Asus EEE PC 701 laptop Review

The Eee PC is marketed as an "Easy to Learn, Easy to Work, Easy to Play" computer. Due to its size, it is classified as an Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC). Whilst ultra-portable notebooks often weigh about 2kg, the Eee PC is a featherweight 0.92kg, with high qutlity eee pc battery. It is therefore an ultra-mobile machine in the true sense of the expression. The machine is small enough that it can be used in just about any environment. However, this is a full PC, not just a 'mobile Internet' device like Nokia's Internet tablets.

The specs for ASUS Eee PC 701:

• Processor: Intel Celeron M ULV 900MHz


• Graphics: Integrated Intel GMA 900 GPU


• Storage: 4GB of Flash-based storage (SSD)


• Memory: 512MB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz)


• OS: Xandros Linux (Asus customized)


• Screen: 7-inch screen with 800 x 480 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 (0.3 MP)


• Battery: 4-cell 5200 mAh 7.4V Li-Ion (rated at 3.5 hours asus eee pc battery)


• Wireless: 802.11b/g Atheros


• Input: Keyboard and Touchpad


• Weight: approximately 2 lbs with battery, 2.5 lbs travel weight with AC adapter.


• Two-year warranty

Build and Design

The designers at Asus had no easy task creating an attractive ultraportable notebook while also making it cheap to produce. The case seams match up with reasonably tight tolerances, plastics feel thick (though the pearl-like white plastics look cheap) and the display hinges are molded into body with the battery. Lifting the display cover you find the amazingly small keyboard surface and even smaller touchpad resting below the recessed display and speakers. In short, the build quality is quite high despite the low cost.

Screen

The screen is 7-inches diagonally with LED back lighting and has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. For the sake of a reference, below is what you can see when you pull up the homepage of the site you are on right now.

The Eee PC might not have a glossy, high contrast display like most notebooks made in the last year, but the bright and even backlight helps make for an enjoyable reading experience. We even found the quality of the colors more than sufficient for viewing movies or You Tube videos.

Heat and Noise

Even with the low voltage processor and SSD drive, the Asus Eee PC produced as much heat as any other notebook in the same price range. The keyboard and bottom of the notebook got quite hot even under normal use, and the fan was always running in an attempt to keep the system cool. Fan noise was among the quietest we’ve heard. The only way to tell the fan is blowing is to put your hand next to the air vent to feel the warm air blow past.

Battery

Under normal use, backlight at 100 percent and using wireless for web browsing and watching a DivX movie at 75 percent volume, the Eee PC managed to deliver three hours and 23 minutes of battery life(asus eee pc laptop battery). We were hoping for more given the low voltage processor and flash-based storage, but for a notebook the battery life is still very good. Lowering the screen brightness and turning off the wireless card should provide enough battery life for prolonged use.

While the battery life was reasonable, we did experience some minor problems with the on-screen battery meter. After two hours and 8 minutes of browsing the web wirelessly and watching a DivX movie the low battery warning popped up on screen and reported that the Eee PC would shut down in 3 minutes unless it was plugged into a power source. The Eee PC then kept working for another one hour and 15 minutes before the notebook shutdown. Bottom line, the on-screen battery indicator cannot be trusted.

The Eee PC might have a weird name, but it's one of the few products that lives up to the marketing hype. This notebook truly is “easy to learn, easy to work, and easy to play.”