Asus Eee PC 901 review

The Eee PC was the original netbook, and its sales figures meant Asus could have been forgiven for sitting on their laurels.

Instead, they've spent the last few months feverishly developing new and improved versions. Perhaps too many, you could argue, especially if you'd seen the overpriced and silly S101, the computing equivalent of Sharpay from High School Musical. We had a moment of d?vu when our 901 arrived with a pink sparkly finish, but in fact it's an altogether more sensible machine, with its clear 8.9 inch screen squeezed into the same size of chassis as the original 7 inch model. The cramped keyboard is a weak point, unfortunately.

The Eee is one of only two netbooks in this group that uses flash memory (oxymoronically known as a 'solid state drive', or SSD) as a faster, though less capacious, alternative to a hard disk. This makes an appreciable improvement to general Windows performance, and will survive the kind of knocks that could damage a hard drive. SSDs are much more expensive per gigabyte, though, so you only get 12GB - more than enough for storing piles of office documents, but nowhere near adequate for a serious collection of photos or music. Extra storage can be added via the SD memory slot if needed, with cards of up to 16GB now available at reasonable prices.

The 901 is one of only three machines here that features the latest 802.11n WiFi, giving the potential for faster connections and longer range when used with the latest routers, whether at home or at a hotspot. The Gigabit Ethernet port also ensures wired connections work at the full speed of the network you plug into. And when it comes to the Achilles heel of so many mobile devices, battery life, the 901, like the original Eee, came up trumps, going for an amazing eight hours of light use in our tests. With a choice of finishes to suit all tastes, the Asus is as good a choice as ever.