Asus ee pc 900 hard drive type.

Asus is always in the trend in the digital and mobile technology market, so many people are already accustomed to the announcement of new and very interesting products from a wonderful Taiwanese manufacturer. Asus Eee The PC 900 was no exception, because by its release the netbook market was already crowded, and, in fact, there was nothing to surprise a potential buyer with. But the mobile device has become a sales leader in a very short period of time.

Market positioning

Notebook Asus Eee PC 900 is aimed at people who value convenience and comfort, preferring to always have the Internet at hand. The manufacturer considered that this particular model would be to the taste of the female sex, students and people who prefer outdoor activities. Today on the market this small and very cute device is available in all sorts of colors.

Dimensions (225x170x35 mm) allow you to place a laptop even in a small women's bag, not to mention a briefcase, folder or type. Each step of the manufacturer in promoting a mobile device constantly emphasizes its compactness and user-friendliness. This is expressed in public advertisements on television, commercials on the official website and in advertising booklets that are distributed to women's boutiques and supermarkets.

About device performance

Even a person who is poorly versed in computer components will note that the filling of the Asus Eee PC 900 netbook is very weak. The whole problem lies in the processor - Intel Celeron 900 MHz pulls down the entire performance of the mobile computer. The situation cannot be saved solid state drive, no volume random access memory in the device (1 GB). The integrated GMA 900 video adapter based on the 910 GML Express Mobile Chipset allows you to run simple games. However, this performance is more than enough for full-fledged work and Internet entertainment.

There are no problems with interfaces and connectors in Asus Eee PC 900. Specifications here on top: the ability to connect to local network(RJ-45), Wi-Fi, card reader, VGA and as many as 3 USB connector 2.0. It is worth noting that the device has a built-in camera with a resolution of 1.3 MP, which allows you to transmit high-definition video in real time.

Device package

Asus always pays attention to the packaging of its products. The manufacturer tries to convey to the buyer all the possibilities of its electronics literally at the first meeting. Even the packaging of the device is real. The box shows the Asus Eee PC 900 netbook in all its glory. Specifications, including the serial number and information about the manufacturer, can be found on the end of the box.

The package will also please the buyer: the netbook itself, the power supply, several disks with software, complete instruction and cover. It is worth noting that the case for transporting a laptop not only looks attractive, but is also made of fabric that is pleasant to the touch, which can protect the device from falling. Many netbooks in the more expensive line are supplied with mouse controls, and some users are unhappy that such a wonderful mobile device is not honored even with the most inexpensive input device.

Appearance and build quality

There are no complaints about the factory assembly. The user will not detect any scripts or other extraneous sounds in progress. The lid of the device opens tightly, but, on the other hand, this is a plus, because for many mobile devices there is a problem with fixing the screen in the desired position.

The owner of the Asus Eee PC 900 will be pleased with the characteristics of the plastic itself. Although it does not have a matte finish and is able to collect fingerprints, its high strength will not allow the laptop to break if accidentally dropped. Thus, the manufacturer once again emphasizes that the device is made for active people. There are also negative reviews in the media regarding the characteristics of plastic. Strength is achieved due to the thickening, which led to the weighting of the netbook cover, which in the process tends to fill up the device on its back.

The main feature in any netbook

Comfort in working with a mobile device begins with a high-quality screen, which should not only convey natural colors, but also have a decent resolution. A TN matrix with a resolution of 1024x600 dpi can hardly be called high-quality, but do not forget that the screen is 9-inch. For communication on the Internet and work with basic applications, this is quite enough. But for watching videos in the family circle on the Asus Eee PC 900 screen, the device is definitely not intended, because the viewing angles leave much to be desired.

Judging by the reviews, the manufacturer made a rather strange decision, providing a netbook with a screen with an aspect ratio of 16:9. After all, this size is designed for games and multimedia. When working with office applications, it would be more pleasant to see a 4:3 screen in front of you.

Ease of use

If the buyer needs a small typewriter, then you need to carefully study the Asus Eee PC 900 netbook. The characteristics of the keyboard in it are very different from international standards similar devices. It's all about button placement. At first glance, the manufacturer obviously forgot to add half of the basic buttons, however, having looked into the details, the user will find that they are all available, only they have a chaotic arrangement and are activated using the functional mode.

But the touchpad is perfect. It is very convenient to use, because its size allows you to move the cursor around the screen with one touch. Yes, and alternative buttons that simulate a mouse click are pressed easily, without much effort. Efficiency adds a characteristic click, which notifies the user of the action taken.

Mobility index

Many manufacturers are beginning to forget about the purpose of netbooks in the digital device market. In pursuit of high performance and low weight misses an important parameter - the autonomy of the device. For the Asus Eee PC 900, the mobility characteristics come first, because the manufacturer has installed a four-section battery with a capacity of 4400 mAh.

Asus claims three hours of continuous netbook operation on a single charge. The operating time can be increased by one hour by turning off the wireless Wi-Fi interface. It becomes clear what the manufacturer was motivated by, supplying the device with a weak processor, because it is thanks to its low power consumption that the netbook is able to work offline for so long.

Manufacturer tricks

You can buy a device in a store only with the installed one. Naturally, such a step by the manufacturer affected the low price. However, not every user will like to work in an unfamiliar environment, so the Taiwanese giant supplied the package with a recovery disk with Windows XP for the Asus Eee PC 900. The operating system, of course, is a trial one and requires the owner to purchase a license, but this does not prevent it from being used for free, because work on the netbook is not blocked.

It is worth noting that the difference in performance of a netbook with installed Linux system and Windows still exists. In the latter version, the Asus Eee PC 900 netbook does not cope well with several resource-intensive applications.

Laptop service and technical support

Asus, although it is the market leader, but with support, or rather, with up-to-date updates on the official website she has constant problems. Therefore, when buying a mobile device, IT specialists advise you to securely store the supplied disks with all the necessary software, otherwise, in the event of force majeure, restoring the system is very problematic.

Many owners are interested in installing Windows 7 on the Asus Eee PC 900. Why not? The operating system will easily find all the necessary drivers on the Internet and allow you to work with the updated shell. But before installing Windows 7, the owner must be aware that system performance will change for the worse: applications will open with a delay, there will be a long switching between windows, video slowdown when viewing in HD quality.

Repair and dust removal

Looking at the Asus Eee PC 900 reviews, you can find that the netbook is considered one of the few devices that have a complex disassembly and assembly sequence. To perform a global cleaning, you need to completely disassemble the device: remove the keyboard, disconnect all modules, disconnect the display connectors and pull out the motherboard. Not to mention the assembly, which is not only done in the reverse order, but also requires additional skill with connecting cables to the display and connecting power cables.

Definitely - for a simple user, all these actions will cause a lot of trouble. Without service center you can’t do it, because the strange cooling system can clog up quite quickly, especially for those owners who are used to taking a mobile device with them to bed. And if the buyer thinks that the Asus Eee PC 900 netbook can be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner by walking through the air intake slots, then he is greatly mistaken. Apart from cleaning the fan blades of dust, it will not be able to get to any components.

System upgrade for yourself

But with the upgrade, the manufacturer pleased the buyers. The basic improvement is for the Asus Eee PC 900 XP installation. It's more about usability than performance, but it's a step in the right direction. After all, if you remember, the laptop comes without an operating system. Accordingly, the buyer simply receives Windows XP as a gift.

The second upgrade requires a small investment from the owner. The Asus Eee PC 900 laptop has 1 GB of memory, but its capacity can be doubled by installing the appropriate module. System performance will be noticeable to the naked eye when working with resource-intensive applications. And if you replace the regular PCI Express Mini SSD-disk with a faster and larger one, then the user will have a rather frisky netbook in his hands.

Finally

As can be seen from the review, the Asus Eee PC 900 is quite consistent with the niche declared by the manufacturer and, judging by the price, can even compete with the budget segment. However, its functionality may not be enough for users who are looking for a mobile device for entertainment due to low performance. But if we are talking about a device for work and leisure outside the home, then this netbook is not better on the market. In any case, the user will have to decide which device he needs and for what purposes.

IntroductionOur laboratory has had a sample of sub Asus laptop Eee PC 900, the next model after reviewed in June Eee PC 701. However, we deliberately delayed the review of this product, as we expected a more advanced modification of the Eee PC 901 to appear on the market soon and in our hands, which is based not on the Celeron M, but on a more economical specialized processor. Intel Atom. However, the wait has been too long. Despite the fact that the Eee PC 901 is on sale in the priority markets for ASUS, deliveries of this miniature laptop to Russia have not yet been made. The reason for this, apparently, is the shortage of Atom processors, which Intel promises to deal with no earlier than the last months of this year. That is why we decided not to wait any longer, but to get acquainted with the ASUS Eee PC 900 separately from the Eee PC 901, despite the fact that these solutions are very similar. Moreover, as it turned out, ASUS is not going to curtail the supply of subnotebooks based on 90-nm Celeron processors. The company even announced another novelty, the Eee PC 904HD - a kind of analogue of the nine hundredth model, made in an enlarged case and equipped with a traditional mechanical hard drive. In other words, in the light of the latest realities, the Eee PC 900 is destined for a long life, and therefore it deserves a separate article, which, in fact, we bring to your attention.

Since the ASUS Eee PC 900 is a further development of the Eee PC series of subnotebooks, the ancestor of which was the Eee PC 701 we reviewed earlier, in this review we will focus primarily on the differences between the older model and the previous one. That is why we recommend our readers to be sure to read our previous review dedicated to the first revolutionary ASUS subnotebook.

Recall that in general, the Eee PC 701 made a favorable impression on us. The very idea of ​​producing miniature, light and inexpensive laptops turned out to be very fruitful: as a gadget, the Eee PC 701 can be a great addition to a desktop computer, a traditional laptop and a smartphone. However, a detailed acquaintance with Asus's first-born in the Eee PC line revealed a number of unpleasant problems. The main disadvantages relate, of course, to ergonomics. Thus, the Eee PC 701 keyboard turned out to be uncomfortable, especially in the Russian layout, and the seven-inch screen with a resolution of 800x480 is far from ideal. Also, the hardware stuffing caused a certain disappointment: to work with the Windows XP Eee PC 701 operating system familiar to most users, there was a catastrophic lack of disk memory and not catastrophically - RAM memory.

From this position, ASUS Eee PC 900 can be considered as a "work on the bugs". Many problems of the 701 model have been eliminated in this representative of the ASUS subnotebook family. The new modification acquired a screen increased to 8.9 inches diagonally, a larger disk based on Flash-memory, and an increased amount of RAM. Are these changes enough to make an ultra-portable mobile computer running Windows XP more user-friendly? This is the question we will try to answer below.

Specification

First of all, let's pay attention to the specifications of the new model. For tests, we received an older modification of the Eee PC 900 with a 20-gigabyte hard drive, which is why we placed its characteristics in the table below. For clarity, this table shows specifications ASUS Eee PC 4G - the older model of the previous generation 701 with a seven-inch screen, which is already we have previously reviewed.

It should be added to the contents of the table that all those numerous improvements made in the ASUS Eee PC 900 got to potential buyers far from free. Currently, the prices for the models compared in the table differ by about 4.5 thousand rubles. That is why the appearance of the new model has not forced the old one out of the market: both the Eee PC 701 and the Eee PC 900 are widely available in retail at the same time.

Supply

Despite the fact that the ASUS Eee PC 900 is, one might say, a new subnotebook (or, as it is fashionable to talk about such products lately, a netbook), which is very different from its predecessor, the package contents have practically not changed: both the box and its the contents are the same. The laptop comes with a manual software for Xandros Linux and for Windows XP, a thick fabric laptop sleeve and, of course, a power supply.

By the way, among all this set, it is the power supply that deserves special mention. The fact is that the previous modification of the subnotebook was supplied with a block combined with a plug, similar to power supplies mobile phones. The Eee PC 900, on the other hand, has a separate power supply, made in a more traditional mobile computers execution.

At the same time, not only the power of the block has increased, but also its weight, which is now 150 grams. So travelers who have chosen the Eee PC 900 as their companion will have to carry a total of 100 grams more than adherents of the younger model.

External changes

If you do not pay attention to the power supply, then when closed, it is almost impossible to distinguish the ASUS Eee PC 900 from the Eee PC 701. These models are very similar both in terms of workmanship, size and appearance, as well as the location of the connectors. And although the new modification has become half a centimeter larger in one of the dimensions, it is completely impossible to notice this without applying one laptop to another.

Just like the Eee PC 701, the Eee PC 900 can offer three USB 2.0 ports, a 10/100-Mbps network port, mic-in and headphone-out, a D-Sub connector for connecting an external monitor, and an MMC/SD card reader.

The only noticeable difference between the Eee PC 900 and the previous model is the lack of a hole for the modem connector on the case, which the previous modification of the Eee PC had, but was not used.

The main changes are hidden under the cover: there is a new improved screen, the diagonal of which is now not 7, but 8.9 inches.

At the same time, it should be noted that the dimensions of the lid of a miniature laptop have not changed much: the dimensions of the matrix have become larger due to the reduction of the edging around the screen and due to the removal of the columns that framed the screen on the left and right in the 701 model. The increase in size has practically no effect on the quality of the screen. As with the 7-inch model, the screen in the new 900 Eee PC has visual characteristics that are quite appropriate for the size and purpose of this miniature notebook. So, among the pluses should be noted the brightness of the backlight, which is adjustable over a very wide range (even larger than before), and at its maximum level the screen remains readable even in direct sunlight. As for the viewing angles, here, as in the previous model, there are certain complaints about the fading of the image even with small deviations of the view in the vertical plane from the normal to the screen. Also leaves much to be desired and the quality of color reproduction.

However, the listed shortcomings of the 8.9-inch matrix should hardly be considered critical, despite their seeming seriousness. A notebook of the size of the ASUS Eee PC 900 is not intended to be used in situations where the accuracy of color reproduction and their hue is really critical. When working in typical office applications or Internet surfing, the screen performs more than decently. Especially if you take into account its increased resolution, which has grown to 1024x600. Now Windows XP (not to mention Xandros Linux) looks quite organic on the ASUS Eee PC 900: the vast majority of standard dialog boxes. The display of the vast majority of websites can also be called adequate: a horizontal resolution of 1024 pixels is now considered the minimum for which sites are optimized.

As noted, the enlarged screen forced the developers of the Eee PC 900 to remove the speakers from the inside of the cover - now they are in the bottom of the case and pointing down. Naturally, this negatively affected the quality and volume of the sound they reproduced. However, it is obvious that acoustic system any subnotebook - and not only "sub" - will not be able to suit music lovers by definition. To listen to standard operating system alerts or to accompany the soundtrack of YouTube videos, the existing speakers are enough. So, as in the case with the screen, we must state that the ASUS Eee PC 900 sound system is fully consistent with the mission assigned to it.

The same words can be said about the webcam, traditionally located above the screen. Although its resolution has been increased to 1.3 megapixels compared to the Eee PC 701, the lack of sharpness adjustment makes it possible to use it only for video conferencing. But the microphone built into the laptop is now placed next to the webcam and picks up the voice of a person sitting in front of the computer much better than the microphone in the Eee PC 701, which had an output on the bottom surface of the laptop.

We've been waiting for ASUS to provide their Eee PC 900 with a different, more comfortable keyboard. But nothing like that happened: an updated model of the ultra-portable ASUS computer equipped with the same awkward keyboard as the Eee PC 701: with letter buttons different sizes and not dedicated cursor keys. Even the Russian letter "P" is again applied to the corresponding button in a distorted style. The mechanical part has not changed either: during operation, the buttons rattle slightly, and the keyboard itself flexes and creaks unpleasantly.

But the touchpad has undergone major changes for the better. In the new model, it has not only become larger - its dimensions have grown to 63x37 mm, in full accordance with the increased screen resolution - but also more convenient. The keys are now softer and more comfortable, but most importantly, the touchpad has acquired support for multi-touch technology (multi-touch, support for processing simultaneous touches with multiple fingers). In other words, like Apple iPhone or Macbook Air, ASUS Eee PC 900 understands a basic set of two-finger gestures, including scrolling, zooming, and screen zoom.

Hardware changes

There were not so many changes in the hardware of ASUS Eee PC 900 compared to Eee PC 701. A much more advanced solution in terms of hardware looks like the next Eee PC with model number 901, based on the Intel Atom. The miniature computer considered in this review is based on absolutely the same Ultra-Low Voltage processor Celeron M 353 of the Dothan generation, produced according to the old 90-nm technology, like the Eee PC 701. The nominal frequency of this processor is 900 MHz, the supply voltage is 0, 94 V.

As you can see from the screenshot above, the processor in the ASUS Eee PC 900 runs at its nominal parameters, and not at a lower frequency, as in the ASUS Eee PC 701. However, this is true only as long as the Eee PC 900 is connected to the network. When switching the power to standalone, the processor frequency drops to 630 MHz - the value that was standard for the previous modification of the Eee PC.

Since the Celeron M 353 multiplier is fixed at 9x, and this processor does not support any power-saving technologies, the processor frequency has to be reduced by reducing the bus frequency from 100 to 70 MHz.

The amount of RAM in the new modification of the Eee PC is doubled, up to 1 GB. However, the used DDR2 SDRAM again does not work in the most efficient single-channel mode.

Some increase in bandwidth is provided by the increased memory frequency, which now runs at a fair 400 MHz using 3-3-3-8 timings. However, we should not forget that the SDRAM frequency is always synchronized with the bus frequency. Therefore, when switching to battery power, when the FSB frequency is reset to 70 MHz, the memory frequency is also reduced to 280 MHz.

The interaction between the processor and memory is provided by the Intel 910GML chipset, there are no differences from the Eee PC 701 here. Accordingly, the built-in north bridge of this chipset is the core of the Intel GMA 900. But, despite the use of the same video accelerator, the Eee PC 900 shows in practice a higher speed of working with graphics due to the increased frequency system memory, which is used by this graphics core and as video memory. This, given the larger screen resolution of the Eee PC 900, is most welcome.

However, it is clearly useless to expect from the built-in graphics core four years ago acceptable performance by modern standards. Its power is only enough to run old, undemanding games for a 3D accelerator, the list of which, nevertheless, is very impressive. The main advantage of the GMA 900 in this implementation is the ability to connect external monitors with resolutions up to 1600x1200 to the Eee PC 900 (however, the laptop's video output is unlikely to provide a clear image at resolutions higher than 1280x1024).

The south bridge of the chipset is ICH6-M. Two SSD drives are connected to its IDE controller, with a capacity of 4 and either 8 or 16 GB. It should be noted that the first of them is physically soldered to motherboard, and the second is made as a daughter board with Mini PCI-E interface and can be replaced. Due to this, ASUS offers modifications of the Eee PC 900 with a second disk of different sizes (depending on the pre-installed operating system). Access to the SSD card, which acts as a second drive, is possible through the hatch on the bottom surface of the case.

In this compartment, in addition to the SSD connector, there is also a SODIMM slot with a memory module installed in it, which can also be replaced with a more capacious one. Note that despite the fact that the i910GML chipset supports dual-channel memory mode, the Eee PC 900 has only one SODIMM slot. Therefore, the memory in a laptop in any case will only work in single-channel mode.

The rest of the hardware is of little interest, it does not differ from the contents of the Eee PC 701. This, unfortunately, means that the novelty inherited from its predecessor and another significant drawback - the lack of Bluetooth support. Thus, the connection of this modification of the Asus ultra-portable computer with cell phones and many other devices without a separate USB key fob is impossible. Initial support for this wireless interface is implemented only in the Eee PC 901 and newer models.

The Eee PC 900 sold in Russia has one more flaw, which is simply impossible to pass by. Most of these subnotebooks, such as the one we received for testing, are shipped to our country with the weakest battery of all possible options: with a capacity of 4400 mAh.

And if for the Eee PC 701 such a battery is still allowed to work for more than two hours, then a newer and more productive modification with a large screen loses a lot of autonomy because of it. And although the supply of Eee PC with such defective batteries is a forced measure, due to the consequences of a fire at the LG Chem factory that produces batteries for the ASUS Eee PC under an OEM contract, this does not justify ASUS in the least. Not only are laptops with the worst batteries supplied specifically to our market, but besides, this unfortunate fact is not reflected in the packaging, while on the official website of the company, data on battery capacity and time battery life shamefully omitted.

Testing

We received for testing the model ASUS Eee PC 900, equipped with a 16-gigabyte hard drive. This means that the Xandros operating system (Linux clone) was preinstalled on this subnotebook. This fact should not scare potential Eee PC buyers at all, since this system has a comfortable GUI and is already equipped with about forty applications, including the OpenOffice office suite, Firefox browser, media player, and more. In addition, there are many programs that can be installed additionally. Applications are sorted into "Internet", "Work", "Learn", "Play", "Settings" and "Favorites" groups, marked with arshin-sized icons that appear on the screen immediately after turning on the Eee PC. As a result, from the pre-installed Xandros one gets the impression that this system is even easier for inexperienced users to master than the Microsoft products familiar to most.

We installed the Eee PC 900 on this ultra-portable computer for testing. operating system Windows XP. It's almost certain that most Eee PC owners will do the same. Moreover, contrary to popular belief, the Windows laptop XP is no slower than Xandros, and if Windows optimization XP to spend some time, then from this operating system you can achieve even significantly more agile response to user actions.

In our previous article on the Eee PC 701, we found that the performance of this machine is quite sufficient for typical tasks: work in office packages, Internet surfing, video conferencing, watching videos and so on. Now let's look at specific numbers. To evaluate the speed of the Eee PC 900, we used the popular Futuremark PCMark05 test. Performance was evaluated in two modes: productive, when the processor and memory operate at full frequency, and in energy-saving mode, with reduced frequencies. Recall that the latter is turned on automatically when the ASUS Eee PC 900 switches to battery power. By the way, in this state its performance practically does not differ from the performance of the Eee PC 701, which uses the processor and memory frequencies reduced to the same values ​​in the normal mode.

The results show that the Eee PC 900 is a fairly balanced system, with a clear dip in graphics performance. However, many older 3D applications will be able to run on this notebook, as evidenced by the 3DMark2001 SE and 3DMark03 results. We tested the Eee PC 900 at its native resolution of 1024x600, so next to the test results are similar results from the EeePC 701 at 800x480.

In performance mode, the EeePC 900 outperforms its predecessor despite the increased screen resolution. Thus, we can say that the EeePC 900 has become not only more convenient than the EeePC 701, but also faster in all respects due to the increased frequency of the memory and processor.

It should be noted that the speed of the first SSD (with a capacity of 4 GB) has also increased in the new subnotebook, which was achieved by changing the controller that serves the flash memory chips. This is clearly seen in tests, for example, in HD Tune.

At the same time, the second, 16-gigabyte disk, unfortunately, has somewhat worse practical characteristics.

In the course of tests, we again encountered quite a strong heating of the EeePC 900 case. The fact is that, like in the previous model, the heat generated by the processor and chipset components is dissipated by an aluminum plate located under the keyboard. To further create airflow inside the subnotebook, a small centrifugal fan is used, which has an exhaust on the left side of the case. However, the surface of the keyboard and touchpad may reach temperatures of over 40°C during operation. The remaining parts of the case during intensive work of the laptop from the network have a temperature of about 35-37 degrees. As for the internal temperature of the Eee PC 900, if you believe the readings of the built-in sensor, it does not exceed 71 degrees, a considerable merit of which belongs to the timely activation of the fan.

And, finally, the most interesting thing is the measurement of battery life. We conducted these tests at maximum screen brightness. Built-in webcam and network wireless adapter switched off during testing. For testing, we used the BatteryEater program, which simulates two typical scenarios: standard loading and text reading. To these two tests, we added a third, during which we measured the battery life of the Eee PC while watching DivX video recorded on the built-in SSD.

Oddly enough, the Eee PC 900 turns out to be able to work on a standard 4400 mAh battery for deliveries to Russia for significantly more than two hours. To be honest, we did not expect such results, especially in light of the fact that the first tests of this modification of the subnotebook revealed much lower battery life. However, ASUS engineers have done a great job and greatly improved the battery life of the netbook with simple BIOS updates. So, it was new versions of firmware that began to be reset by 30% FSB frequency when switching to battery power, and in addition, they have adjusted the algorithms for determining the state of the battery. As a result, the battery life of the 900th Eee PC model has increased to values ​​that are no longer deplorable, although they are still insufficient for a full-fledged ultra-portable solution.

However the main problem running the Eee PC 900 on battery is by no means short of running time. Much worse, in this mode, the laptop behaves completely unpredictably, reporting strange and misleading information about the remaining battery charge. For example, below is a battery drain graph based on the information reported by the laptop while watching a DivX video file.

As you can see from the graph, more than half of the time the battery shows a 20 percent remaining charge. But despite this, it continues to work properly until it turns off without additional warning. This behavior of the battery is unforgivable even for an inexpensive mobile device, since user misinformation can easily result in the loss of vital information. That is why the battery of the Eee PC 900 greatly spoils the impression of this, in general, not a bad product. Batteries of a larger capacity, although they are sold separately from the Eee PC, are sadly rare.

conclusions

Reviewed by us a couple of months ago, the first representative of the Eee PC line, equipped with another seven-inch screen, left a lot of positive impressions. Inexpensive ultra-portable computer won favor with the very idea, forcing you to close your eyes to the not-so-good details. This is exactly what determines the abundance of positive reviews about the Eee PC 701, even well-reasoned objections to which are hopelessly drowned among the general rejoicing of fans of ASUS subnotebooks. Nevertheless, we must remind you that the ASUS Eee PC 701 was far from perfect: in our review, we made a lot of claims against it. And in this sense, the new model, the Eee PC 900, is of great interest, since it is an update of the previous model, correcting many of the unpleasant shortcomings of its predecessor.

Obviously, the Eee PC 701 was assigned the role of a kind of pilot product, the main role of which was to test the soil for creating a new market niche - low-cost, low-power ultra-portable notebooks. And with this role, that model did an excellent job. She not only gained unprecedented popularity, but also became a role model for many other manufacturers who began to copy the Eee PC and try to develop this direction in their own way.

However, the ASUS developers have made other conclusions from the popularity of the first Eee PC model. As practice has shown, low cost is not too important characteristic for this breed of laptops. After all, initially the price of laptops with a seven-inch screen should not have exceeded $200, but as a result, it turned out to be in the range of $300 to $400 (per this moment in Moscow retail - about 9.5 thousand rubles). However, this did not prevent the subnotebook from becoming a bestseller. Therefore, ASUS quickly realized that it’s not worth worrying too much about the price, and you shouldn’t sacrifice functionality too much for the sake of a profitable price - the price gap between the Eee PC and regular “full-fledged” subnotebooks will in any case remain large enough to attract a buyer.

It was this marketing ground that laid down the new Eee PC 900 model. As a result, the developers made it the way they think a computer of this class should be. And the fact that the price of this ultra-portable computer has risen to $ 550 ( about 14 thousand rubles in Moscow retail) - this is, excuse me, a side effect. But the new version by no means can be called a victim of compromises.

As a result, the Eee PC 900 retained all the positive qualities of the model with a seven-inch screen: first of all, compact size and low weight. In addition, the Eee PC 900 is more productive with more processor speed and more RAM, and more user-friendly with a new 9-inch screen. The matrix resolution is now 1024x600, which finally allows you to comfortably visit websites and work in the operating room without any problems. Windows system xp. The added disk space turned out to be very handy, allowing you to install on the laptop not only an uncut operating system, but also a full set of necessary applications along with all the necessary data. It should be noted that another huge plus of the new modification is the touchpad, which now supports two-finger gestures, thanks to which it has become by no means an attempt to replace the traditional mouse, but a completely full-fledged navigation tool.

However, the new nine hundredth model still did not solve all the problems of the Eee PC. The laptop was left without the necessary support for Bluetooth technology for an ultra-portable device. Its keyboard with its layout and workmanship causes more complaints than positive emotions. Yes, and a regular battery with a capacity of 4400 mAh can not be called otherwise than a mockery of the user. The Eee PC 900 not only depresses with its short battery life for ultra-mobile devices in “heavy” modes, but also frightens with the fact that the battery charge end time is absolutely unpredictable, as standard diagnostic tools simply misinform.

So ASUS has room for improvement of the Eee PC. There is also some freedom for the competitors of this company, which can still bypass the founder of a new class of mobile products, as they say, “on the turn”. In addition to addressing these shortcomings, we would be happy if the Eee PC acquired support for, for example, touch screen. As for the fact that we are looking forward to trying out netbooks based on the new Intel processor Atom, you can not stutter.

In other words, the emergence of ASUS Eee PC 900 has not yet put an end to it, so we continue to closely monitor the development of this concept and will soon introduce you to new similar solutions offered by both ASUS and its competitors.

Specify the availability and cost of ASUS Eee PC 900

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What could be interesting in the first place for such a compact and lightweight device, the main scope of which we see in the home / student office and Internet surfing? It hardly has to be a powerful multi-core processor or a mind-blowing graphics subsystem. In our opinion, the device requires good "everyday" performance and long battery life.
In addition, it is interesting what are still unusual solid-state hard drives.
Futuremark 3DMark 2003, PCMark 2005, as well as the performance test built into WinRAR were used to test video and system-wide performance. Hard drives and stress test for the maximum temperature of the processor - Everest Ultimate 4.50. Battery life measured with Battery
Eater Pro 2.70 according to the "Classic" template - in this case, the test creates a considerable load on the system, preventing the components from going into power saving mode, and the result can be taken as a certain "minimum" battery life. The battery test was performed with the battery disabled. Wi-Fi module and at maximum screen brightness. In CMOS Setup, a choice was made between economy and speed in favor of the latter.

So, according to the test results, we can say that the ASUS Eee PC 900 certainly “does not have enough stars from the sky”, which, however, is not required of it, but has a good level of performance for working with office programs, surfing the Internet and even watching movies. By the way, we failed to launch high-definition video (even 720p, H.264) without slowing down.

The results of the test of linear reading and access time look interesting. Due to the fact that there is no traditional mechanism of heads and rotating pancakes inside the disk, the speed of reading data from the media does not depend on the specific area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe disk and the linear reading graph is horizontal line. average speed linear reading for a 4-GB disk is 40 Mb/s, for the second disk, respectively, 29.9 Mb/s, which is quite enough for all typical tasks.
The average access time for both drives is 0.5 ms, which is very good compared to traditional hard drives, which have an access time of about 8 ms.

The result of 2 hours and 16 minutes of battery life can be considered very good, because according to our data, “on average”, a laptop “lives autonomously” for about an hour and a half.

About the design and ergonomics of the ASUS Eee PC 900.

Case netbook ASUS Eee PC 900 is made entirely of plastic. We got a copy of the color “pearl white” for testing, there should also be black devices on sale. It is not known for certain whether there will be additional colors: pink, green and blue. None of the laptop's exterior surfaces have a mirror finish that tends to be covered with a network of small scratches, which means you can hope for a long-term preservation of a tidy appearance. The keyboard of the device is much smaller than the traditional one, although it has all the necessary keys, it requires training and not too large hands to use it. The touchpad has a pair of very hard keys, which are not very convenient to use: firstly, pressing requires the application of force, and secondly, these pressings are not very clearly felt.

The screen of ASUS Eee PC 900 has a diagonal of 8.9” (22.6 cm) and a resolution of 1024×600, as a result of which all icons, text and other interface elements look much smaller than usual. The color reproduction and viewing angles of the screen are not bad, although far from the best we've seen. On the other hand, it is immodest to demand more from a device for such a low price. Along the upper border of the screen, the backlight unevenness in the form of a comb is barely noticeable. The top panel with the screen is attached to the body with massive hinges, giving a sense of reliability.
To the delight of the owners of not very good eyesight, there is a D-Sub monitor output, in addition, you can connect a mouse, keyboard, or even an external one to any of the three USB 2.0 sockets. HDD 2.5 ”- power ports allow this. Above the screen there is a microphone and a 1.3-megapixel web-camera with a diode – power indicator. The camera copes with its task, but the image is too blurry.

Specifications ASUS Eee PC 900:

• Processor: Intel Mobile Celeron M ULV 353, 900 MHz
• Chipset: Intel Mobile Alviso-G i910GML
• Memory, MB: 1024, DDR2-400
• Hard drives: Solid state, ASUS-PHISON 4 GB + 16 GB
• Video adapter: Intel GMA 900
• Touchpad: Elantech Smart-Pad
• Display: 8.9", 1024×600 (up to 1280×1024 with scrolling)
• Battery: Li-Ion 7.4 V, 4400 mAh
• Sound system: Realtec ALC662, built-in speakers, headphone and microphone jack
• Communications: Wi-Fi Atheros AR5007EG (802.11 b/g), LAN Atheros L2 Fast Ethernet Controller
• Dimensions: 22.5×17x2-3.38 cm
• Weight: 0.99 kg

Estimated retail ASUS price Eee PC 900~ 14500 rubles.

It is already clear that the initiative to bring the ASUS Eee PC to market has been very successful. And most of all, this is not even the success of the EEE PC on the market, but the zeal with which other manufacturers began to create similar solutions.

There has always been some demand in the sector of small home devices with a screen diagonal of 6-10 inches. The problem is that there have always been few enthusiasts willing to pay big money for such a device. Cheap electronic devices cannot be non-mass, and non-mass devices cannot be cheap. Respectively, for a long time the market for such devices remained a small market for enthusiasts, and only niche products came out on it.

ASUS, with the idea of ​​a $200 laptop, managed to break a hole in this vicious circle. Even despite the fact that in reality the cost turned out to be at least twice as high (now the Eee PC 701 costs about $400 in the US on average, or about 10,000 rubles in our country, the cheapest is about $300 in the US), Eee has the potential The PC is still very large, as evidenced by the very good sales. Now ASUS is bringing more and more new models to the market, rapidly filling this market.

This time we tested ASUS Eee PC 900. But in order not to consider one device, we paired it with the just released MSI Wind - a new creation of a Taiwanese manufacturer and, in principle, a rather interesting competitive product. Let's see how the devices relate to each other, and how convenient each one is.

Internet resources

ASUS has launched its own website at . The site is simple, but at the same time it is convenient and attractive. And most importantly, it harmonizes well with the product itself. The only thing is that there is just no information about the 900th model.

MSI has it on the website. The design is also simple but attractive. The main page lists all the essential and interesting features of the novelty. Here you will find all the necessary information on the laptop.

We would like to note that a lively discussion of both products with a lot of technical details, tuning tips, etc. is taking place on our forum.

This is where a lot is collected useful information about MSI Wind.

BUT . The thread is huge. And this is the second series!

Finally, we were dedicated to just comparing these two laptops. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with it, it shows a comparison of cases and functionality very clearly.

Testing

Chassis and connectors

Externally, the ASUS Eee PC 900 has almost the same case as the Eee PC 701, especially since the test was again a white-pearl model. By the way, the Eee PC will now be available only in two versions, black and white, there will be no multi-colored cases for the 900th series.

The body of the 900th model is 2-3 mm wider (relatively speaking, the vertical size of the screen) than that of the 701, just enough to fit a larger screen, the rest of the dimensions remained almost the same. Thanks to the case design with chamfered corners and a cylindrical insert in the middle (such as is found on modern Sony laptops), subjectively, the Eee PC 900 looks very small and really resembles a toy rather than full laptop. However, it is quite thick (especially in the back because of the battery). Carrying a laptop is comfortable, especially on the back side the battery protrudes from below, it is convenient to take it with your fingers. The laptop weighs 1 kg.

MSI Wind was tested in black. At the moment, three colors have been announced: white (called “angelic white”), black (called “royal black”. How could we miss the opportunity to call it “devilish black” - we don’t understand. It would sound like that!) and pink (called “ romantic pink).

The Wind slightly outperforms ASUS in width, but it is much longer in length, looks much larger and, due to this, thinner. But objectively they are almost the same in thickness, ASUS can be a little thicker due to the battery.

Notebook lids open differently: ASUS has hinges made in the form of rings in a cylindrical insert, while MSI has L-shaped ones. That's why the ASUS matrix rises up on ring hinges and is located quite high relative to the case, while in MSI it leans back and falls a little down on l-shaped ones, the lower edge of the screen is slightly higher or flush with the keyboard level. Because of this open laptops are exactly the same in height. The lower height of the open matrix can be a plus, for example, on an airplane a laptop can be more conveniently placed on a folding table.

The lid does not open 180 degrees (sometimes, especially when reading, the laptop is not very comfortable to hold).

Both laptops, if you flip the lid to the maximum (and when you type on your lap, you have to do this), try to lean back the matrix outweighs the lightweight body, and the battery is located too close to the center of gravity, plus, the bottom edge of the case, which rests on the laptop is not located where the battery and matrix are, but slightly ahead, so the matrix outweighs. By the way, this effect appears only on your knees or on soft surfaces (for example, on a blanket or on a sofa), on a table and other hard surfaces, laptops are stable.

The laptops are similar in terms of the number of external connectors: 3 USB, a card reader, an RJ-45 network connector and an output to an external monitor.

Let's look at the location of the connectors on both laptops.

Both the Eee PC and the Wind have no connectors on the front edge. From the point of view of ergonomics, this is good, because if the laptop, for example, is on its knees, it is extremely inconvenient to use the connectors on the front edge. At the same time, you can evaluate the position of the indicators in the case.

On the left side of the Eee PC is a network connector, one USB slot, a ventilation grille (note that it is relatively small) and audio jacks.

For comparison, MSI has a Kensington lock hole, a power connector, a large ventilation grille on the left side (the case should be ventilated much better) and two USB ports.

On the right side there is a card reader, two USB slots, an output for an external monitor and a port for a Kensington lock. In principle, the location of the connectors is convenient for a right-handed person, the only thing is that if you connect an external monitor, then a thick cord will go next to your hand with a mouse, this is not very convenient.

On the right side - one USB port, card reader, audio jacks, external monitor output and network jack. Here, as you can see, there will be much more thick wires in front of the hand with the mouse.

At the back of the Eee PC, there is only a power supply connector, which is not very conveniently located you have to look for it.

At MSI, since the matrix leans back, back panel empty.

It seems to us that during operation, the location of the ports is more convenient for the EEE PC.

Separately, it is worth noting the location of the power supply plugs, since they are most often encountered. At MSI, the plug is made on the side and not angled, that is, the wire goes on the side of the laptop. But it is convenient to insert and pull out.

With ASUS, the plug is inserted from behind, it is much less convenient to insert than with MSI - as a rule, you have to grope. At ASUS, the plug is disgustingly kept in the socket, with any attempt to move the laptop, it threatens to fall out of the groove. In our case, it fell out, even if you just move the laptop on the table.

The Eee PC 900 has some ventilation grilles on the bottom (and the rectangular grilles at the corners are the speakers that go into the bottom).

MSI has much more ventilation grills, which should provide better ventilation of the case. The speakers are hidden under small round grilles in the corners of the case.

The indicators on both laptops are located in the same inconvenient place on the right side of the front edge of the keyboard panel.

The indicators are hard to see when the lid is closed (visible only if you look at the laptop from the front if it lies on the table, the status of the indicators is not visible).

MSI has twice as many indicators, but we do not think that this is more convenient. For us, for example, four Eee PC indicators were enough. At the same time, in both models, when printing, all indicators overlap with the wrist, to look at them, you have to remove your hand.

The ASUS power button is located on a cylindrical insert. The button is flush with the level of the case, but we had no problems turning it on.

MSI has it on the panel above the keyboard. The button has a laptop work indicator in the form of a five-pointed snowflake.

Configuration

The conversation about the configuration turns out to be interesting.

We are against the numbers in the review of such devices, since users, as a rule, are interested in the subjective impression “fast enough or not?”. However, at least a few words to say about the configuration and its impact on performance is worth it.

In testing, we had not the 901st Eee PC model (which should be on Intel Atom), but the 900th, built, like the 701st EEE PC, on the old platform with a Celeron 900 MHz processor. And the Wind prototype was already on Intel Atom.

The problem is that the Intel Atom processor was "specially optimized" for use in devices where performance is not very important, but battery life is important and, apparently, they were further optimized, since in many cases the Atom platform shows lower performance (sometimes much lower) than the same Celeron 900. In this regard, it seems that ASUS will continue to install Celeron in various modifications of the Eee PC. Power consumption could not be directly compared - the devices are different, and the battery capacity too. Comparative data is further in the review.

A few words should be said about the information storage subsystem. In the original concept, Linux was installed on the EEE PC, and the total disk space was a very modest 4 GB (in most powerful model- 8 GB). But it quickly became apparent that even a device like the Eee PC would be much more popular if equipped with the Windows operating system that most users are accustomed to. And then it became obvious that 4 or 8 GB of SSD flash memory for a Windows device is very small. That's why latest models come in 12 and 20 GB capacities, more capacious solutions may appear in the future. Moreover, as we understand, the flash memory is divided into two arrays, the main disk is 4 GB in size and an additional one - 8 for Windows options and 16 for Linux options. And in the future, ASUS promises to introduce devices with a conventional hard drive. Moreover, the SSD used by ASUS shows rather modest (relative to flash) results both in terms of speed and access time. They are on a normal level. hard drives or slightly better.

Wind is more versatile in this regard: it installs a standard 2.5" 80 GB hard drive. And users who need a large amount of disk space can easily change it to any available on the market, at least 250 GB, immediately getting rid of from all problems with disk space.But in conditions of shaking and possible falls, the Eee PC 900 looks preferable.

Another important point. The Eee PC 900 does not have Bluetooth, it will only be available in the 901, but MSI has it. It seems to us that Bluetooth is necessary in such a mobile device, since it is used to communicate with mobile devices, for example, with telephones (which can be used, including as modems for access to cellular networks via GPRS) or GPS adapters. Until ASUS acquires Bluetooth support, it will definitely be less convenient to use it in some cases.

Both computers are equipped with webcams and microphones and are suitable for telephony use.

By the way, Skype is already installed in both (even in the EEE PC model with Linux it is), subtly hinting at the possibility of such use.

	ASUS EEE PC 900	MSI Wind
CPU	Intel Celeron 900Mhz	Intel Atom N270 1.6Ghz
Platform		Intel 945GSE+ICH7M
RAM	1GB RAM (up to 2GB)	1GB (DDR2 667)
HDD	12GB (Windows version) or 20GB (Linux version)SSD, 4 GB + 8 or +16 GB	80GB SATA
Food		Output: 19V DC, 65W
battery	6-el.	Li-Ion 3 cells
Display	8.9", 1024×600	10", 1024×600
Communications	10/100LAN 802.11b/g WLAN	10/100LAN 802.11b/g WLAN Bluetooth support
Ports	VGA(15-pin, D-Sub) × 1 USB2.0×3 headphone output × 1 network port × 1	VGA(15-pin, D-Sub) × 1 USB2.0×3 Microphone input × 1 / Line-in port × 1 headphone output × 1 network port × 1
card reader	4-in-1 SD/MMC/MS/MSpro	4-in-1 SD/MMC/MS/MSpro
Sound		HD audio, stereo sound
Dimensions	22.5×17×2~3.38cm	260(L) × 180(W) × 19-31.5(H) mm
the weight	990 gr.	940 g (3-cell battery), 1.1 kg (6-cell battery)
web camera	1.3M	1.3M
OS	MS Windows XP/Xandros Linux	Windows XP Home Premium

Usage impressions

Keyboard and touchpad

The keyboard seemed more comfortable to us in MSI. It is also smaller than usual, but larger than in ASUS, you can try to type blindly on it, while on ASUS we didn’t succeed in principle.

The keyboards are almost identical in layout. On the left side, the difference is that MSI has Fn in the corner, while ASUS has ctrl. And on the right, the main difference is that they have a differently organized cursor. In ASUS, the cursor keys are full-sized, in MSI they are vertically narrowed, so the cursor is more convenient to use on the Eee PC, but on ASUS it is inconvenient to use Right Shift. Both models have tight keys, but since they are not very suitable for touch typing, we think we can live with this.

The MSI keyboard feels much better - the keys sit hard, the pressure is more elastic, the keyboard is quiet. At ASUS everything creaks, rattles. Plus, the keyboard itself shakes in the case, it's unpleasant to type. Even the photographs show that some keys are crooked relative to each other. As far as we remember, there were no such claims to the 700th series. Apparently, the copy was of poor quality, or it was dismantled.

In terms of size, the touchpad of the ASUS 900 is much larger than that of the 700 series, while the MSI Wind has the same size as the 700 series. However, in use at default settings, the ASUS touchpad is too hard - very often light blows on it are not perceived as a click, and you have to use a very hard key. MSI's touchpad, though small, is well-adjusted. And the keys are pressed softer. According to the forum posts, ASUS may accept some additional gestures (for example, if you swipe with two fingers, the scroll mode will work), but we have not tested this.

Temperature regime

It seemed to us that MSI is blown much better, the fan is quiet, but it blows hard. Therefore, the Wind case is colder. ASUS is warm at the bottom, the ventilation grille is small, the fan works with a quiet hum, reminiscent of the hum of a transformer. Exhaust temperatures were 31 degrees for the Wind and 37 degrees for the Eee PC.

Screen and sound

MSI has a full inch larger screen. However, the resolution is the same. Therefore, all characters on the Wind screen look larger, it is more convenient to use the screen. The corners are small on both screens, colors float at almost any deviation. In order to see both light and dark tones, their position must be carefully adjusted.

Both laptops have diode backlighting of the matrix. In terms of behavior, this seems to be true the backlight can be adjusted over a very wide range. For example, if you read on the Eee PC in complete darkness, then the backlight can be set so that the screen glows very weakly and does not hurt the eyes, but the characters are well read. At maximum brightness, the screens are well lit to work in any ambient light (with the exception of direct sunlight).

Battery life

ASUS won in our test. Measurements were made at maximum brightness using the usual method for Windows systems. It's only worth noting that the Wind tested had a "half battery" with three cells, which shouldn't provide very long battery life. With a large capacity battery, this laptop will probably take the lead (but will also weigh significantly more).

ASUS lasts 2h 45m when reading and 2h 15m when watching movies, MSI - 2h 15m and 1h 47m, respectively. The difference in modes for both laptops is almost exactly half an hour.

ASUS has an unusual battery connection. The battery informs the system not constantly, but in increments of 10% (that is, the system always shows the capacity of 100-90-80). Sometimes this leads to not entirely correct operation of the system, it turns off before it has time to go to sleep (including, according to messages from the forum).

During testing, both laptops “broke down” several times, that is, after the batteries were discharged, they did not go to sleep, but turned off. The remaining charge was not enough to maintain the "standby mode" - this must be taken into account in order not to lose data.

Battery life is average for a gadget. Both devices can be used, for example, to check the calendar or read for half an hour, but, for example, you can “hang out” in a cafe with Wi-Fi for a maximum of an hour and a half, and then the laptop needs to be recharged somewhere. We think that offline time work for a full-fledged business application of such equipment should be about 5 hours.

And to sit at home - this battery capacity is quite enough, especially since the PSUs of both laptops are small and light. By the way, our copy of the Eee PC had a very short power cord, MSI has a much longer one (but in American format, since this is a sample).

Conclusion

Making a choice is hard enough. We liked the Wind better, as it has a larger screen, a more comfortable keyboard, and, in our opinion, it looks prettier. In addition, we like its configuration more.

However, the Eee PC has a lot of fans, plus it boasts smaller sizes and weight (and in such a device it is especially valuable), plus it runs a little longer on batteries. Plus, new Eee PC models will soon appear on the market, which will be completely similar in functionality to Wind, and users will have much more choice within the Eee PC line.

Excellent mobile processor Intel Celeron M 900 MHz and Intel graphics card The GMA 900 does an excellent job and allows netbooks to Asus Eee PC 900 solve them promptly and in any place convenient for you, and not large dimensions and weight (less than 1 kilogram) will not burden you during the trip.

The excellent resolution of this 8-inch netbook (1024×600), the ergonomic keyboard and touchpad make this series of netbooks Eee PC 900 indispensable assistants in everyday active life.

Price Asus Eee PC 900 very democratic, thanks to the well-thought-out pricing policy of Asus and is only a few thousand rubles. Appreciate the convenience and mobility in netbooks, then you should buy Asus Eee PC 900 in our online store and we will promptly deliver it to the right place and time.

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