Slashgear have gotten their hands on an engineering sample of the new ASUS Eee PC 901. This unit sports an 8.9 ” display and an Intel energy saving Atom processor. It is similar to the Eee 900 with the most pronounced improvements to the battery life. Interestingly the ASUS allows for three speed cycles - Super Performance (1.8 MHZ overclocked), High Performance (normal 1.6 MHZ) and Power Saving (underclocked 800 MHZ). While in power saving mode the battery is claimed to last for up to 6 hours. Head over to Slashgear for their full review. Ewdi does a nice unboxing video - pausing to explain the highlights of this device which is especially interesting for anyone looking at the ASUS for the first time. I’m still waiting for the first blogger unboxing video where a finger is severed while the eager reviewer tears into the carton.

Link: SlashGear - ASUS Eee PC 901 Linux Edition Review & Unboxing

I wasn’t planning to write about my experience with the Eee this soon but I’m so excited about this thing I just couldn’t wait.

Yesterday morning I headed out the door with just the Eee in my bag, leaving the MacBook Pro on my desk at home. While it probably isn’t as good for my self-imposed weight loss program, it did feel nice to have a lighter bag. I chucked the AC adaptor in my bag so I could charge the unit up at university should I need to.

On the train I hooked up my USB HSDPA modem so I could check my regular news sites and respond to some emails. I chatted with Judie for a bit on MSN, and worked on an essay in Microsoft Word, both which gave me a good opportunity to test out the keyboard. Despite its size I found it great to type on, rarely hitting the wrong key or having to even look down. The keys do tap a bit when pressed, but I’m not about the knock marks off it for that.

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I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to test a number of ultra portable machines recently, including MacBook Air, Fujitsu P8010, Toshiba R500, HTC Shift and Fujitsu U1010. Since all these machines have gone back, I’ve realised how nice it was to carry a compact and light laptop, as opposed to my MacBook Pro.

Looking around, I came across the good old 7” Eee PC for the unbelievable price of AU$341, so with not much to lose I picked one up this weekend. This is the first time I’ve actually used one of these things, and I have to say for the price it is pretty impressive. The build quality is good, the screen is nice and bright (although low res), and I can touch type rather well on the keyboard.

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It looks like all of you ASUS fanboys and girls may soon have even more reason to get excited; not only is there a 901 coming, but according to UMPC Fever, there is possibly a 1000 coming as well. Say Whaaa?

ASUS is looking forward to welcoming you during Computex 2008 in Taipei, Taiwan, for the ASUS’ 08 Computex Trilogy of launch events. We would also like to specially extend an invitation to you to attend the official global launch of the new Eee PC™ 901 and 1000 series.

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In Software Design and Development I was constantly reminded about something called “scope creep” which can affect developers when making applications. It referred to adding or spending too much time on a particular feature, at the cost of meeting a deadline or budget.

It seems ASUS has let this happen to their little Eee PC, once touted as a $199 laptop. The original Eee PC, with it’s 7″ 800×480 display and 4GB flash memory came in at $399, double the price it was planned for. But it was still cheap, so it sold by the thousands. Then the 8GB model arrived, sporting a $100 premium over it’s lower capacity brother. Still, it was tiny and light so it sold quite well too.

Now ASUS is thinking they can stretch the price even more with the Eee 901, which combines an 8.9″ 1024×600 display and up to 20GB flash into the same space as the original Eee 701. Sounds good, but it has one fatal flaw: it’s going to cost $649. That brings it up to the price of the HP Mini-Note, which is better equiped than the Eee with hard drive options up to 200GB and larger keyboard.

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