TechnicaMag.com

Asus are unbeatable at the moment for providing the world with cheap, easy to use mini laptops and the release of the ultra portable Eee PC 701 shows that they are still on top form, with the cheapest package costing just £169.

Eee PC background

The three ‘e’s in the title of this mini laptop range are supposed represent Asus’s vision of the future of portable computing, “easy to learn, easy to work, easy to play”. The Eee PC is about the same size as a hardback book and weighs just 920g, which is truly amazing when you consider that a standard laptop can weigh as much as 3kg.

Design

One fault with some of the other smaller laptops on the market is that they can look a bit plasticky and toy-like, but Asus have countered this with a sophisticated pearl white finish on the 701, which gives it a more professional and grown up look. Its petite, slim outer case is simple and functional, and the 701 looks equally at home in the classroom, boardroom or dining room table.

Functionality

Mini laptops do make some sacrifices for their smaller size, and this is most notable in the 701 in the keyboard, which really is tiny with less than a 1mm gap between each key (unlike the 5mm gap on standard laptops). This makes it hard to type out larger documents, and also may result in a few mistakes as you accidentally hit the wrong keys, especially for those with larger digits. However it is perfect for quickly typing out notes and drafting letters, and so is ideal for carrying about to meetings or lectures.

There are three USB ports, a D-Sub video output port and audio jacks, which is very generous considering the small size of the 701, and a memory card reader so that you can use supporting memory cards of up to 32GB. There is no internal modem in this model, but there is an Ethernet port so that you can connect to the Internet if you want to, and they have even managed to squeeze in a webcam just above the screen and speakers on either side of the display.

Features

At under £200 you should not be expecting a lot of features from the Asus Eee PC 701, but it does have an impressive Intel Mobile Celeron-M ULV 900MHz CPU, and a choice of 256MB or 512MB of RAM. For those who want to install Windows or use the Internet the 512MB of Ram is a must, but if you just intend to use the Eee PC as a word processor then the lower RAM option is cheaper and perfectly adequate.

Purchasing the Asus Eee PC 701

Prices vary across the different vendors, and depending on which version you buy you can expect to pay between £169 - £220 for the Eee PC 701. Look out for websites that have promotions and deals on such as Overstock.com, where you can sign up to the onsite newsletter and receive an Overstock.com Coupon Code that can get you money off at the checkout on a huge variety of stocked items.

Most vendors will sell accessorises such as the wall charger and screen protector separately and it can be a good idea to shop around for these, as you can get some great deals on the Internet. For example Newegg.com sells the Asus Eee PC AC Wall charger for just £11.56, and the Eee PC reusable screen protector for just £3.85. You can also get money off at the till if you use one of the Newegg.com Promo Code vouchers, which you can get (along with other offers) by signing up to the regular newsletter before you make any purchases.