Editor Rating: 8.2

Asus Eee PC 900 is an upgrade to the best-seller Eee PC, featuring a 9-inch display and a higher capacity SSD drive. It comes either with Linux or windows XP preinstalled, but it’s memory is quite low for the XP, so Linux is a better option.

It’s advantages are the low sizes, 2.2lb weight and low price, being mostly used in education and by those who need portability without high specs. The Intel Celeron processor won’t allow you to do any advanced task and don’t even think of playing, but is great for web surfing and other basic tasks.

The Eee PC 900 doesn’t have the speakers on the sides of the lid anymore, because of it’s bigger display and it’s resolution has been improved from 800×480 ( the old Eee PC ) to 1,024×600.

Asus has also made other improvements, increasing the RAM from 512 to 1GB, the SSD drive from 4GB to 12GB for the Windows version and 20GB for the Linux version. For the tasks it was designed for, those features are enough, but the 900Mhz Celeron processor is really dated and Asus should have made a slice improvement to a better Celeron or a Core Solo.

On the design part it got almost no improvement from the old Eee PC, having the same forms, sizes ( 8.9×6.5×0.9 inches ) and colors.

It’s touchpad is now bigger and has more features, working almost like the one on the MacBook Air. The keyboard remained the same, with small keys and is still hard to use. It’s hard to use for a long time, because your hands will get tired.

Eee PC 900’s low storage space can be increased using the SD memory card slot. This slot is welcome, especially for the Windows version, that features a 12GB storage capacity. Due to the increased capacity, over the older Eee PC, it seems to be slower, so expect to even lower performances.

It might not be either the fastest, longest life or best laptop of them all, but in comparison with the ones in it’s class, the battery lifetime is longer, performances are pleasant and it’s price low. Lenovo IdeaPad U100 costs $1,900 and it’s battery only lasts 90 minutes.

You can buy Asus Eee PC 900 for $550 both Windows and Linux versions and it comes with a one-year warranty, online help and a toll-free support phone number. If you only need to perform basic tasks, it might be a good option for you.