Asus EEE PC Netbook - A Review

(One of my sisters recently acquired the little Asus netbook and I asked her to write a review as a companion piece to the one I wrote about my Acer and the ones Fabulously Broke in the City wrote about her HP Mini 1000 and her boyfriend's Toshiba NB100. Now you have good information on four of these little treasures!)

I bought an Asus Eee PC in January and I’ve been very pleased so far. I chose the 900HA 8.9-Inch Netbook , which weighs about 3.5 pounds with the 6–cell battery attached. My reason for buying a netbook was simple; I didn’t have a laptop, and after spending the money to replace my desktop, I didn’t have the funds to also purchase a full-size laptop. At a little over $300, the netbook was the perfect solution; it’s fast, efficient, capable of almost everything that a regular laptop is, and it’s also small enough and light enough to pop into a large purse or totebag and carry it with me anywhere.

This handy little laptop was easy to use straight out of the box; it came partially charged and booted up quickly on the first try. I was setting up a new wireless network in my home through a router, and between the router and the Eee PC, I had everything I needed for a fast and effortless setup. The netbook found the wireless network immediately, and I was online within minutes. I had heard that one of the downsides of these little netbooks was the lack of a cd-rom drive, making it difficult to load or use programs from a disk. That drawback was quickly overcome by setting the netbook up to share the cd/dvd drive from my desktop pc over the network. I was able to do that very easily with some over-the-phone help from my computer consultant. (That would be me - lol!)

The size of the netbook is perfect for me. The screen is big enough to see without difficulty and has good, clear graphics. Although I’m used to my desktop’s 19” monitor, I have no trouble viewing documents and webpages on this little machine. I was able to transition from my full-size keyboard to the netbook’s compact version with the same ease. The only complaint I have about the keyboard is the placement of the right shift key. In order to fit all the necessary keys into the smaller space, the designers decided to make the right shift key smaller, the size of a single letter key, and although it’s still below the enter key, it shares that space with the page up key. Worst of all, it’s located to the outside of the page up, so my finger tends to automatically hit the page up when I’m reaching for the right shift. After several weeks of use I am getting used to it and making fewer mistakes. If I decide it’s really a problem I’d like to fix, I have read that there are several free applications available on the web that will allow me to swap the function of those two keys and put the right shift back within easy reach.

Battery life has been excellent with the 6-cell battery that came standard on the 904HA. At 100% charge, it shows about 5 hours of battery time available, and that’s been pretty accurate so far. Because I’ve mostly been using the netbook around my house, I haven’t bothered to adjust the screen settings, etc. to extend battery life to its reported potential of 7 hours, but I’ll probably try that when I have an opportunity to use it on a longer trip away from home. The battery recharges very quickly.

Having the Asus Eee PC has allowed me to experience the ease and flexibility of life with a laptop without a huge outlay of cash, and I couldn’t be happier with my choice.