Asus Eee PC 904HD in Laptops

The 904HD is based around a novel idea that's also reminiscent of notebooks from the 1990s: take a small screen, in this case 8.9in, but use a big chassis so you can fit in asizeable keyboard.

And it works. The big keys make the 904HD exceptionally easy to type on, and the trackpad is generous in size, too - the sole annoyance isthe awkwardly placed right-Shift key.

Meanwhile, solid build quality means you won't worry about slinging the 904HD into your travel bag, and the emphasis on usability rather than weight means Asus can afford to use a 6,600mAh battery - this lasted for a shade more than four hours in ourlight-use test.

That score would have been even longer if Asus had chosen to install an Atom processor rather than the 900MHz Celeron M that's inside, but this remains a surprisingly nippy processor - a score of 0.33 in our benchmarks means it rubs shoulders with 1.6GHz Atom-powered devices.

In fact, the only practical sign of the 904HD's budget origins is the screen. Quite apart from being small, it's also grainy, which can be off-putting when you're looking at asolid colour onscreen. This means you might notice it when tapping away in a word processor, but less so when browsing the web.

When you consider this netbook also includes an 80GB hard disk and Windows XP in the price, it becomes even more of a bargain. Although Acer's Aspire One A150L pips it for out-and-out value, if you prefer Microsoft inside it's a solid budget choice.

Author: Tim Danton