It remains easy (Easy), but not triply. Not that Asus has resigned his surname Eee to its family of netbooks or ultra low cost, but now the acronym does not mean "easy to learn, Easy to work and Easy to play" but "Easy, Excellent, Exciting". Or at least that's the slogan printed on the box of the Asus Eee PC 901, presented in partnership at CeBIT 2008.

Although it is not just a marketing phrase, this change corresponds to a real fenómento: those born miniportátiles flights in response to the hundred-dollar laptop finished becoming a fad. Although in the end are not as cheap as it promised, according to IDC this year sold 3.5 million of these machines, they alone being responsible for the 20% annual growth throughout the worldwide computer sales.

Maybe the sale of PCs, especially laptops, is how little is still growing despite the crisis. But something must have these little ones for almost all major manufacturers have come to follow in the footsteps of the signing of Taiwan, the first witness took the abortive OLPC and Classmate PC from Intel. In this article we will review our impressions after several days messing with this team of white case and 9-inch screen.

Colors and better utilized space
We talked about a team of white case because it is the drive we've tested. But this same model is also available in two finishes: flat black with details printed in red and green pistachio. The design has increasingly more purchasing decisions, and the colorful variety is one of the most common tactics by manufacturers.

When we say that has benefited more space, we do compared to the first Asus is officially distributed in Spain: the Asus Eee PC 4G. Keeps very similar dimensions (225 x 125.5 x 22 ~ 39 mm), but have had the good sense to remove the speakers on each side of the screen.

Therefore, the screen jumps from 7 to 8.9 inches, which is to be thankful for the view. It not only increases the size but also resolution. 1024 x 600 pixels is a much more suitable for browsing web pages. Without reaching the portable convenience of a conventional size, but note that progress and also coming Firefox 3 browser preinstalled as we can easily zoom to get closer when needed.

It should be clarified that one of the options screen comes with the stamp "1024 x 768" but it is a "false resolution." And is that all we got with it is increasing slightly the size of icons, in exchange for having to scroll vertically to view the entire main screen itself Windows XP (the computer is also available with Linux and some differences of equipment that will explain later).

Too bad that improvements in the display are not accompanied by a keyboard in a better position. The experience at the time of typing is almost identical to the Asus 7-inch: very bad. Mainly, because the width of the equipment is the same: 225 mm. and, moreover, do not rush the edges as possible. In the end, everything depends on the size of our hands, but under normal conditions this keyboard requires some practice and habit to hit well with your fingers. Of note is the minimum size of the keys as N (the image on the right is of an international keyboard settings in the Spanish ñ is just off the L).

To give you a better idea, below you leave a photo comparison of the Asus Eee PC 901 and Acer Aspire One. They have the same screen size, but in the case of the Acer model, the greatest width of the computer (249 mm ) affects slightly larger keys well-spaced, and therefore more comfortable for the hands of any mortal.

Good performance and excellent range
Often critical of the netbooks that are failing to "clone" as they share a number of internal features, such as the Intel Atom 1.6 GHz and RAM of 1 GB. But in all honesty, does not need much more. Only with this, this Asus is able to fully boot Windows in 30 seconds. A mark that is halved when shutdown.

The behavior of the machine is very fluid in all programs that bring installed, as previously mentioned Firefox 3, Skype for videoconferencing (we have a start button to direct him in the top of the keyboard) and office programs, where live free software and the owner (the drive that has reached us and version OpenOffice "cheap" the Office classic: Microsoft Works).

All this on a computer that gets something less than five hours of battery life (about four and a half). While connected to Internet via Wi-Fi, web browsing and to open Messenger. Something that is achieved by combining technologies to save power (as the backlight LED or use Disk SSD) with a good capacity battery: 6600 mAH.

The battery, of course, is much bigger than the old and 7-inch Asus. This compromise does not reach the weight of the team that just over a kilo, but it causes us to no longer use that charger similar to a mobile phone that came with the Asus Eee PC 4G. Now we have to do as with any laptop: a cable connected to the power supply and wired it to the wall. In any case, do we have to find a plug to the first exchange.

Beware the hard
Such PCs are designed to take them anywhere and perform basic tasks. But basic to what extent? Taking advantage of Windows XP, we decided to do a small test fire with this Asus: what about work if instalásemos Photoshop? There are resources from the Internet simple and accessible as the binomial Picnik, Flickr or the actual Photoshop Express. But on a trip, for example, a signatory to the above blogger could expect to get rather a tool to provide more room for maneuver and with which to work offline.

Well said and done. And the truth is that this little one passes the test with flying colors. Photoshop is a program that was choking him more than a conventional PC. The weight of the software is noticed when opening the program, the process for which this Asus Eee PC 901 invests nearly a minute. But once loaded, it works with ease and speed, even loading photos in high resolutions.

Of course, to get to this point, we had to solve a small problem: the 12 GB of hard drive capacity. To begin with, is divided into two parts: a 4-GB (C drive) to install software and a 8GB (Unit D) for saving documents. Something done with good reason to avoid loss of data. But given the nearly 3 GB holding programs that come standard and free space that the program needs photographic Adobe (only file in Photoshop CS2 installation occupies about 360 MB), Unit C falls a bit short .

In our case, while trasteábamos with Photoshop installed, we had to delete it because there was no space for regular updates of Windows. Logically, this avoids leaving the C drive only for updates, using the D drive to add the other programs you want. But it would have been nice to have some extra space. At least the 20 GB configuration brings with Linux (both models costing 400 euros, but the Linux version, not having to pay the license system, it gets a little more capacity).

Who wants this Asus Eee PC 901?
At this point in the film, it is clear what conditions a user must meet for a netbook will find interesting. First, use another computer as a main machine either at home or at work. The Asus is a machine out of tour support, especially in professional activities that do not require fill the entire hard drive complex programs.

If you are content with a word processor, Web browser, and complete another example, a VCR to watch a movie on the train, this Asus can do it. With the advantage of weighing too little, I guarantee a good number of working hours if you take good strong and most importantly, you need not invest in it the astronomical sums of most lightweight notebooks for professional use.

Strengths
A netbook carries its advantages by the mere fact of being a netbook. But it is somewhat more difficult for a model stand out from the competition in particular areas. In the case of the Asus Eee PC 901, autonomy has left us quite satisfied. And in a second order, worth noting that its equipment includes options that other companies usually placed in the section on additional improvements, such as connecting Bluetooth integrated or the presence of a web camera at 1.3 megapixels, which without being a marvel offers more quality than standard VGA models.

Can Be Improved
Why there is a configuration of the Asus Eee PC 901 with keyboard wider and more gigabytes of hard drive? Because for that there is another model, the Asus Eee PC 1000H, with more manageable keyboard, magnetic hard disk of 160 GB and, incidentally, one more inch of screen. But its price rises to 450 euros, slightly above the majority of netbooks on the market.

So in this particular model are the main drawbacks in the size of the keyboard and hard drive capacity. And if you look globally the Eee family, we have to talk about a strategy of high prices.