Asus Eee PC 701 review

It's hard to believe that Asus's new Eee PC 701 costs just over £200, especially as it's an ultraportable laptop, which would normally command a premium.

But this tiny marvel has a 7in screen and weighs less than a kilogram. It's aimed at anyone who needs a portable computer, or simply wants to spend as little as possible; you can't even buy an entry-level PC at this price.

But how good can a laptop be for this amount of money? First impressions were excellent. The display is surprisingly good; the 800x480 resolution works well on the 7in diagonal. The keys on the keyboard are very small, and although those with larger digits will struggle not to hit adjacent keys until they get used to it, they're the perfect size for children. The trackpad is accurate, but with all the icons being so small, we initially found it difficult to make the cursor stay on one icon while we clicked the trackpad button. A quick delve into the settings menu allowed us to change the sensitivity and make it easier to control. The only real issue is with the trackpad buttons. There's a single piece of plastic covering both buttons, which makes it too easy to press the wrong side.

The Eee PC is built to withstand being carried anywhere. The screen doesn't flex, the keyboard feels tough and it should survive the occasional knock without faltering. One of the reasons for this is the use of a solid state hard disk, rather than a fragile mechanical one. The downside is that it has a capacity of only 4GB, of which 2.3GB is occupied by the operating system. It's also the reason why there are no benchmark results in this review: after installing Windows XP, there was no room for our test files.

Few other corners are cut, although it's worth noting the absence of a CD or DVD drive. There may be only 512MB of RAM, but this is enough because the Eee PC runs a Linux-based streamlined operating system. Linux has a reputation as being usable only by geeks, but the Eee PC is incredibly user-friendly and includes a wealth of essential programs.

While some of the applications can be a little slow to load from the hard disk, they run smoothly. There are six menus on the desktop, separated into different types of applications and functions. We were particularly taken with how easy it is to customise your favourite applications list. Using a simple two-menu program, you can pick your new favourite application from the list and drop it into the adjacent favourites menu. The Music Manager program makes it incredibly simple to organise your music collection, being more intuitive than iTunes or Windows Media Center, and you can store MP3s on a high-capacity SD card since there's an SD reader. There are similar programs to organise your photo collection, and for getting some work done there's OpenOffice 2, which is compatible with Microsoft Office.

The 701 has an internal 802.11g wireless adaptor, which can be easily set to find and connect to your wireless network automatically. Firefox and Thunderbird are preinstalled for browsing the internet and email. The internal webcam is another bonus, although, like many webcams, it struggles a little with fast motion. The built-in microphone sounds good and relatively noise-free and, while the internal speakers lack bass, they are easily on a par with speakers in laptops costing three times the price. Around the edges there are three USB2 ports for plugging in peripherals.

If you don't fancy getting to grips with Linux, the Eee PC is capable of running Windows XP. The manual includes instructions on how to install it, and you can download drivers from Asus's website. If you can wait a few weeks, Asus has confirmed that Eee PCs will be available to buy with Windows preinstalled by early 2008. It's a nice touch that the website is as user-friendly and organised as the Eee PC itself, so if you have any problems with your computer, the answer shouldn't be far away.