Asus Eee PC 901 12GB First Look

by Kevin O'Brien

While at Computex 2008, I had a chance to get my hands on the new Asus Eee PC 901, as they are currently for sale in Taiwan, even though the US won't get them for quite a while longer. It took a bit of work (as well as the help of two other tech writers) to search the computer district in the Kauanghua Plaza for a store that had the Eee PC 901 in stock, but we finally managed to snag some. Read on to see how well these early release Taiwanese Asus Eee PC 901's worked out.

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Asus Eee PC 901 12GB specifications:

• Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor
• 12GB of Flash-based storage (4GB onboard SSD and 8GB PCI-E mini card SSD)
• 1GB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz)
• Windows XP operating system
• 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 and Design

The new Eee PC 901 looks much different, in a good way, than the older 900. The body has a much smoother design, including a very nice glossy finish that is many steps above the older pearl finish found on the 701 and 900. The Asus logo front and center on the display cover is gone, and replaced with a "Eee" branding, which in my opinion looks much nicer and more polished. The new look of the 901 does increase the size by a tiny amount around the screen bezel, which you only notice when you have it side by side with the older 900.
Build quality is better than ever, from the better paint finish to the stronger feeling screen hinge. With each revision the Asus Eee PC starts feeling or looking less like a cheap budget notebook and more like a high quality portable notebook.

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Display

The display doesn't appear to have changed from the older 900, and probably uses the exact same LCD panel. Colors are bright and vibrant, whites are clean, and viewing angles could even be considered above those of many higher end notebooks. The only complaint I have with the screen is a light sparkly effect that you can notice when looking at solid colors on the screen.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard stayed basically the same from the older 900, with a few minor font tweaks to some of the buttons. The keys and action remained identical though, so don't expect anything above what you might have already experienced on the 701 or 900. The keyboard on two of the Eee PC 901's we were playing with had a bulging in the center, and a slightly tweaked spacebar and alt key. After tearing the keyboard off and bending it slightly in my hand, as well as reseating the cable, we were back in action with a much better feeling keyboard. Since these were fresh off the lot notebooks, some of this might be related to assembly quirks being worked out in the Taiwan market.

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The touchpad changed from the older 900, in some ways better and some ways not so much. Users gain two separate buttons instead of the seesaw clicker on the 701 or 900, which feels better overall when using it. The aspect that I didn't really enjoy was the "grain" texture of the touchpad, which has a tendency to make your finger slide with the grain, instead of where you are directing it. The feeling did improve as the touchpad was used and collected oils, but still felt weird over a normal touchpad surface. Some of this is up to user preference, so as always; try to check out one of these notebooks in person before you decide to purchase one.

Performance

The Intel Atom processor is a very nice upgrade, proving to increase performance by a factor of two over the older Intel Celeron M. With the limited software on hand we stuck with wPrime, but it gave a pretty good indication of what performance you might expect in other areas as well.

At full speed (overlocked to 1.8GHz in Super Performance mode) the new Eee PC 901 managed 111 seconds using wPrime 1.58. The older Eee PC 900 with the Celeron M managed 200+ seconds running the same test.

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

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

Battery Life

The new Eee PC 901 offers a larger battery, 6600 mAh over the 5800 mAh in the older 900. While the increased capacity will always help with battery life, the newer power sipping Intel Atom processor really helps out. BatteryMon was indicating 5 hours and 56 minutes overall on one Eee PC 901, and 5 hours and 55 minutes on the other. With a cleaner system installation, you should be able to sqeeze out even more power.

Heat and Noise

While I didn't have my IR gun handy to get temperature readings, the Intel Atom-equipped Eee 901 was just as hot as the 900. Most of this was already presumed from the start, since the subnotebooks are still very small and have quite a bit of thermal energy to shed. Most of this goes through the keyboard heatsink, and can make for a hand warming experience.

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More to Come

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.

Editor's Note

Special thanks to the teams at LaptopMag.com and Eee PC News for helping us get our hands on an Eee PC 901 long enough to write this first look review.

 

Nice, looks good!

 

By chance, have they released a final price list for these guys? or are we still out in the wind until Asus decides to give us another bs ship date.

 

Not bad. I agree it is much better looking.

 

No final price until it officially hits the US market. In Taiwan it was ranging between 16900 and 17200 between a few shops for the 12GB model.

 

We going to see a Linux review? That's what I'm interested in.

 

So was it at 1.8gHz or 1.6? Also is it Diamondville or Silverthorne?

Looks pretty cool, but the thing that's really stopping me from buying this is the keyboard :/

 

I still don't see why it had to be bigger than the 900.

I am surprised by the performance increase and the battery life as well, very impressive, may be worth the price premium over the 900 after all!

 

During the test it was running at 1.8Ghz in Super performance mode. Normally the processor is at 1.6GHz, but is in an unlocked or engineering sample form.

 

The 20GB wasn't coming out in Taiwan till June 30th, and the Us would probably be a month or more after that. We went out trying to find the 20GB but only the 12GB model was able to be found.

 

It looks good. Visually I like the 901 a lot better than the old 7" models. It looks much more professional. I hope the 6hour battery life is accurate. Impressive!

 

great sub-review ,thx !

 

God, this thing is almost the replacement to the W5 now, except for the lack of the rotating webcam. With the white chassis and the metal touchpad surround/mouse buttons, its very similar.

However, the price is waaaaay too high in respect to the competition, so if they don't watch out, Asus might lose everything they had. In particular, the MSI Wind looks like a very good alternative right now.

 

I agree, even the acer has a nice setup going. The 20gb ssd has an allure, but I guess a conventional hdd is aight.

 

Can you benchmark the SSD? Is it the same as the Eee 900? I am worried that with some of the cheaper netbooks like the Acer One they will use a really slow SSD.

 

impressive, i am more interested in the duo core atom processors into these machines. The duo cores consume upto 8 watts (twice as much as normal atoms). In that case, i would expect asus to increase the battery capacity. 16 GB of SSD is fine for these sub-books. I would still want to see if VISTA can be installed (crippled VISTA)

lets see!! we exect a lo from these machines! let wait and see if they deliver what we really want

 

look promising almost 6 hours battery life, and the atom is putting better benchmarks then i expected ! Still now i heared apple i also going to make a affordable netbook im never going to buy a eee

 

Wait!.. Aint the machine u reviewed the EEE1000?? I m confused now...
If it's possible, show me a picture of both? Anyone?

 

Ran HDtune on it for a bit, the onboard 4GB was in the 38Mb/s range, and the 8GB extra was around 33-35Mb/s.

 

This is the 901. The 1000 has not been released for sale yet, but has a very similar design.

 

~6 hours? Not bad. Not bad at all...

 

I saw this for sale about two weeks ago in a store called RT-Mart here in Taiwan. I believe it was ~14,000nt (~$450) USD), for the 8GB model + an 8GB SDHC for 16GB's total. I was also at computex 2008 and saw the EEE PC 901 and tons of similar pcs. I have tons of pictures on my camera that I need to dump off my memory card.

 

I wonder if they'll put a better GPU(or IGP) in it in the future.

 

If this has already been discussed before, I apologize.

Why is wPrime the benchmark of choice for this and/or other reviews?

 

to see how the cpu performs compared to other tested cpu's. Its a cpu based program so other components dont have much influence on the score

 

I think this is great. For ~$600, I think it's a bargain. I really love the form factor and I'm done with full sized laptops. I am so done with carrying my heavy laptop through airport security and taking these big things in and out of my huge laptop bag to use it in between flights. I really hope they release this thing soon in the states so I can pick one up. From the looks of it, some people were put off by the rising cost of the EEE line which is fine, since it'll give me a better chance of finding one in stock.

Thank you for the review. I can't wait.

 

I am just wondering if the eee900 will ever get an atom processor or if it has been retired with the celeron forever. Personally, I find the 900 to be much better looking that the 901.

 

It really is quite the popular thing to be doing nowadays. Asus, MSI, Dell, HP, Acer, Intel, VIA, Everun, and a bunch of small Asian companies are releasing these things or have already done so. The subnotebook is like, the "it" product to have at Computex this year.

And I want to get a set name for this class of devices. Is it netbook (doesn't Intel have a trademark on this name for its own devices?), subnotebook (makes perfect sense), ultraportable (true, but not quite right), mini-notebook (true, but a horrible name), or what?

 

I apologize if this is considered greedy, but can you guys run a mini-notebook comparison when the MSI Wind, Acer One, and the Dell mini Inspiron come out? I'm totally interested in getting a mini-notebook, but so far most comments on people are not terribly deep (e.g., "looks nice, but the Wind is better"). If that's possible, it would be awesome!

 

I read on Toms Hardware, some models of the Atom CPU have HyperThreading enabled (and shows two CPUs in task manager CPU monitor) while some of the Atom CPUs do not. Does anyone have a clear info on what models have HT?

What about the Atom in the EEE 901?

 

I second that. I think a lot of people are interested in Mini-notebooks but it's hard to get a feel for them since most of the big retailers don't carry them.

 

Not only that, but ...I mean, I was reading somewhere that the mini-notebooks are all so similar that the only real substantive difference is the physical appearance (i.e., the chassis) and the price. Is that the case? If so, that would make buying one a LOT easier. But I doubt it.

I've read a lot of "first reviews" and it seems to me that it's like this:

ASUS Eee 900/901: more expensive than all other new competition, keyboard is too cramped, but still a solid buy if you can ignore that stuff

MSI Wind: dirt cheap, what the ASUS used to be, except apparently the Wind is somehow loaded with everything AND has a better keyboard than the ASUS; the only con I ever read is that people say that the lid doesn't match the base, and if that's the worst thing about it I'm getting one

Acer One: also dirt cheap and has everything the Wind has, except it's coming out later ...right?

Dell Mini-Inspiron: looks awesome, but nobody knows any of the specs or price yet, it's not coming out for months, and oh yeah, there are no "function" keys

Is that a good summary?

 

I love the new battery and processor specs on this Eee. Once I figure out which mini-notebook I want to buy I am going to ditch my M1330 and go full time with a mini-notebook. I can definitely say that the next few months are going to be interesting in this area. Competition is increasing and the US economy is (potentially) slowing so there might be some good buys.

 

I happenned to like the 900 better too.
The main reason is that the long round cylinder(also the battery) that acts as a hinge for the lid and base is alot bigger than the 900.
Of course, its also the main reason why the battery life is much longer.
Its a better way than to have the battery stick out on the back.
I have no problem with it, just saying the 900 looks better with the small battery.

 

The Atom in the EEE 901 is the N270, it has hyperthreading. There is also the N230, its only difference is 2w less power usage and lack of hyperthreading.

 

@Kevin:

In the 901's specs, you say it has the Atheros 802.11b/g wireless adapter, is this true? At computex they said that the 901/1000 should have b/g and n!

It's even in the press release:
http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=11617

So is N missing? Cause including n wireless was one of the features which justified the price bump... Without it, the price is less justifiable...

 

Yes, typo on the wireless spec, fixed now.

 

It looks good, but I cant help but feel that all the extra stuff on an eee pc actually makes the thing less desirable and more gimmicky. The 1st eee pc was small, simple, and most importantly it was cheap. It was affordable because it was so simple, and imo that was a great idea.

Then people wanted better specs and stuff. Basically they wanted it to be more like a real laptop. So they started adding features that were previously omitted, and make the thing so expensive , that you might as well just get a regular laptop imho.

The most interesting eee pc on the market rightnow imho,... is the old ones you get on ebay (the 1st version). That doesnt mean the new ones arent awesome (they are), but to me the simple utility and affordability of the old ones wins.

 

Yes the price has gone up, but considering that most users bought an EEE PC, purchased bluetooth, purchased an SD card, added more ram, etc... you are basically around the same ending price now with a more polished look.

The original 701's were great, but they lacked quite a bit when you tried to do *most* normal activities. Some was related to missing features, but a lot was came back to the low resolution of the screen. Not being able to use normal software without scaling or sliding around the screen to hit window buttons is a massive PITA.

 

I like better the Asus 900, even if the 901 has the Atom and better battery life. Searching around I think that, if we have to make a confront about the sub-notebooks, the MSI Wind is the best out there so far. Read the review on laptopmag.com about the MSI. I never heard that this issue about the lid. The only feature missing imo is the 3G and 6-cell battery for now!

 

It is a tad hard to compare all of them when alot of the specs have not been released. In several more weeks we should know more and what the real prices for each configuration are going to be. If the MSI Wind is indeed as cheap as they say then that is great but the Eee was originally supposed to launch for cheaper than the actual launch price.

 

With the Wind, Aspire One, and the Dell Mini, I have a hard time believing EEE Pcs won't have a radical price drop.

 

Wind has no SSD.

I won't buy a mini-notebook without an SSD. It really is IMO a key component. Being able to boot up win xp in 20 secs makes it actually usable in a portable manner rather then waiting for a slow ass mechanical HD spinning up.

Plus you can be a tad rough with it and not care as there are no critical moving parts.

Not to mention SSD's are more expensive then a mechanical HD. I am willing to bet that the majority of the price increase in the eeepc's over the iterations is largely due to increased SSD size.