Customer Reviews:
 Poor Keyboard Battery Life and Touch Pad July 27, 2010
justme
I have had many problems with the keyboard and especially the touch pad with this item. Now the battery life has diminished to fifteen minutes. I have had the product only for a year. Make sure you see the quality of build before you purchase this item. It is very poor.
 cute little machine -- not a laptop replacement April 19, 2010
CMB (Salem, Oregon)
I wasn't looking for a laptop replacement -- I was looking for a reasonably portable internet radio. See my reviews of the Aluratek, Grace Allegro, and ccrane wifi radio. I gave up on an actual radio. Like other reviewers, I found it necessary to replace the operating system almost immediately. As a Linux newbie, I found most of the install advice daunting, and I wound up using Leeenux, which had clear instructions and was really easy to install. After updating it (in system tools -- and painless compared to what people report about the Asus operating system update), I was able to install Real Player for Linux (the debian package installs like you;re used to windows installers -- you click on it and it does its thing). After much research I'm still not having any luck with Windows MMS streams (even though RealPlayer for Linux supposedly plays windows media format) but I can still access much more radio than any of the above 3 "internet radios" would let me get. You can set it for the screen to turn off after a minute and to go to sleep after a half hour, so it's workable as a bedside radio. It boots pretty fast. It's reasonably portable at least to carry around the house. I haven't tried other apps...It does have wireless G, not N, and no bluetooth...In summary, if you want a teeny laptop that does everything yout bigger one does, this isn't it. But if you have one or two tasks that don't require a lot of power and you need portability, this is the ticket.
 So far so good March 25, 2010
Andrew K. Dunn
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Got this for my daughter. She and her sister both got netbooks a year earlier, an ASUS and an ACER. The Acer failed; first the screen got funky, then the thing died altogether. The ASUS was going strong. They use them for homework, as well as social stuff. I couldn't afford to buy another new one, so got the refurbished ASUS. So far it's working well. Has a 3 month warranty, which isn't up yet. My daughter likes it well enough. It has a Linux operating system, solid state hard drive. Battery life hasn't been much of an issue because they don't take them out. But the Linux system loads fast (lots faster than Windows) and I don't worry about antivirus software, so that saves bucks. They use the OpenOffice productivity suite which isn't as functional as Microsoft's products, for instance PowerPoint has more choices in template colors and stuff like that than the OpenOffice presentation software, but you can save the OpenOffice presentation as a .ppt file and it runs fine on PowerPoint at school. So in most respects, functionality is fine without the virus concerns. They download their homework onto a portable flashdrive, which plugs into the USB port, to take the work to school and turn it in on the teacher's Windows machine. Works fine. But the kids aren't able to download from iTunes; they have to use my Mac instead for that.
Great concept but a few problems September 14, 2009
Katherine W. Prawl (St. Joseph, MO USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I've had my little 900A for almost a month now, and while I love the tiny size and convenience, I do have a few quibbles. First, of course, was the pre-installed custom Linux distro, which was very wasteful of the limited storage. Like the previous reviewer, my netbook has just 4GB of SSD memory, and with the updates the provided OS took up all the storage. However, it was very easy to wipe that and install Ubuntu 9.04, which runs quite well, is easy to use, and leaves plenty of room for text-based data and a few additional apps. I was even able to download and run Second Life on this machine! The graphics are amazing for such an inexpensive device.
I have not been thrilled with the performance of the trackpad, and whenever possible I use my Microsoft wireless mouse instead, and the battery life is very poor, but that could just be this particular machine. I got it on a closeout and maybe it was refurbished instead of brand new. I plan to get a replacement battery and possibly a SSD upgrade, since I find this little device very handy and fun to use. With more memory and longer-lasting battery, I'll use it even more often than I do now.
It is probably not suitable for a primary computer because of its limited storage, but as a carry-along extra, with its remarkably low price and complete range of features in a small package, it is an excellent value. I carried it to class with me for a weekend seminar, and was very pleased with its performance and the envious attention it drew from my classmates, most of whom had big, clunky "normal-sized" laptops.
Great little netbook.... but needs a bigger hard drive. August 5, 2009
Bow-N-Arrow
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
I recently purchased an Asus Eee Pc 900A netbook. Mine is white. ( I hear there may be a black one, of this model number, but have yet to see one ). It has the new Atom processor.... of 1.6 GHZ. Also, 1 GB of Ram, and sadly to say... an SSD ( Solid State Drive ) of only 4 GB, and an operating system of GNU or Xandros Linux.
That SSD of 4 GB, was to my way of thinking..... small... but at least large enough to operate with.
This would have been true.... if Asus in it's infinite Un wisdom had chosen not to automatically download all the latest updates to the system at the first opportunity you were to get the baby laptop online !!
But that is exactly what happened... !! Even before I was able to get on the internet with this laptop.... I had less than a couple hundred of MBs to work with.... Once online, it automatically downloaded the latest updates and I was reduced to like 70 MB of free space on my hard drive.
Now understand.... it downloaded the software to the laptop.... but did not install it.
So, you could pick and choose which downloads you wanted..... but with only about 70 MB of install space.... you could not install much before you had nothing left on your hard drive !!
I might mention also, that with the downloads on the machine, there didn't seem to be any way of deleting them.
Once you installed a few updates, the computer, of course, almost ceased to operate, as it slowed down to almost nothing !!
I tried to install XP but met with it not installing once it got past the basic text install... ( I had XP and SP2 on two separate discs... )
The secret is, you have to have XP and SP2 ( or SP3 ) integrated on the same disk. Once I purchased the XP/SP2 disk..... the install went well.
I must interject here that I purchased a 16 GB, SSD card for about $50 bucks.... and that is what I put the XP on eventually. I also upgraded to 2GB of Ram.
I have no doubt however that you can put XP on the 4 GB SSD card that the system comes with.... I have heard of others doing it..... But you must use the XP disk with SP2 or 3 integrated.
You will of course be left with not too much disk space.... but no worse off than with the Xandros system... and at least not subject to more automatic downloads that take up space on your hard drive..... Also, of course you have the SD card slot, which you can utilize for extra space to store photos etc..
Now, I have the laptop of my dreams !! It is big enough for touch typists to type on, although you do have to be careful. It does take some getting used to, since it is a smaller than normal keyboard.... But it beats the heck out of these little cell phone keyboards.
Also, it does Wifi extremely well !! You will find an open wireless internet, someplace along your vacation route.... I guarantee it !!
I have found that Iowa and Kansas Interstate rest stops all have free Wireless Internet. A great way to keep in contact with family and friends at home !!
I find it useful to send short emails to family etc.. at different places along my vacation route, to let them know where I am at.... and sometimes send pictures also.... to kind of keep them along on what I am doing and seeing on my vacation trip !!
Although I find Linux, which is installed on this laptop, useful.... and does the job of email and surfing the internet.... I would advise people that purchase this version..... i.e. 900A, to buy a larger SSD card and install XP, If you are more familiar with that operating system....
If you are familiar with Linux.... and like it..... then of course this won't be necessary.....
All in all, a great little laptop. I see now that Asus and Acer are concentrating on the 10 inch model, and betting that people will like that model better. It is even getting harder to find a new 9 inch model. Personally I think they are wrong in their thinking on this.... I think the 9 inch models were the perfect size... and when you start getting larger, you lose the initial concept of what a netbook is.
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