Asus 900 Mini Notebook: Hitting the Sweet Spot?
If you're the kind of person who likes to keep in touch with the world from just about anywhere, then this snazzy new subnotebook might be for you.
I like to blog in all sorts of places, and I like to travel light. I’m also a bit cheap. That makes 2008 a good year for me, as it’s the year of tiny, cheap laptops.
The trend kicked off with the tiny, Linux-based Asus Eee PC.
So when Asus came out with a 9″ version sporting XP
In most ways, it’s just a 7″ Eee PC with a bigger screen and Windows. It sports a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam, and a wide array of ports (3 USB, Ethernet, microphone/headphone, and CRT), plus an SD card-reader. The screen is the only thing that’s bigger — setting the 9″ Asus atop the 7″ Asus, they appear to be exactly the same size. Alas, that includes the smallish keyboard, which is usable, even to a guy like me with big hands, but a bit cramped. (The keyboard on the HP Mini-Note, on the other hand, is superb, really the best feature of that machine and about the best small laptop keyboard I’ve encountered anywhere.) The 9″ screen is crisp, bright, and clear. I think I like it better than the HP’s screen, which has gotten rave reviews. Wifi, managed by Windows, is much better than the wifi management on the 7″ Linux Asus, which requires you to log on each and every time.
Battery life is good — 3+ hours of surfing, blogging, and so on — and the 9″ computer, like the 7″ Asus, is small enough to fit in the outside zipper pocket on my backpack. (Asus includes a small slip-on laptop sleeve, too, which is kind of a nice touch on a budget-priced machine.) The fan sound, though not loud, is at an annoying pitch.
The computer comes refreshingly free of crapware, with only a few preinstalled programs — there’s Microsoft Works, and a fully-functional version of StarSuite (Sun’s commercial version of OpenOffice), as well as a PowerPoint viewer and DVD-playing software, though you’d need an external optical drive for DVDs as the Asus, like most subnotebooks, lacks an optical drive.
I wouldn’t want to write a novel on this machine, but the tiny keyboard is perfectly usable — I’m writing this review on it now — and it has a go-anywhere charm that, coupled with its relatively low price, means you’d bring it with you when you might be inclined to leave a fancier laptop behind. Is this the machine for peripatetic bloggers? At the moment, I think it’s probably the best combination of features and low price out there. But the race for cheap subnotebooks is still ongoing, which means that things may get even better soon. What I’d really like is something with the price of the Asus, the keyboard of the HP, and Windows XP for speed and broad software compatibility. And in fact, HP is planning to bring out an XP version of the Mini-Note, while other companies are working hard to join the cheap subnotebook wave. It’s a great time to be, well, me.
Glenn Reynolds is the Beauchamp Brogan Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee, and blogs at InstaPundit.
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27 Comments
1. Lou Minatti:At $550, it doesn’t seem like much of a bargain compared with the power and quality I can get from a Toshiba or Compaq for the same (or lesser) price.
The screens on Asus machines are mediocre. I am not talking about size, I am talking about resolution and crispness of the display. It’s HORRIBLE, like something that came from a bad cell phone 5 years ago.
May 28, 2008 - 5:24 am 2. Lifeguard:I just don’t see the attraction when going a little bit bigger will get you a real computer. I think I’ll stick with my 3 pound Thinkpad X61s with its 12″ screen, awesome keyboard, trackpoint, Core 2 Duo, 4GB of RAM, and extended battery that lasts 6-7 hours.
May 28, 2008 - 5:46 am 3. Jonathan:I’ve played around with an older 7″ Asus at Best Buy, and even that seemed like an excellent size/price/performance package. I haven’t seen anything else useful in this market space. The screen was good, the keyboard cramped but usable, and the size phenomenal. I’ll probably get one from Amazon when they come out in black. I wish they had a 20GB option with XP, but am looking forward to seeing how Linux works.
May 28, 2008 - 5:50 am 4. Surflizard » Asus 900 Mini Notebook:[...] the Sweet Spot? Glenn Reynolds has posted a review of the 9″ Asus [...]
May 28, 2008 - 5:52 am 5. MikeT:For twice that price, you can buy a MacBook, which is a significantly more powerful product, similar form factor and has a far better operating system. once the Eee PC went over 399.99, it started to run with the big dogs, and shows how puny it really is.
I’m a gadget geek myself. However, when I tried out a 7″ Eee PC at Best Buy, I thought it was at best just a toy.
May 28, 2008 - 5:58 am 6. Fidel, MD:What you’re buying for your $550 is a 2-lb computer. Your discounted Toshibas or whatever will tip the scales at 4x that (or more).
And your Lenovo will weigh more and cost at least 4x more.
May 28, 2008 - 6:00 am 7. Wellspring:It does seem to be pushing the price envelope a bit.
I’m going to get SOMETHING in this category by fall. I’d love to see the side-by-side review of the Mini-Note, this laptop and the MSI Wind (along with any others that appear). The Wind looks very good, but that’s probably because it’s still vaporware. Right now the leader looks to be ASUS still.
Keep in mind that the 901 is right around the corner. Similar price, similar everything except that it will have a more power-efficient processor (the Intel Atom).
May 28, 2008 - 6:12 am 8. Wearyman:The price is right on the edge of what most people are willing to pay for a micro-laptop. However, the specs, even for the older 7″ machine, are impressive on a machine that size.
As far as wifi goes, The problem you were running into is the particular edition of Linux that the EEEPC runs. Other versions of Linux don’t require a logon every time. (I use Ubuntu Linux 7.10 on a Thinkpad T42 and I never have to log into my wireless. It just picks it up and goes.)
Also keep in mind that Linux will also run a bit faster on the EEEPC than Windows will, and you can get the same software that the EEEPC comes with (Ubuntu installs with Open Office by default, as do many other versions of Linux.)
Personally, I’m hoping that the Via reference design micro-notebook will become commercially available in the US soon. It should hit around the same price point, but will be available to lots of small companies to customize with whatever OS they want to sell and slightly more robust hardware than even the eee900.
May 28, 2008 - 6:33 am 9. RDH:I have been playing with an ASUS 7″ since Christmas and really prefer the Linux OS to XP. It’s nice to boot up and be working in 15 seconds. Glenn, you need to look at the wifi setup in the Linux version more closely. I easily found a way to automatically connect to my network on boot and also set up alternates that the system would cascade through until it found a network. It was much easier than anything I set up in XP.
May 28, 2008 - 6:51 am 10. BR:You wrote: “Wifi, managed by Windows, is much better than the wifi management on the 7″ Linux Asus, which requires you to log on each and every time.”
Just like everything else on Linux, I’m pretty sure the wireless management is configurable. I dual boot Ubuntu with XP on my regular laptop and I can switch wireless networks without having to input a password. Actually on my laptop (Toshiba Satellite M65) the Linux wireless management is better then the windows management. It has better range, and XP occasionally will start dropping the connection until I delete all of the saved settings for wireless connections. Disclaimer: different laptops generally have different drivers/hardware so your mileage may vary.
May 28, 2008 - 6:59 am 11. windows vista log on users:[...] price, and ?? at least bogged down with windows Vista, as my machine was ?? it was pretty slow. …http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/asus-900-mini-notebook-hitting-the-sweet-spot/Dan Cunningham Updates Workstation Migration Assistant 1.0 to RC3? Dan Cunningham has posted the [...]
May 28, 2008 - 7:14 am 12. Alan:The commentators pointing out that they can buy a larger PC for the price are totally missing the point of these mini-portables, and that is small size and weight. The real point of these tiny portables wizzed right over their heads.
May 28, 2008 - 8:13 am 13. Bob:I have been using a tiny Sony VGN-TX850P for a year. It weighs 1 kilo (2.1 lbs), is sized like the HP mini-note, and includes a DVD drive. The list price was over $2K, but when Vista came out, I picked up a couple of XP versions on Amazon for $1500 each.
Having a 2 lb computer has changed my whole way of working. For a while I also used a bigger desktop, but then I dumped some archival data that I don’t really need and converted to the mini-note book as my ONLY computer.
Now I can get something that size for $400 to $800 instead of $2000+. Since my copy of XP is at the point where it needs to be completely reinstalled, I consider it better to just get a new machine instead. What fun!
May 28, 2008 - 8:32 am 14. MikeT:Maybe we’re just not starstruck by a laptop whose only selling point is being not much larger than many paperback novels.
A 12-13″ laptop is where the usability and performance really come in for the buck. Try a 12″ PowerBook G4 or an Intel MacBook. They’re not heavy, and their form factor fits well into any sort of travel gear you have like a suitcase or a book bag.
May 28, 2008 - 11:45 am 15. Alan:Maybe we’re just not starstruck by a laptop whose only selling point is being not much larger than many paperback novels.
Once again the point of these tiny portable PC’s just wizzed right over his head again.
I have a 12″ portable and I hate to carry that big, heavy thing through airports and on trips. If you want big, fine, but these small PC’s fit my needs and apparently a lot of other peoples needs.
May 28, 2008 - 12:07 pm 16. Seerak:Maybe we’re just not starstruck by a laptop whose only selling point is being not much larger than many paperback novels.
Well, until these little guys showed up, portable PC’s in this form factor were all being sold at a premium over the regular-size ones. That business model went on for some time before Asus dropped this one in their midst… that means that some people — even if most of them were marketers — thought that the ultra-portable form factor was a premium feature.
Asus turns that on its head and knocks 75% off the price, and now here you are whining that “it’s only selling point” was its size? Go find someone who shelled out 2k for the same-sized Sony Viao or Samsung UMPC last year, and ask what they think.
May 28, 2008 - 12:58 pm 17. Koby:gee, if only I had Open Office and a portable bluetooth keyboard for my iPhone!
May 28, 2008 - 12:59 pm 18. Koby:for the record, I make the iPhone comment in jest! Great review! I think that the Asus is a fine machine, with Linux. I look forward to having one.
May 28, 2008 - 1:06 pm 19. MikeT:The point was hardly lost on me. You are clearly just upset because I regard most of the people drooling over the Eee PC as being the same sort of useful idiots that I see driving huge SUVs through stop-and-go traffic everyday to work. Yes, it’s more portable. A Nokia N810, if you throw in a collapsable bluetooth keyboard is probably even more so.
You can’t seriously expect anyone to believe that a 12″ laptop is heavy. A new MacBook Pro weighs 5.5lb, and the smaller ones 5lb. I guess it’s that 3lb. Must make a world of difference…
May 29, 2008 - 1:38 pm 20. Capt Nemo:Just got mine from Amazon and so far I love it. The keyboard isn’t as bad as I thought. I plan on buying and external DVD drive tomorrow and installing MS Office then watching a movie. We’ll see how it runs then.
Any advice for me? Thanks.
May 29, 2008 - 1:45 pm 21. jfruser:Folks who can’t see the significance of the cheap ultra-portable in general and the Asus eee series in particular are, indeed, missing the point.
A fine example is hte following:
“A new MacBook Pro weighs 5.5lb, and the smaller ones 5lb. I guess it’s that 3lb. Must make a world of difference…”
Maybe not a world, but 5# is _150%_ the weight of the eee’s 2#. That plus a 12″ LCD is the difference between a dedicated carry device (laptop bag) and just tossing it into a purse, satchel, or whatnot.
Also, these eee-class cheap ultra-portables have enough grunt to handle what 95% of users will throw at them (mail, word proc, web surf). At around $500, they are becoming a commodity item, not a niche/novelty product like the high-dollar ultra-portables or the Macs.
May 30, 2008 - 6:42 am 22. Kim Ellis:little but powerful
Jul 20, 2008 - 8:41 pm 23. ZEITGEIST:[...] tested the Asus — both 7″ and 9″ — and the HP Mini-Note. All are good, though the Mini-Note with XP would be [...]
Jul 21, 2008 - 6:33 am 24. Dan Tucker:I just ordered a 900 from Amazon.com for a mere $399. I used to carry a 12″ 4lb Dell, now a 15″ 5 lb HP. I miss the smaller size and lighter weight of the Dell, though I like the full sized keyboard and generous screen size of the HP.
I can’t wait to get the 900. I’m looking forward to my first Linux PC and having that tiny little, lightweight form factor for convenience. At only $400, it was almost an impulse purchase! I was hooked by seeing the 700 for only @$299, but decided the bigger screen and more storage were worth the $100 incremental cost.
A perfect spare computer to have around the house and for my 8 year old to play with. For $20-$30 I can hook it up to a 32″ flat screen TV via RGB and plug in a wireless keyboard and mouse… Best of both worlds!
Aug 8, 2008 - 1:49 pm 25. laptop battery:But I dont think this is some thing which is related to BIOS settings, rather I would say may be some thing is not right at the partition table…
Aug 21, 2008 - 9:52 pm 26. Sean:I would say creat a primary partion of 10 GB then a large NTFS partion for Windows and keep the rest for Linux.. Now please try and install the Linux.. I have tried Ubuntu / Fedoa 7 and OpenSUSE 10, all 3 have worked fine…
“You are clearly just upset because I regard most of the people drooling over the Eee PC as being the same sort of useful idiots that I see driving huge SUVs through stop-and-go traffic everyday to work.”
Huh? You’re comparing SUV’s to micro-computers? Or the people who drive SUV’s to those who buy/use micro-computers? You make no sense yourself, guy.
Nov 1, 2008 - 8:22 am 27. zanago:Yes,Asus EEE PC is one the most famous portable devices that won many awards.I like eee pc netbook very much but have no idea about Asus 900 Mini.
Sep 28, 2009 - 2:03 am