Asus Eee PC S101
by on Tuesday 07 October 2008 15 Comments |
Leaked photos have already hinted at the existence of a high-end Eee PC from Asus, but little else has so far been revealed about this sleek new netbook – until today, that is. Asus has now officially announced the Eee PC S101 and Mobile Computer is lucky enough to have scooped the worldwide exclusive review.
“High-end netbook” might sound like an oxymoron, not least because the whole point of these little mobile internet devices is 'low-cost, low-power'. The thinking at Asus, however, is that the S101 will appeal to people who have so far been put off buying an Eee PC because of its ‘built to a budget’ appearance, and in that respect, the S101 is a big success – it’s gorgeous.
The S101 is about the same size as the Eee PC 1000, but a little shorter and a lot slimmer – just 23mm at the front (not including the feet) and 26mm at the back, compared to 29mm/38mm on the 1000 (though the S101’s tapered front edge fools you into thinking it’s slimmer still – just like with the Apple MacBook Air). At just under 1.1kg, it’s lighter than both the Eee PC 1000 and even the Eee PC 901, which weigh in at 1.44kg and 1.3kg, respectively.
So, the Eee PC S101 is slim and sleek, but yes – its lid is brown (or ‘mocha brown’, if you believe Asus). It is a rich, metallic brown with a gloss finish though, and we rather like it. A couple of other finishes will also apparently be available, though – “champagne” and “graphite” (we’re guessing light and dark grey…). The two halves of the case have a narrow silver strip running around their perimeter to add a touch of contrast, and the slender hinge has the same silver plastic finish.
We’re not crazy about the tiny Swarovski crystals on the end of each hinge (give us a manly exposed hex nut any day), but the sweeping lines around the back end of the lid are rather pleasing – not something we’d normally comment on, but it does show that Asus has thought about form as well as function with the Eee PC S101.
No such cosmetic magic has been worked on the netbook’s underside though, and it just has black plastic and air vents, along with a cover for the single (occupied) SODIMM slot and Wi-Fi module.
The lid is held shut by a stiff detent on the hinges rather than a magnetic latch, and there’s a small plastic lip on the front edge to hook a fingertip under. The inside of the Eee PC S101 is just as stylish as the outside, but it doesn’t have quite the same level of cachet as, say, one of Sony’s high-end ultraportables. Still, the overriding impression is that you are looking at a particularly compact ultraportable rather than a cheap netbook, which is the whole idea.
The S101’s keyboard is identical to that on the Eee PC 1000 – same width, same key shape and size, same amount of travel (incidentally, the keyboard on the Asus N10 is wider, though only by a few millimetres). The US keyboard on our review model has a single height Enter key, so we suspect the UK model will have a double-height key – just like on the UK Eee PC 1000.
A large touchpad sits in the expanse of brushed metal wrist-rest (another nice design touch) and this is colour-matched to the lid. It supports the same two-finger multi-touch gestures as other Eee PCs, so you can slide two fingers across it for scrolling, and so on. There’s just a single wide mouse button, but it clicks positively at each end.
The 10.2in screen is the same size and 1024 x 600 resolution as on the Asus N10, but the S101’s smaller frame makes it look much more at home here. There’s still a 20mm strip of plastic around all four sides, but this is flat rather than scalloped (as on the N10). The screen also has a matte finish, which means it’s usable under a wider range of lighting conditions than the N10’s glossy display. There isn’t much to say about image quality – it’s the same as on other Eee PCs, which is to say it’s clear, bright and generally pretty good.
It’s a little disappointing that Asus hasn’t taken the “high-end” notion a little further and fitted the Eee PC S101 with a higher resolution screen. That said, there really isn’t room in the lid for a much larger panel and simply cramming more pixels into a 10.2in diagonal wouldn’t achieve much.
So, Asus’ high-end pretensions for the Eee PC S101 don’t extend much beyond its exterior design – inside is the same 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor used in its other Eee PCs (not that there’s another Atom option at the moment). It has sorted out the storage though, and instead of two different size SSDs to make life difficult, the S101 has a single solid-state drive – either 16Gb or 32Gb. (There are reports of a 64Mb SSD too, but we’ve yet to confirm this.)
The SSD capacity depends on the operating system – Windows XP gets 16Gb, Linux gets 32Gb. As with Asus’ other Eee PCs, this is the result of the operating systems’ differing licensing terms – Linux is free, which leaves more budget for a bigger drive. It is unfortunate that the operating system that needs the most storage gets the smaller drive, but of course there’s nothing to stop you buying the Linux model and installing Windows yourself.
Asus still leads the netbook pack by some margin when it comes to battery life, thanks to the high-capacity cells supplied with its Atom-powered Eee PCs. Happily, the Eee PC S101 continues the trend and its 4900mAh cell stretched to 3 hours and forty-five minutes in Battery Eater’s heavy-use test, and just over five hours in light-use (Wi-Fi off and screen at mid-brightness, in both cases).
Performance from the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor and 1Gb of RAM is much the same as Asus’ other Atom-powered Eee PCs, but the Eee PC S101 does run very quietly. We didn’t get the opportunity to open it up to see if there’s a fan inside, but if there is, it’s a silent one.
We’ve carefully avoided mentioning the Eee PC S101’s price so far, but it’s interesting to contemplate just how much a ‘high-end Eee PC’ should cost. The S101’s specification isn’t much different to that of the Eee PC 1000, but it’s a considerably better-looking – and much lighter – netbook. The best online price for the Linux/40Gb SSD Eee PC 1000 at the moment is £364 inc VAT. Asus has yet to finalise the Eee PC S101’s price, but it’s aiming for £449 inc VAT – it may end up being lower, but it won’t be any higher.
The size, weight and specification of the Eee PC S101 make it by far the best interpretation of the netbook concept so far, but that price poses a bit of a problem. £449 could hardly be described as ‘cheap’, but that’s exactly what a netbook should be and so we’re a little unsure of what to make of this little stunner.
Still, an extra £85 is much extra to pay over the Eee PC 1000 and you’re getting a lot less netbook (in a good way!) for your money. The S101 is no less portable than the compact Eee PC 901, but has none of the usability compromises. That said, we did hope for just a little more for something billed as “high-end”, and onboard HSDPA would be an obvious addition, even if it added a tenner to the price.
© Dennis Publishing
Comments
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I didn't see anything about battery replacement. Can it be changed out by the user? -
Editor - Julian Prokaza -
Do you think the crystals on the hinges could be pried out without damaging the case? I'm not sure my friends would let me live them down
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doesnt this model have an onboard Intel GMA 950 like the other EEE's as well as Geforce 9300 GS graphics??? or is that the N10?
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Why is it that the battery life of this model is substantially less than that of the (cheaper & slightly larger but otherwise identical) eee 1000 according to your tests? Does this one in fact have a smaller capacity battery than the 1000 to keep its size down?
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does have a multi-touch pad likes the other eeepc??
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It looks nicer then the 1000 but still the keyboard right shift is not ok. The size and weight is ofcourse a big plus but I'm not into the SSD for now I'd rather have a bigger HHD in their but ofcourse this causes that it would much more be live the Asus 1000 or N10 or NC10 from Samsung I'm very curious to see what the Samsung NC10 will do in the comparison chart (battery),specs,pricing. I will probably wait for that one to launch early November in Europe (The Netherlands)
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Netbooks tend to run a little warm due to their small casing, so itīs easy to guess that with this machine will be an even bigger problem.Itīs beyond me why reviewers tend to "forget" about this aspect which greatly affects their usefullness.Any info about it, please??
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I've been asking PCers ever since I went Mac 8 yrs ago, by accident, w/ a lent laptop (&, true to the saying, never went back!). Took me several yrs to realize all those others have vents on the bottom (sorry, you British folks; I have gather that particular term may be rude, but I don't know what to call the side on the reverse of the side with the Apple logo. ;-) What the devil? Three Mac laptops in a row, back to 9.0, and not only is the fan soundless, but the vents are on the left, right, and back. What a concept!I keep asking. Fellow Macheads (actually, I'm not a fanboy, but a fangirl, no pun meant), just act like I'm a dumb girl, and Gates people change the subject. Yeah, Apple is more expensive, but how can something be sold as a laptop--altho' last few years I notice the other companies dodge that term; if it can't safely be used, either on a lap, or on any other surface, with out some sort of barrier below, to let it breath???Thank you. So glad I found this site.As for those Asus's, I got in on the first day of the One Laptop Per Child, and that works great for light & easy for travelling. Fun, too. Just hope by the time I can justify getting an Air, they will be in 'cute' colors, too. I really like those crystals on this new Eee PC. Too bad it's a PC, Linux or no.
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yeah, getting an overpriced $900 mac with sub performance properties may be the way for you to go LOSER!You paste the same thing all over the internet.. I went over to mac and all of a sudden I have no worries anymore!Like only a sucker believes that!Let alone you can hardly get any software to work on it (except for sub quality products).Anyways, Asus again made a STUPID move to sell. All over the internet people where complaining about the too high price for a mininetbook.Instead they chose to even raise the price even higher!I might as well go for a Sony Vaio.Also batterylife/performance statistics don't make no sense if you compare an EEEPC ATOM system, with another EEEPC ATOM system. They should perform the same!Both have GMA950, and ATOM. Maybe one was in battery life powersetting?Another thing, I hate the screen's bezel.too big.Another thing, 10" is no longer a small notebook.9" is about the best combination you can get for screensize and keyboard size.I mean, might as well buy a 13" Core2Duo laptop for $100 more!Small and cheap! that's where we should aim to!
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does it use the same battery & charger as the 901 & 1000?
Is the screen as good outdoors as the 1000?
Thanks for all the info! -
Does anyone know if the SDD can be easily upgraded? How about system memory? Can I easily upgrade the memory from 1GB to 2GB and the SDD from 16GB/32GB to 64GB or 128GB if I purchase a third party SDD?
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They made it lighter by giving it a smaller battery. The 1000 and 900's (at least some) have a 6 cell 6600 mAh battery(at least in North America). The S101 has a 4900 mAh one. I'd rather get the extra hours and carry the minimal extra weight around.
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hi, just got delivery of my asus eeepc s101 and its brill, much better than my eeepc 900 and well worth the upgrade, in uk you can buy i think if they still have from www.asusnotebooks.co.uk directly and get option of 2048mb memory upgrade.i prefer the xp as linux was harder for me as i am a none techie
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I hope to see that Viyya Technology is adde to the EeePc soon for web 2.0 cloud computing
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