I have been following the recent devlopments in ultraportable and affordable laptops with great interest, and have on many occasions toyed with the idea of purchasing myself a lovely new 8.9″ screened Asus Eee PC 900. I was very interested in the 701 version available for around £220, and really appreciated the fact that Asus was trying to provide a machine for casual web browers, emailers and simple office users which was significantly cheaper than a standard laptop. I was put off by the lack of screen resolution and storage though. However, the 8.9″ 1024 x 600 screen and 20Gb storage of the 900 looked to me much more suitable for my needs.
That was, until I learned of the price the 900 commands at the moment. I was expecting another low priced device that would push the cost of the 700 down further and sit at a slightly higher price than it’s predecessor. But if I want a slice of this trendsetting beauty I’ll need to hand over around £330, a significant increase in price. This immediately struck me as a dangerous price point if Asus wants to go mass-market with this thing, as £300 is currently the price that fully specced traditional laptops come in at.
This brings up an important question;
Does the technology inside the Eee PC 900 represent good value for money, and what else could I get for the same amount?
Firstly, here are the specs of the Eee 900:
- Intel Celeron M ULV 900MHz processor
- Integrated Intel GMA 900 GPU
- 20 GB of Flash-based storage (12 GB in the Windows version)
- 1 GB of DDR2 RAM (667 MHz)
- Linux operating system (Windows XP in the 12 GB version)
- 8.9-inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution
- Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA monitor out, headphone jack, microphone input, SD card reader (SDHC compatible), Kensington lock slot, Ethernet 10/100
- Webcam (1.3 MP)
- Battery: 4-cell 5800 mAh 7.2V Li-Ion (rated at 3.5 hours)
- Wireless: 802.11b/g Atheros
- Input: Keyboard and Multi-touch touchpad
- Dimensions: 22.5cm(W) x 17cm(D) x 2cm~3.4cm(H)
- Weight: approximately 2.2 lbs with battery, 2.8 lbs travel weight with AC adapter.
- One-year warranty
So, essentially an 8.9″ screen, 900MHz Celeron, 1GB of RAM and a 20GB HDD for £330.
Having a quick look at the Dixons website, where the Eee 900 can be had for £329.95, I decided that a fair comparison would be the Acer Aspire 5315 at £299.99:
- Intel Celeron 550 Processor
- (2.0 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 1MB Cache)
- Genuine Windows Vista (R) Home Premium
- 1GB Memory Size
- 120 GB Hard Drive
- DVD Super Multi Double Layer Drive
- 15.4″ WXGA Screen
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
- Up to 252 MB Shared Graphics Memory
- Matt Black Exterior with White Keyboard
So for £30 less I can have a 15.4″ screen, 2GHz Celeron, 1GB RAM, 120GB HD and the addition of a DVD writer. Using that spare £30 I can easily add another GB of RAM. Of course this laptop is significantly larger and heavier than the Eee 900.
The above investigation shows that, while the Eee 700 was priced below anything else currently on the market and had very little competition in price or specification, it’s obvious that price is not on the 900’s side this time around as it’s significantly underspecced compared with other laptops in the price range, which leaves it with size as it’s unique selling point. Is the smaller size going to be a reason for many people to buy this? In my case, and I suspect the case of many families who are looking for a laptop for the home to get on the net using their wireless broadband, it’s a no. The specification, while usable, is just not good enough for the money to make it worth buying as a main PC over something that can display more, store much more and process data faster. This leaves it in the realm of the hardcore gadget lover, the road warrior and the guy with loads of money to spare.
In my opinion this is a real pity, as I love the Eee PC, and think it’s as important a product for the laptop industry as the iPhone is for the smartphone industry. One that isn’t my cup of tea just yet, but that is pressuring companies to innovate and compete in ways that can only benefit the consumer.
In conclusion, I have to say that the Eee 900 is a very attractive and interesting device. If you’re desperate for an ultraportable laptop at a low price and are only an office, web and email user then it’s a no-brainer decision. But at the current price point, with size not being a big enough issue for me, and the performance/usability to price ratio being paramount, the Eee PC 900 is something I won’t be purchasing. Once I am able to get one for around £200 as a secondary laptop I’ll be first in line to hand Asus my hard earned cash. On the other hand, the MSI Wind is looking mighty tempting…
