantial than a plastic body, the S101 and HP's 2133 Mini-Note PC are two well-built alternatives.Unfortunately, the S101 has one fatal flaw that had us muttering to ourselves and nearly tearing our hair out--the right Shift key has been lopped in half. Touch typists beware! The tiny keyboard decently balances key size and layout to maximize typing comfort, but the right shift key has been unceremoniously cut to half size and moved just to the right of the up arrow. The end result--after several days of regular use--was that we continually mistook the up arrow button for the right shift key (and easily churning out several thousand words of prose each week, we consider ourselves far from amateur typists).
| Price | S$1,099 (US$792.24) |
| Processor | 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 |
| Memory | 2GB, 533MHz DDR2 |
| Hard drive | 16GB SSD |
| Chipset | Intel 945GSE |
| Graphics | Intel GMA 950 (integrated) |
| Operating System | Windows XP Home |
| Dimensions (WD) | 264 x 180.5mm |
| Height | 25mm |
| Screen size (diagonal) | 10.2 inches |
| System weight / Weight with AC adapter | 1kg / 1.3kg |
| Category | Netbook |
The Asus Eee PC S101 looks little like the plastic Eee PC models that preceded it. Instead, this slim laptop has more in common with ultra-thin ultraportables, such as the Toshiba Portege R500 or the Lenovo IdeaPad U110. Less than 25mm thick, with a brushed metal wrist rest, clearly the idea was to build a Netbook that wouldn't be seen as a commodity product.
Features
The keyboard is sturdy and doesn't flex under your fingers, but the keys are still a little small for extended typing--unlike the recent HP Mini 1000, which maximizes the surface area of each key (they're wider on average). The HP aside, the S101's keyboard is on par with recent entries from Dell and Lenovo, except for one painfully frustrating layout decision, the aforementioned right Shift-key downsize and reorganization. This seems, at first, like a minor change, but the end result is that you're always hitting the up arrow instead of the Shift key, leading to some truly tortured typing experiences. For a journalist who types thousands of words every week, this is a real productivity killer, and over several days, it was nearly impossible to train my hand to move further to the right to hit the tiny Shift key. The left Shift key is of the correct size and in the traditional position.The 10.2-inch wide-screen LCD display offers a 1,024 x 600 native resolution, which is standard for Netbooks. It's readable, but most documents and Web pages will require some scrolling.
| Asus Eee PC S101 | Average for category [Netbook] | |
| Video | VGA-out | VGA-out |
| Audio | Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks | Headphone/microphone jacks |
| Data | Three USB 2.0, SD card reader | Two USB 2.0, SD card reader |
| Expansion | None | None |
| Networking | Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
| Optical drive | None | None |
You get a basic set of ports and connections on the Asus Eee PC S101. Nothing exciting, such as the ExpressCard slot on the Lenovo S10, but also no pointless proprietary media drive slot, as in the HP Mini 1000. The Eee PC S101 features Bluetooth, which is high on our Netbook must-have list these days, to allow phone tethering for a mobile broadband connection.
Tags: Netbook, Hewlett-Packard Co., Keyboard, Intel Corp., Lenovo Group Ltd.
Rate It Now
User Reviews
Good Netbook
May 29, 2009Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: Good Netbook
Cons: Good Netbook
Opinion:
This is a very good netbook,
silm/1.1kgs only/can use >4hours/fast start and off...
only the LCD little not enoght bright !
Excellent Laptop
Mar 2, 2009Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: Superlight, great battery life, good screen
Cons: hard disk is too small
Opinion:
Good looking, small and light machine with a long-lasting battery (5 hours). Doesn't have independent pg-up/pg-dn keys but the Multi-touch trackpad provides those functions.
Only gripe is the less than sufficient hard-drive - just 16GB, though it comes with a 16GB SD card and 30GB online storage. Makes you think about what you want to keep on the computer, and forces you to carry an external hard drive with you, which kind of negates the weight advantage.
As for the Atom processor, since i dont do any gaming on my computer anymore, and have never needed to run any advanced mathematical models, am wondering why bought large, heavy laptops with ripsnorting processors all these years.
Adding in the expressgate feature would have made it even better.
GOOD
Jan 15, 2009Rating: 10 out of 10 (Perfect)
Pros: GOOD
Cons: GOOD
Opinion:
PRODUT IS GOOD BUT THE PRICE IS HIGH
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