Laptops

Asus Eee PC 900

Could price be the new Eee's biggest problem?

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Last reviewed: July 10th

It certainly looks great - but is the Asus Eee PC 900 worth the money?

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Our love of the original Eee PC is no secret. Coming back from last year's Computex in Taipei we were all awash with geeky excitement over the ultra-portable laptop we’d been looking for all our lives.

For a shade over £200 it was all we wanted from a machine we could literally take anywhere with us.

An Eee too far?

Luckily for Asus it wasn't just us who found the first iteration instantly desirable - if you try looking for a new 701 4G it's still rare as hen's teeth or dog's eggs. Now comes the inevitable update, the 900, the 8.9inch-screened version we first got our hands on at this year's CeBIT. Is it as immediately exciting though as its smaller predecessor, or is it an Eee too far?

Inevitably it's the larger screen that draws the eye as soon as you flip open the largely unchanged chassis. Gone is the over-sized, plastic bevel which surrounded the 7inch panel, making this version look every inch the serious laptop rather than the slightly Fisher-Price styling that resulted from the original screen.

Much better screen

The increased resolution this gives is what really makes this version of the Eee most special. At 1024 x 600 there's no more fiddly scrolling around web pages or straining your eyes to see what you're typing. To be fair the original 7inch panel was still impressive for its size, but we always wanted more.

Aside from the screen the next biggest change is the size of the drive; with the Linux version you get a fairly meaty 20GB drive, and a smaller 12GB drive if you opt for the XP-powered 900. The difference in size is down to Asus wanting to keep the two options at the same price point despite Windows' insatiable hunger for more storage than its open source brethren.

The multi-touch, MacBook Air-style touchpad is another neat addition giving you the ability to scroll around simply by placing two fingers on the pad and sliding up and down. It's a neater solution than the sometimes awkward side-scrolling method employed by the 701. You can also use this function to zoom in and out; handy but a little gimmicky.