Furthermore, the maximum brightness of only 91.6 Candela is rather low. This is sufficient for working indoors, but, it is hardly possible to work outside in the sunshine. So, you cannot really gain profit from the otherwise good mobility of this very small notebook. Dell Inspiron N4010R Battery

To summarize, a trans-reflecting display or a better background lightning would have been better choices. Also due to the small size of the display the viewing angles are relatively good. Dell Inspiron N4010D-158 Battery


It's easy to enhance the available desktop size by connecting an external screen to the VGA out. However, the pre-installed Linux supports only a resolution of up to 1024x768 pixels at the external screen. Under Windows XP we could run the external screen with usable definition with a resolution of up to 1280x1024 at 75 Hz. Dell Inspiron N4010D Battery

Compared to the reference screen (Dell 2407WFPD) the colours appear to be somewhat cold. The low black value of 0.25 Candela gives together with the maximum brightness an acceptable contrast ratio of 366:1. However, because of the low maximum brightness you won't really notice this. Dell Inspiron N4010 Battery

Horizontally the viewing angles are good, i.e., the contrast stays a long time at nearly the same level. Looking top down, the colours change much faster. However, due to the small panel size this is hardly a big problem. Dell Inspiron 14R Battery

Due to a Celeron-M CPU and integrated video chip (GMA 900) the performance of this reasonable small notebook is rather moderate. The Celeron M, specified with 900MHz was due to reducing the FSB clock rate from 100 MHz (FSB 400) to 70 MHz (FSB 280) with 630 MHz lower clocked. Therefore the performance is rather poor.
When displaying complex web pages, we noticed a short delay, which was not really annoying. Dell Inspiron N3010R Battery

This is also proved by the PCMark 05 benchmark. The Eee-PC is worse than all other notebooks reviewed so far, but, surprisingly, only slightly worse than the Samsung Q30 with Intel Pentium M 753 1.2 GHz ULV processor. Dell Inspiron N3010 Battery

Its 3D Mark 2001 benchmark results are even better than those of two of its subnotebook competitors (Sony Vaio VGN-TX2XP/B and Nexoc Osiris S607). The performance is still absolutely insufficient for playing 3D games. Only Quake 3 Arena, a rather old game, was playable with an average of 31 fps (1024x768 - high). Warcraft 3 was playable in single user mode, but not very well (20 fps in single player mode with some details). Dell Inspiron 13R Battery

The Aquamark test resulted in´2632 points (starting with 3000 Aquanox should be playable with low details). Doom 3 was even with low details far away from running smoothly. 2.8 fps are the speed you change pictures in a slide show. Dell XPS 15z Battery

We ran all test with the provided, out-of-date video driver (6.14.10.4704) for GMA 900. Running test with the newest driver downloaded from Intel's homepage (6.14.10.4764) resulted in less points in the 3D Mark 2001 benchmark and a crash of the 3D Mark 2003.Bigger notebooks with Intel or AMD processor perform clearly better in this aspect. However, games are not the field of operation the Eee PCs was designed for. DELL XPS L701x Battery

The performance of the Eee PC is sufficient for daily work. We could start working with the pre-installed and adapted Xandros Linux already 26 seconds after we turned the computer on. The OpenOffice software bundle ran without problem and without longer delays. DELL XPS L501x Battery

The same is true for browsing the Internet. This small notebook could also handle most video format (YouTube, DivX, DVD from external HDD) without problems. However, its performance was not sufficient for HD videos. Of course you'll need a modern core duo processor for watching HD videos. DELL XPS L401x Battery


Compared to the slow 1.8" hard disk of the Samsung Q30 the SSD hard disk by SiliconMotion inside the Eee PC is excellent. The constantly high transfer rate of about 30 MB per second is noticeable. However, compared to up-to-date high-performance notebook hard disks, e.g., a Hitachi Travelstar HTS722020K9SA00 inside the Schenker MySn M570RU the transfer rates appear low. DELL XPS L401x Battery

The Hitachi runs at 7200 rpms and has transfer rates in between 30 and 66 MB/s. The SSD has a access time of only 0.5 ms and clearly outperforms the Hitachi regarding this aspect, whose access time is 15 ms. Overall the SDD is regarding performance alright. However, its capacity is low. DELL XPS 17 Battery

You can enhance the low hard disk capacity by, e.g., attaching an external hard disk. The reviewed one had a transfer rate of nearly 20 MB/s (in comparison: desktop PC with P5B attached to USB Hub: 25 MB/s, MacBook Pro: 30 MB/s). DELL XPS 15 Battery

Even in idle mode the fan starts running after about 20 minutes and keeps running afterwards. Because of the small case and because the Intel Celeron comes without speed-step technology this is no surprise. It seems that the processors clock rate is reduced to 112 MHz in idle mode under Linux though. Nonetheless, the fan reacts very similar under Windows and Linux. Actually, we didn't notice any difference. DELL XPS 14 Battery

Although the whirring of the fan is rather quiet, it is accompanied by a nasty high frequency noise. Due to its inherent technology the SSD hard disk is nearly utterly quiet during the first 20 minutes. Even if you put your ears onto the case you will hardly hear anything. Dell Inspiron 15z Battery

Dell Inspiron 1320 Charger

The temperature of this small notebook increases to up to 39°C in area of the keyboard. However, we didn't feel that this is disturbing (test in winter), because the maximum temperature of the palm rest area was 36°C, which is alright. In summer, if it's hot, this could lead to sweating hands. Dell Inspiron 1570n Battery

The two stereo speakers besides the display are not really loud and without basses, but there sound is clear. So, they are fit for background music and sound of videos.
Audio out via the provided Sennheiser PC 150 headset is flawless. Even at maximum volume the sound was undistorted and without disturbing noise. Dell Inspiron 1570 Battery

The runtime of the 38.5 Wh battery, which weighs nearly 200g, ranges depending on the load from 2 to 3h. The difference between idle mode and full load is low, because their energy demand is very similar. Because the notebook comes quickly back from stand-by mode, the battery is sufficient for occassionally use during the day (accessing mail, writing, browsing the Internet). Dell Inspiron 14z Battery


This small notebook does not demand a lot of energy. Only between 13 and 18 Watt are energy demands, which are worth mentioning, especially in times of increased environmental awareness. However, the energy demand in stand-by mode is rather high. Especially bad: During our review the energy demand of the Eee PC was even 4 Watt when turned off. Dell Inspiron 1470n Battery

After a software update the reviewed notebook brought only up a black desktop. We could not start the menu any longer. Obviously the simpleui.rc was corrupted by the Asus Update Utility. We tried to fix the problem, by restoring the original file from the recovery partition. Dell Inspiron 1470 Battery

Unfortunately there was no recovery partition on the reviewed notebook. So, we had to restore via USB CD-ROM drive or via sufficiently big USB stick. Unfortunately, we could not get hold of any of them during our short test period. Dell Inspiron Mini 10v Battery

In order to get the operating system image on a CD, we accessed the Asus CD via a desktop CD drive. The software immediately prompted us to provide the AsusACPI driver (of course for the EeePC, as we saw later on). Unfortunately, FreeOS, a tool for copying images, did not recognize the external hard disk, which was FAT32 formatted. Dell Inspiron Mini 1011 Battery


Unfortunately, there was still no success. The launcher still claimed that the file were corrupt. The final solution was to format a CompactFlash card via USB card reader (we used the one of our digital camera, which was sufficiently big) and to copy the recovery system onto it. Restoring was, after booting from CompactFlash card (ESC for boot menu), pretty easy. Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Battery
Following these instructions (German) we also installed Windows XP on the Eee PC.

Easy to Learn, Easy to Work, Easy to Play - EeePC - this is how Asus calls its small notebook. This is especially true, because of the very well adapted Xandros Linux. However, you should not expect too much. Especially if you need to configure something not supported by the Asus Launcher, you'll need in depth knowledge of Linux. If you are willing to learn, you'll find a lot of help for every change (even concerning hardware) provided by many Internet forums. Dell Inspiron 11z Battery

Because of its size the EeePC has to be compared to other subnotebooks. Here its biggest weakness gets obvious at once: The low resolution of its display. Without modifications using the standard Linux desktop (KDE) or the Windows desktop with 800x480 is not very user-friendly. The poor brightness of this LED illuminated display is another con. Dell Inspiron 1320n Battery

During typing, a layout problem due to moved right shift key is very annoying. The small size of the keys is due to the small overall size, so, it cannot really be criticized.Noise and temperature emissions are alright, but far away from 'very good'. The fan could be quieter and the temperature characteristics better. Although the battery runtime is not overall long, it is alright. Dell Inspiron 1320 Battery

To summarize, the Eee PC cannot replace a PC, because there are too many restrictions due to performance and ergonomics and the final rating reflects this. Because of its low price, it is a good second PC. Its Linux desktop, which can be intuitively used, makes it an ideal 'Family PC' also for beginners. Dell Vostro 1200 Battery

Dell Inspiron 1320 Battery