By Darius Chang, CNET Asia
02/07/2008
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/notebooks/0,39050488,43666881p,00.htm

Let's face it, the Eee PC 901 is all that the Eee PC 900 should have been, but wasn't. The new version not only added Bluetooth and a new processor to the mix, but bumped up the battery life to exceptional levels and put in some new features to boot.

Even in an environment where major vendors such as Acer, HP and MSI are putting their 2 cents in, Asus has managed a new sweet spot between size, functionality and price. Though the keyboard is one aspect which still needs major improvements, the Eee PC 901 has almost everything one would need in a Netbook, and more.

Design

Rule number one in the CNET Asia reviewer mantra: Thou shalt not put a glossy coat on a portable laptop. Yes, we know it makes the Eee PC attractive whether it be in black or white (currently, only Taiwan models have a wider choice of colors). However, the showroom shine starts to fade the moment one lays hands on the machine which, as a Netbook, happens so often that the Eee PC 901 soon looks like a surrealist mural. That aside, the chassis has been completely reworked from the Eee PC 900 and now sports a tubular hinge and a curvy body. It is also 100g heavier at 1.1kg, a tradeoff which is acceptable because the unit now sports a larger battery.

The Eee PC 901 now comes with four shortcut buttons. They provide an easy way to turn the backlight off, change resolution, adjust power profiles (a.k.a. Super Hybrid Engine) as well launch an application (Skype is tagged as default). These buttons sit just above the keyboard which, unfortunately, is of the exact same design as that on the Eee PC 900. This means that unless you like sessions with a chiropractor, avoid typing long dissertations and essays on this Netbook. However, emails and Internet surfing are still fine as the keys are responsive enough despite their size. If you really want a mini-laptop for work, the keyboard on the HP Compaq 2133 is still one of the best we've tested.

Features

A much welcomed addition is the integrated Bluetooth radio, so now we can send away the irritating Bluetooth dongle. The Eee PC 901 is possibly the first Netbook to come equipped with a Draft-N wireless card, which is capable of handling almost any Wi-Fi standard in the market. With wireless broadband still somewhat of a rarity in hotels, it is nice to see the 10/100 Ethernet port being kept alive in this iteration.

The Eee PC 901 is quite generous when it comes to USB ports, offering a total of three alongside the SDHC memory slot. Our Windows XP review unit came with a 12GB SSD while the Linux edition has a larger 20GB drive. It would have been nice to see an integrated optical drive like that on the Kohjinsha SR8, but this would have bumped up the price quite significantly and may also add to the bulk.

Another first for a Netbook is the Super Hybrid Engine which throttles the CPU speed for maximum battery or performance. The Auto High Performance and Power Saving mode slows the machine to 1.2GHz when unplugged, but ramp up the speed to 1.6GHz when attached to AC. The High Performance setting keeps the machine chugging along at 1.6GHz, while the Super Performance mode overclocks the CPU to 1.8GHz. Though most will probably find the Power Saving speed to be more than adequate for most tasks, it's great to know that more performance is available when required.

The Eee PC 901 uses the same 8.9-inch display as the Eee PC 900, which is capable of 1,024 x 600-pixel native resolution. Though the height is shorter than conventional screens (which are usually 768 pixels high), there an option which compresses the display so that no information is clipped or lost. The integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics card shares up to 128MB of system memory for rendering, which is good enough for multimedia playback. An external monitor can be hooked up via the VGA port.

Asus has given a boost to the video-conferencing capabilities of this laptop. Besides the 1.3-megapixel Webcam, the unit now sports dual-array microphones which pick up voices quite well. As a mini-notebook meant for travelers, this is a nice touch which makes the Eee PC 901 even more attractive. Last, but not least, the trackpad is of the multitouch variety, which makes image zooming and page scrolling much easier. You can read more about this feature in our Eee PC 900 review.

Performance And Battery Life

Though pricing details for this region are not firm, the Eee PC 901 is expected to retail at around the same price range as the Eee PC 900, though the former holds the newer Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor. The machine comes with 1GB memory as default, but the single DIMM slot can be upgraded with a 2GB RAM module. We tested the performance by opening several tabs in Internet Explorer as well as playing music in the background using Windows Media Player. Suffice to say, this is one of the spiffiest Netbooks we have seen so far and, as long as your expectations are realistic, the Eee PC 901 should have no issues handling your day-to-day productivity needs.

The battery life is impressive, to say the least. Using the additional heft to fit in a generous 6,600mAh cell, the Eee PC 901 gave an exceptional performance in this aspect. We set the screen to half brightness and turned on the Wi-Fi radio to download a huge file. Despite the large energy drain of the wireless component, the Eee PC shut down only after 6 hours 20 minutes. Playing a DVD movie on an external drive on the same settings was possible for over 5 hours. This longevity makes this mini-laptop one of the top choices for outdoor surfers and frequent travelers.

Service And Support

Asus offers a one-year local warranty for the Eee PC. Should a problem occur with the unit, you can send it to your local Asus service center and get it repaired. Asus Web site provides software support and updates as well as a telephone hotline number.