If you’re still pondering the purchase of the new, expanded E3PC model, maybe this competent review of the Asus Eee PC 900 by Riyad Emeran on TrustedReviews will give you some more grain of salt and wise advice. Riyad opens his article with a parallel I appreciated, recalling an example of small-form factor, LCD, solid-state disk device which ‘mature’ computer users probably know: the Psion’s palmtop series of PDAs. The comparison is used just as a proof that Asus simply recalled this ‘essential device’ concept bringing it in today’s world of personal computing. Besides this, the review underlines again the welcome improvements in screen, webcam and touchpad size, with the new multi-touch gestures in the latter, and the larger RAM (1GB) and SSD (12GB and 20GB for the Windows XP and Linux versions respectively). The choice of a smaller SSD is of course a smart and tactical move to keep the overall price down even with a Windows XP licence included, but users who already have a Windows XP CD spare may, as Riyad suggests, buy the Linux Eee PC 900 version and install the OS themselves, gaining the extra 8GB in the process. No other upgrades or expansions to exepct from this new model, as you’ll read again in this new article, and even the fake modem port disappears as showed one of the many great pictures the author has included in his review. One negative point is, as many expcted and feared, a reduced battery life in the Eee PC 900 model, due to the larger screen to be addressed and managed by the same CPU as previous models. Compared to an extimate 2,5 hours by Asus itself, Riyad declares about two hours but with full brightness and an active wireless connection, so the official battery life is probably reached with a little tweaking towards optimization.
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