ASUS Eee PC 900 black Linux NetBook Intel processor 8.9" Wide SVGA 1GB Memory 20GB SSD Integrated Graphics - Retail

Reviewed By: on 9/28/2008

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Compact and versatile. This Eee PC is an excellent choice for mobile computing. I bought mine for CS courses and installed Ubuntu. Probably the best option for a mobile Linux notebook. I get a lot of compliments about it from other CS students.

Cons: Screen and keyboard are a little small for serious interfacing; however, the VGA out supports reasonably high resolutions and there are 3 usb which accommodates an external mouse, keyboard and flash drive simultaneously for serious interactivity and flexibility.

SSD is louder than expected but still not nearly as loud as a typical PC.

Other Thoughts: It would never replace my Vista HD game box, but it has displaced my Vista notebook due to its compact and lightweight design. I highly recommend a Eee PC if you are looking for a mobile Linux platform.

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BETTER THAN I EXPECTED!!!

Reviewed By: Jim on 9/27/2008

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Xlnt tiny little laptop. Setup with 2 GB RAM, and an SDHC 16GB Card permanently installed and NTFS formatted for my drive E:\ Both from New Egg for < $100 NewEgg= #1! Highly reccomend for this setup. Screen is perfect, no bad pixels, no whine, ~4 hours on stock battery. Does everything it's supposed to and does them quite well. KB's lower Rt. quarter contains many small keys and deviates a little from normal placement. This is no big issue for me because I find many laptops have similar KB issues- you will get used to it quickly, also, on my best day I can type with only 2 to 4 fingers at a time anyway. I'm running a moderately N-lited XP Home install on the 4GB SSD. No swap file, no defragging. I Found all small, open source apps to replace big items like Norton AV, Nero Burning Suite, etc. They use a fraction of the space and put very little strain on the CPU. The 16 GB SSD is my apps drive and I am easily running Office 2000 and Outlook 2002. BT and wi-fi connect and work perfectly.

Cons: NO CONS other than a bit of a wait when doing something heavy duty like video editing. Nothing terrible just a few secs to mins longer than a fancy new desktop. I'd imagine any serious gaming attempts would end in utter frustration, so I just don't attempt. Again NO CONS- Lets just call this part, MORE PROS - or MISC INFO:

The 900 is perfect for the bookstore, camping, and keeping 1 toe still in the Win XP pond while everything else I own switched to MACs and OSX, 3 years ago. Using the 16 GB SDHC card as a WIN XP NTFS HDD, Doubled my HD space for apps and media. I use it for a few things like all my iTunes music, movies etc. Also, SW backups etc. Mostly for file storage. The 2 included SSDs run about the same speed. The 4GB SSD -my OS drive- is a little faster but no real world use differences. When formatted as NTFS, the 16 GB SD card is almost as fast as the 16 GB SSD. Definitely fast enough to hang with the stock SSDs. I keep a 2nd clone of this card but just with other songs et

Other Thoughts: So far so good. Forget gaming and heavy duty video editing etc. and this little PC will do it all for you. Had mine for 4 months and love it. Be sure to get eee-control app from the eee-Users Wiki/Forums. An awesome free util that lets you control how and when the CPU will run at its true clock speed (900 MHz) instead of the default 600-650. Also lets you set the "algorithm" that the cooling fans will follow. It does away with the few small complaints people had on the early EEE PCs and their fan noise/odd behavior.

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Great little box

Reviewed By: jbeazell on 9/24/2008

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: This is about the coolest item I've purchased in the last 2 years. I've been looking for a coffee table PC (one that I could leave in the living room for 'who starred in such-and-such type answers). This little machine fit the bill perfectly. The battery life is acceptable. The wireless connection is great for my house. I don't have any deadzones. It is lightweight and very portable. The SSD is a huge plus to me. I'm always worried about using a laptop in my truck because of possible deadly shock to the harddrive. Since this one is Solid-state, that fear is gone. it is the perfect GPS unit that is so much better than the little handheld GPSes out there.

Cons: The linux build that it comes with is a good start, but limiting in what the machine can actually do. There is tons of user support out there to put more functional linux builds onto the machine. Additionally, there are many sites devoted to easy (and fast) ways to convert a linux Eee into an XP Eee. The mouse buttons are VERY hard to push down. I'm hoping that with time, they wear in a bit and become easier to use.

Other Thoughts: The Keyboard is a bit odd to get used to. This isn't a plus or minus. I found myself typing almost to normal speed after using it for about a day. I still hit enter when I mean to hit '.

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