The update to the popular Asus Eee PC 700 arrived over a month ago. The Asus Eee PC 900 adds a bigger screen (almost 9 inches). There are only minor differences in the Windows and Linux configurations.

Both versions are slightly larger and heavier. They have 1GB of RAM (as opposed to 512MB) and weigh 2.2 pounds. The larger screen now has a resolution of 1024 by 600 instead of 800 by 480. The processor has not been upgraded though, and is still the same 900MHz Celeron processor.

One of the more remarkable improvements is the touch pad. It is larger and supports a handful of gesture controls. Images can be pinched (or un-pinched) with the thumb and forefinger to zoom in and out, and two fingers can be used to scroll up and down Web pages (sounds familiar doesn’t it?)

Now we come to the difference between the Linux and the Windows XP versions. The Linux version has a 20GB SSD hard drive, while the Windows XP version only has a 12GB SSD hard drive. This is presumably to pay for the license of Windows XP. In a perfect world the Windows XP version would have the larger flash hard drive, as it needs more space.

Price wise, the new models are over $500, which does not seem as much of a budget buy as the first models.

Posted on June 26th, 2008 by mervyn