Asus Eee PC 901 20G Linux Edition

I have a 901 Linux ,as with most things in life there are advantages and disadvantages. Linux boots up in25 sec. ideal for wifi hotspots.travel.emails, and surfing the net(mozilla firefox) .battery life is very good too. It comes loaded with software- for work and play including, Picassa for images and from Sun systems a program comparable to microsoft word. A dictionary .games ,a media player for internet radio and music.This OS less prone to virus . On the downside linux to date is very limited with the amount and type of periphericals you might in the future want to use . To date not even itunes software is available officialy for linux. I use my 901 from wifi hotspots and have a wireless 3G sim data card from VODAFONE for portability and anywhere internet use when hotspots are not available. Very light weight,keyboard takes getting used to but not impossible ,and the mouse pad is remarkably sensitive. Overall i am pleased with the purchase . Its GOOD VALUE for the money .Asus is one of the big world players in computer motherboars . A serious brand. My harderest decision was pondering over Linux or Windows .I went for Linux just to try a different OS.

I love my 901. I bought the Linux version for its greater storage room, and then I converted it to XP SP3.

At first I thought I had made a very bad buy, and was depressed. Definitely the 901 is overpriced, by arguably $100 to $200. Let's say about $100. I'm on a tight budget, so I was running scared of anything not being just right. There is no DVD/CD in the 901, so right away you're considering USB possibilities and possibly an $80 external hard drive.

My 901 on Linux ran into an internet connection bug that some of the Linux versions have. Well, I was already going to put XP on, but at the time I didn't know if this were just a Linux problem. (It was.) I can do pretty well anything with XP, but I don't know Linux well enough to troubleshoot it effectively. I was really somewhat scared of this glitch, and that turned into real after-purchase depression.

It took me a week to get my spirits back up to putting in XP. I did a few days' research into doing it from a USB stick, but I began wondering whether my time was worth it. Finally I gave in and bought the $80 external hard drive. I was also planning on 2 GB of RAM, which would be another $35.

My fortunes changed when I put in XP. I knew what I was doing, then. Using the XP CD, I chose to zap everything. I had read that one partition would show up as "BIOS", but, no, you're not killing your BIOS. So now I had the usual XP setup decisions to make, which I rather enjoy. I decided to put XP on the smallest GB drive. I didn't use nLite; just a nice reasonable XP. All finished and trimmed, it would end up using a teensy bit less than 3 GB, leaving 20% empty for easy defragging. To do this--important--I would move my pagefile to a different drive, immediately on setting up XP. And later I would compress quite a few of XP's files.

Also, I keep my programs in another partition on ANY XP install. On my Eee, I set up the larger drive to have 2 partitions. A 5 GB partition holds all my programs, and the remaining 10 GB or so is for creative work.

As I said, things began to go much better for me with that install. In advance, I'd taken some time to download and organize all my drivers from the ASUS site. You need those for XP, because this is originally a Linux version, right?

Finally, after two weeks of sweet running, I spent another $60 on a SDHC 16 GB flash card, which fits weightlessly and invisibly into the 901's side. AND, unnecessarily, I splurged $80 on a sale-priced 500 GB external hard drive. To complete things, I have $5 thrift store powered speakers. If you're looking at my costs, consider that 500 GB hard drive a luxury, but very well priced. The cheap used speakers give my 901 a very nice voice indeed. Of course, the external hard drive, the external DVD, and those speakers are not really portable. Only the Eee is, with its flash drive and as many USB sticks as you might feel like carrying.

As you know, drive size is based on the 1000x arithmetic; not the 1024 arithmetic. (Check Wikipedia.) It isn't a scam. It just means you get a bit less than you might have expected. In actual available storage terms, I now have 34 GB on my 901, like this:
-- Drive (C) with XP on it: 3.75 GB
-- Drive (D) with my programs: 5.03 GB
-- Drive (E) for my own work; this being really a companion partition to (D): 10.0 GB
-- Drive (F), my flash SDHC: 15.3 GB (note that this increases things by some 81%)

I also did put in the 2 GB of RAM. That is an easy but scary operation. No, it is NOT the thing with the 2 screws in it! The RAM is hidden under a flap. And you have to put it in very gently but also very FIRMLY. I succeeded on my 4th try. It's just a matter of making a FIRM connection.

And of course you want to re-format that SDHC as NTFS, so Google for the free hp Format Tool, which does that in a few easy seconds.

My 901 is not bloated, but it is luxurious. It has some strong programs on it, including Google Earth. It has 3 internet browsers, because I experiment with browsers. It is set up for 2 users. It has my pretty home-made icons. This is no starvation-diet in-transit get-along-with minimalist PC. At the monment I'm using it about 6 hours a day while I build my new desktop computer, a powerful giant the very opposite of my 901. But this 901 is about the cutest bit of pure luxury I've ever owned.

I'm a one-finger typist, and I have been for 53 years, so I go at quite a fast 45 wpm. On this keyboard, I might have an advantage over a "proper" typist. The keys are small, close together--and, beware--the keyboard flexes. You might hate that. I get along with it. But it's not solid.

The screen is small, but your text is extremely clear. I don't get eye strain. I'm surprised.

If you decide to buy a 901, go in with your eyes open. It is overpriced. Oh, do you need an external DVD? Well, you can do these things with a USB stick, but I've used my new external DVD for lots of things with my 901 now, so I consider it at the very least a very desirable luxury. It is very, very handy.

I hope this gives you a few insights. Would I do it again? You bet I would. Scariest part: totally wiping out Linux on my brand new machine. Of course, it does have recovery disks. Er--they're disks. You'd need an external DVD/CD to use them.

Conclusion: I love it! Good luck if you get one. Take it easy (that's what one of the 3 "e"s in Eee stands for, y'know.

Carson

thanks for displaying the price's from other company's as i looked on oyyy an their price is £196 + vat=£230,,for the Asus EEE 900 Series Notebook PC 900MHz 1024MB 20GB 8.9 inch Linux (White). your latest price say's £282? i think you should renew your price check!!!
so for u gargain hunters check out oyyy.co.uk

If XP is installed on a 901 20G Linux, will the netbook have the exact same features of the 901 that come with XP? (I’m talking about battery life and real sound quality)

Cheers