Review of Asus Eee 901 netbook

The best cheap netbook for travellers and the outdoors.

The Asus Eee 901 is a cheap netbook that comes in two versions - the first with Linux and 20GB of solid state disk storage, and the second with Windows XP and 12GB of solid state storage.

I tested the Linux version, and though I’m more familiar with Windows, the user interface was very easy to pick up.

The Eee 901 netbook is a well-built solid little machine, so would be great for travellers and those who just want to stick it in their backpack as they travel the globe - or just travel to work or college. And Asus supply it complete with a great little padded travel pouch for extra protection, so you don’t even need to buy a separate case.

The three USB ports worked fine with my external hard drive for upping and downloading files, and I particularly liked the SD card slot for extra  storage. I  plugged in the card from my digital SLR to view photos on the brilliant screen and they looked superb, full of detail..

The Eee 901 comes with wifi of course, but also with bluetooth which I found very helpful.

But the feature that really blew me away was the battery life. I took the 901 about with me for a week and regularly got over 7 hours battery life on a single charge. For such an incredibly light cheap netbook, this is just fabulous.

Some other netbooks I’ve tried - and I’ve tested quite a few - have a battery life that made me unwilling to take them too far from a power point, but with the Asus Eee 901 I had every confidence that I’d take it out fully charged in the morning and it would still be going strong that night.

This great battery life, rugged design and sheer usability make the Asus Eee 901 our recommended cheap laptop for the traveller or those with an outdoor lifestyle.

Buy it, you won’t be disappointed.