Asus EeePC 900

Asus EeePC 900

Feature

Asustek was the first company to realise the potential of small, portable and affordable computers.

Small is beautiful
Asustek was the first company to realise the potential of small, portable and affordable computers. The fact that these sorts of computers have been non-existent before now still baffles me, since the technology has certainly been there. However, even Asustek didn't realise what they were starting when they first told the world about their upcoming Asus EeePC 700. Their idea was to market it as the first computer to children and grandparents who, presumably, don't need their computers to be that powerful but still appreciate easy portability. In reality, the cheap ultra-mobile PCs, recently also dubbed as netbooks, were first embraced by geeks and professionals everywhere but also found their way to the hands of casual computer users who also found the affordability and portability to be more important than a powerful processor or graphics card.

Design and layout
Asus EeePC 900
Asus EeePC 900 is the big brother to the first EeePC and has a 8.9” 1024x600 display in comparison to the original model's 7”. The frame is not noticeably larger, however, and thus most of the 900 series models could be described as the culmination point of the original idea behind the netbooks. They are small and light enough to be used while lying down on a couch, holding the netbook with one hand and typing and using the touchpad with the other. Any heavier or bigger and this would not be possible anymore. Thus, all the 10” models with bigger keyboards that are cropping up from every which manufacturer compete in a somewhat different series than the 9” models, as they are bigger and clumsier and are better to be used on a lap or desk.

The keyboard on the 900 is small – so small, in fact, that anyone with large hands (me!) should give it a hard look and try it out before making the decision to buy this one instead of the 1000 series. You can get used to it to an extent, however, and this very article is a proof of that, as it is written on the 900. But what requires more getting used to is the placement and size of the right Shift key, which resides right beside and behind the up arrow key, making any mistypes you make that much more annoying.

The touchpad is something that I fell in love with as soon as I tried it out the first time. The multitouch that allows you to use multi-finger gestures to scroll down a long web page or document become a second nature to you so quickly that going back to use a regular PC laptop touchpad is like going back to wooden clubs just when you learned to craft swords.

User interface
The OS used in the EeePC series is a variation of the Xandrox Linux distribution. EeePC also comes with WindowsXP, but it is really with Linux that the EeePC finds its forte. This is because of the unique tabbed user interface that brings almost everything that you may need to your fingertips. The tabs are Internet, Work, Learn, Play, Settings and Favorites.