EEE PC 900 Laptop

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

Right away it's the larger screen that draws the eye when you flip open the largely unchanged chassis. Gone is the over-sized, plastic bevel which surrounded the 7-inch panel, making this version look every inch the serious laptop rather than the slightly Fisher-Price styling that resulted from the original screen. The increased resolution this gives is what really makes this version of the Eee special. At 1024x600 there's no more fiddly scrolling around web pages or straining your eyes to see what you're typing.

Aside from the screen the next biggest change is the size of the solid state drive. The Linux version has a fairly meaty 20GB drive, and the XP-powered 900 gets a smaller12GB drive .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. A nice gimmick, but unfortunately feels far more laggy than the original's responsive pad.

I'm not without my reservations. With the bigger screen comes higher power draw which inevitably has an impact on battery life - gone is the four hour up time, replaced by around 2.5 hours. The 1GB RAM pre-installed on the 900 is also slower than what was nestled in the 701. It's possible this was necessary to keep the unit price down, but when you can pick up a retail 1GB stick of DDR2 667 for $25 that seems unlikely. And that brings me neatly to the question of price.

At the $280 price mark the 701 was a no-brainer, it was cheap and did everything you needed on the move. Now with the 900 you actually have to make a decision. You need to weigh up whether you want a serious laptop you can use for everything but gaming or opt for something that's significantly smaller, yet with far less grunt for the same price. With the possibility of an Atom-powered version hovering on the horizon it makes this iteration of the Eee more of a wait-and-see product than a must-have.