Unlike most things that surround us in everyday life, IT industry has a rule – the smaller, the more expensive. This is usually the case with notebooks as well. If you chose to buy a small portable computer, everything would be so much easier. The notebook would be easy to carry around, but your wallet would be significantly lighter as well. A win-win situation, or rather not?
It is a fact that modern notebook computers cope with the average user's needs most easily.
All those GHz and dual-core processors sound great, but but surfing the Internet, writing in Word watching films and listening to music are not tasks that require such power. Many are willing to renounce the extra performance in order to save money. Such people value small and portable PCs much more. This is the exact group ASUS Eee PC is targeting. You must have heard a lot about this PC already, since it attracted a lot of attention ever since it was first presented in Computex 2007. What shocked everyone was the specified price of only 200$. In the meantime, it turned out to be unreal, but the 300€ it costs now are also very, very attractive, as it is accessible to almost anyone.
| Asus Eee PC 701 | | | CPU | Intel Celeron M na 900 MHz | | Chipset | Intel 960GML | | Memory | 512 MB DDR2 | | SSD (GB) | 4 | | Optical | None | | Graphics | Intel GMA 900 | | Display (") | 7 (800x480) | | Connectors | 3xUSB, VGA, Card Reader (SD i MMC), LAN | | Weight | 0,92 kg | | Price (EUR) | ~ 300 |
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As performance and benchmark results are not at all relevant to the subject of this article, we will try to present the basic characteristics and first impressions about this concept. We tried to install Windows XP on the computer and see how the PC behaves in ordinary, everyday circumstances.
The model at hand had a white casing (pearl white, to be precise), which didn't really give an impression of breakability, inherent to cheap notebooks. It is owing to this fact that the user can hold the device much tighter and be more relaxed about such issues, which is a major plus, as a device this small can always easily slip out and fall to the ground. Speaking about its size, the Eee's dimensions are 22.5x16.5 cm, with the width varying from 2.1 to 3.5 cm. When we transpose that to real world relations, your average Eee is slightly bigger than an A4 notebook (a paperback one:)) when fully open, i.e. with the screen angle at nearly 180 degrees. Its weight of 900 grams certainly places it into the ultra-portable category.
The screen itself has a 800x480 resolution “spread” across a 7” diagonal. Picture quality is quite good for such a small screen, mainly owing to good LED backlighting. The resolution may, however, present a problem with web surfing, since most of the sites are optimised for resolutions of 1024x768 and upwards, which implies a lot of scrolling for Eee users. Speakers on each side of the screen take up the invaluable amount of space into which a bigger screen could have been placed. We certainly hope that the next revision of Eee will take this into consideration. As far as the speakers are concerned, we were satisfied with their volume and quality of sound.
What is intriguing is that ASUS is keeping the exact product specifications a secret. It was made official that the system is based on an Intel chipset and CPU, but exact models were never declared as such. We believe that they were afraid of the possibility that low system specs might discourage potential customers, used to the “GHz/GB” value system. Thanks to the enthusiast population, which didn't require a lot of time to disassemble the device entirely, we now know exactly what is hidden inside.
The processor is an Intel Celeron M clocked at 900 MHz with 512 KB of cache, and the chipset is the Intel 910GML Express. The graphics card is integrated, of course, bearing the Intel GMA 900 sign. The system possesses 512 MB of DDR2-type RAM, and the main storage volume is, ingeniously, an SSD drive with 4 GB of storage space. The notebook also has a 802.11b/g wireless card, three USB ports, and SD/MMC card reader, LAN, microphone and headphone connectors. One D-SUB connector also enables the user to connect an external monitor as well.
The three “E”s that the title of this notebook is made of symbolise the acronym of its entire concept - “Easy to learn, Easy to work, Easy to play”. Naturally, it is targeting the widest possible consumer market, where ease of handling is the crucial factor. That goal was achieved fully, and the user interface is intuitive enough for inexperienced users to get used to easily. The default operating system is a specially optimised version of Linux. All drivers and necessary programs are pre-installed (web surfing, mail, Skype, IM, OpenOffice, audio and video players etc.).
The biggest problem and letdown with small notebooks are usually the keyboard and touchpad. Naturally, as everything is small, these two have to be miniaturised as well. To give a grade to its quality, you have to determine what to compare it with. The keyboard is satisfyingly comfortable, but users with wider (“fatter”) fingers won't really find it enjoyable. The touchpad could have been better as well. It is slightly imprecise, and it is even necessary to push it really hard to get a response at all occasionally.
Evidently, the Eee is not your desktop replacement notebook. It was made to be a secondary, not main computer. You can easily carry it around, since it is very light, and if you have wireless access in your hometown, the usability and practicality of this tiny little guy increase by leaps and bounds. You don't have to be too imaginative to see the delight of web surfing, e-mailing or note taking wherever you are, watching a film during a pause at work etc. It all depends on your needs. Although it is not without flaws (small screen and bad touchpad), ASUS's Eee PC 701 presents a most interesting product, available to anyone at this price point.
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