Asus Eee PC 901

The biggest improvement, though, is in the 901's new battery. It has a 6,600mAh capacity to the 900's 4,400mAh, and the two are also, annoyingly, incompatible with each other - bang goes any chance of plugging in the 900's battery and checking the difference the efficiency of an Atom makes.

What we can tell you is that the Eee now lasts as long as we'd want a little ultraportable to last: with XP installed on the Linux Eee, and with early desktop chipset drivers, it managed a minute under six hours of web browsing. But when we tested the full XP version - most compatible with our Windows-based benchmark suite - it lasted a stunning 8hrs 13mins.

We even got a healthy 4hrs 43mins with several intensive applications pushing the CPU to continuous full load. Compare this to the disappointing 3hrs 20mins light use battery life of the Eee PC 900.

So the improvements really do add to the appeal of the Eee PC 901, and the choice of Linux or Windows XP will keep both the purists and the masses happy. The XP version sacrifices 8GB of storage to make room in the budget for the OS license, but other than that they're identical.

The stumbling block to the Eee's continuing success may come from elsewhere, though. The Eee gained its popularity by being unlike anything else on the market; but we've now seen several other rivals that do everything the Eee does - and (whisper it quietly now) in some cases do it better.

The HP Mini Note 2133 certainly looked the part, but battery life shy of two hours put it out of the race. MSI's Wind looks more promising (and not dissimilar to the Eee itself), and our early hands-on with the laptop garnered positive reactions from all who saw it.

But it's Acer's Aspire One that seems to have most caught the eye in the PC Pro office: its extra inch of width and slightly larger keyboard, coupled with a VAIO-style lid, makes it look much more like a proper laptop than the little Eee. And with prices starting from a staggering £199 inc VAT, Asus will have a real fight on its hands once the mini-notebook field is fleshed out.

For now, though, if you're going to buy an Eee the 901 is your best choice - the battery life is vastly improved, and the processor more efficient if not significantly faster. The forthcoming 10in Eee PC 1000 will only move further up the price scale into standard laptop territory, and pretty soon the old 900 will be removed from sale, so your choice is this: buy a 901 or wait and see what the competition does. Look out for our review of the Aspire One soon.

Author: David Bayon