You know how those stories start: I started writing this review on my loaner Eee PC 900 but...well this is not going to be one of those. The Asus Eee PC 900 is, as the Scots might say, a wee ripper. But is it worth the money?

To be honest, I would much rather be writing this on my desktop with its full sized keyboard and 22 inch monitor rather than a sub-notebook with half-sized keyboard and 8.9 inch screen. However, that's an unfair comparison.

I would be using the Eee PC on the road instead of say my Dell Latitude or a MacBook, not in my office. Then the comparison becomes more valid and the ratios reduce. At 21 cm (8.25 inches) the Eee PC 900 keyboard is a bit more than 70% the width of my Dell notebook's and the 8.9 inch monitor is about 65% the diagonal length of my notebook's.

Can I work comfortably with the Eee PC 900 proportions? Maybe not comfortably, but certainly acceptably. Add to that, the convenience factor of the sub-notebook and the scales become more evenly balanced. At just under 1 kg with a tiny form factor, the Eee PC 900 makes a far more convenient traveling companion than a comparatively heavy and cumbersome full-sized notebook.

Having had a play with the smaller screened version Eee PC, I probably wouldn't be writing this review. However, at 8.9 inches and a resolution of 1024x600, Asus has now produced a sub-notebook with a monitor that skirts the lower limits of usability in my opinion and that's just fine.

I'm writing this in OpenOffice.org 2.0 with the page zoom factor set at 150%. That gives me a page which comfortably fits within the width of the monitor and a large easy to read font size (even without my glasses). Then of course you can easily resize the page ala iPhone multi-touch style by "pinching" or "stretching" the Eee PC 900 mouse pad - the first time anyone outside of Apple has offered this feature.

When I unpacked my review machine, I was unsure whether I would be getting the Linux with 20GB of storage or the Windows XP model with 12GB. I am happy to say that I got the Linux version because I honestly believe the Eee PC concept was designed to meet a specific need that only Linux, Open Source and Cloud Computing can provide. I wanted to see if it met that need.

The thing that grabs you from the moment you take the Eee PC 900 out of the box is the elegance and simplicity of its design. In fact, it is reminiscent of the Apple MacBook, down to the white smooth plastic casing. When I set the review machine up, everything was neatly packaged and plug-and-play. Aside from the battery and power cord, all that came with the notebook was a simple manual, quick use guide, a Linux recovery disk and a support CD that runs under Windows XP (I guess that one's for the Windows model.

Upon booting the Eee PC 900 up, you know that this sub-notebook was purpose built to be packaged with this particular implementation of Xandros Linux in much the same way that Macs are packaged with Mac OS. Yes, you can put Windows XP on it (as some Asian resellers have done with the smaller screened version) but then all you end up with I believe is an underpowered sub-notebook running an OS it was never really designed for.

You could also install an alternative Linux distro as some hobbyists have done but doing so defeats the purpose of what the Eee PC concept is all about – Easy to Learn, Easy to Work, Easy to Play.

The appeal of the Eee PC 900 (and the smaller screened version) is the integrated user interface. From the instant it boots up, most new users should feel at home. This will be especially the case if they spend a lot of time online.

The first screen users will see is the Internet menu page, where they can choose to connect to a wireless network. I had absolutely no trouble at all connecting my home wireless network on the first try, after which I brought up all the familiar tabbed web pages that I have permanently running when I'm working. I also logged in to Skype.

Being a Gmail, Google Calendar and Skype user, the Eee PC 900 is perfect for traveling with when I'm working. I can either connect to a network at a Wi-Fi hotspot or I can use my 3G phone as a USB wireless broadband modem. Provided I can go online - and let's face it most of us need to go online if we want to do useful work when we're on the road these days – then I can pretty much do anything that I usually do on my desktop in the office, including making Skype voice calls using the built-in microphone.

If you're the type that needs everything to be on the desktop and the 20GB of flash storage is not enough, there are three USB ports that you can use for an external hard disk drive, flash memory stick or external optical disk drive.

Of course, the Eee PC 900 is not supposed to be just a work machine.

Although they don't interest me, Asus has made quite a reasonable attempt to package some science, maths and language educational packages that would probably appeal to school students up to junior high level. As one Linux advocate I spoke to recently said, the Eee PC is something that high school students would probably go nuts over because it's so easy to just chuck in your bag and use anywhere.

As far as the "play" features of the Eee PC 900 are concerned, the games are pretty basic stuff. However, the lifestyle features are good, with the popular Amarok music organiser pre-installed as well as inbuilt 1.3 megapixel webcam, sound recorder, media player, photo and video organisers and so on. Of course, being Linux, there's no iTunes but, if you're not hung up on using the iTunes store, Amarok devotees will swear it doesn't matter.

In my last story about the Eee PC 900, I gave Asustek Australia a bit of curry for setting the price of the Linux version at $649 compared to $599 for the Windows version, when overseas both machines carry identical price tags. However, it should be noted in Asus' favour that for once Australians are paying similar prices in their local currency as their counterparts in the US. It's nice to know that we're not being price gouged for technology as is the case with other vendors.

The real question of course is whether the Asus Eee PC 900 Linux model is worth the money. Before answering, I want to once again differentiate between the Linux and Windows versions.

I like the form factor of the Eee PC 900 and the more I've used it writing this, the more comfortable I've felt with it. However, I don't think it was designed for Windows – it's not powerful enough to deal with the added overheads, especially security.

On the other hand, looking at the Eee PC 900 with this particular packaged version of Xandros Linux, the question springs to mind what other sub-notebook is available at this price that is comparable. The answer is none. So is it worth $649? Hell, yes!

Original link: http://www.itwire.com/content/vi...