Archive for September 21st, 2009

Asus Eee PC T91 review

Introduction

When you think of compact laptops, Asus is one of the names that will spring to mind, having a track record of affordable, decent netbooks. Now they have increased their arsenal with the T91, their first touchscreen netbook/tablet. Weighing up all its features, can this unit be as popular as some of its older brothers and sisters?

The Asus Eee PC T91

What’s in the box?

• The Asus Eee PC T91
• Battery
• Charger & Cable
• Manual & Warranty Card
• Recovery CD/DVD

Take a look at Matt’s Asus T91 unboxing video for more.

Asus Eee Pc T91 Specification

• Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Home
• Display 8.9" LED-backlit / Resistive Touch Panel
• CPU Intel® Atom Z520
• Chipset Intel® US15W
• LAN Onboard 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet controller
• Wireless Data Networking WLAN: 802.11b/g/n
• Bluetooth V2.1
• Memory 1GB (DDR2)
• Storage 16GB Solid State Drive + 16GB SD Card
• Interface 1 x VGA port (D-sub 15-pin for external monitor)
• 2 x USB 2.0 ports
• 1 x LAN RJ-45
• 2 x audio jacks: Headphone / Mic-in
• Camera 0.3 M Pixel
• Reader 3-in-1 MMC, SD, SDHC flash card slot
• Audio Hi-definition audio CODEC
• Built-in high quality stereo speakers
• Digital Array Mic
• Battery Life Li-Polymer battery, 5hrs**
• Dimensions 225mm (W) x 164mm (D) x 25.2 ~ 28.4mm (H)
• Weight 0.96kg

General

At a glance:-

Left side:

Memory expander, USB 2.0 and power socket

Right side:

Ethernet socket, USB 2.0, microphone and headphone socket, stylus compartment.

Front:

SD Memory card slot

Rear:

VGA connector

Display:

Power switch, Touch Gate button, built in array microphone and camera and power, battery, wireless and caps lock led.

Bottom:

Reset switch, memory compartment.

Highlights

• Solid build
• Flip screen which turns the netbook into a tablet PC
• 5 Hour battery lifeBuilt in microphone and webcam

Lowlights

• Touchscreen responsiveness (minor issue but had to balance out the pros and cons a bit more)
• No removable battery pack

Review

From a looks point of view, I really like the T91, with its piano black finish and glossy screen, it emits an air of quality and professionalism. Coupled with the included padded ‘purse’ they have made an effort to make this look like a machine with a much higher price tag. The padded bag just goes to show the thought that Asus put into their products, whether you use it or not, I think the addition of this makes a difference in a world where most accessories are usually extra.

When you switch it on, it loads at a decent speed into Windows XP Home edition. It was an emotional reunion with my old friend XP! By calibrating the stylus by touching 9 points on the screen, the stylus is easy to use and accurate. As well as the standard XP screen there are 2 other screens hidden away until needed. The main one being Touch Gate, a graphical user interface designed for use with the touchscreen. This brings up larger icons, allowing you to use the stylus to do things like surf the net, use it as a calculator or write memos to yourself. I think more people will stick to the standard XP interface but it is nice to have different options. A small point I noticed is that the button below the screen which either launches Touch Gate or rotates the screen, when in Touch Gate mode will only allow the screen to be flipped 180° as opposed to 90° in XP mode.

The memo function did allow me to see how responsive the touchscreen was; I found it a little on the slow side but nothing that was a major issue. I think left handed people would find it easier as (correct me if I am wrong) they tend to write with their hand above the pen whereas right handed people right with their hand below. This made a difference on the touchscreen for me, as I kept resting my palm on the screen which overrided the contact with the stylus and jumped it to my palm. Again, with a little bit of practice (and less laziness) I think this would be easy to overcome. You can see an example of the memo pad in the screenshot. I would like to reiterate that I needed a bit more practice with the unit, which is my reason for having such atrocious handwriting.

The 1.33ghz Atom processor is more than capable of performing basic tasks which you would expect from a netbook, combined with 1gb of memory and a 16GB solid state drive with the ability to increase this capacity via SDHC slots, the whole package is really appealing. Asus do state that an additional 20GB storage facility is available online on their EEE internet storage site but I think that with current ISP upload speeds it might not be a strong selling point, but would be a good place for storing small, important files, as opposed to large photo albums. The lack of CD-ROM drive is both appreciated, due to size constraints, but also not a major issue with external ones available cheaply. This also applies to external hard drives, if you do find yourself filling up the internal drive quickly. I neat design idea was to put a USB 2.0 port on either side of the unit instead of bunching them up on the same side.

Like Matt, I too am a fan of the glossy touchscreen. Not only does it add to the streamlined, state of the art look but it also detracts people from using their fingers as a stylus, which has a lovely weighty feel to it. Outdoor use might get harder with the reflections and brightness but I think that if this did pose a problem to someone, there are options which could overcome this. The screen swivels into place with a solid, robust action and is able to be rotated by 90°, perfect when used in tablet form. Not the brightest of screens, but still easy to see and probably contributes towards the battery life. Asus have also added a built in camera and microphone which is another nice addition especially considering one of the main usages of this would be web related.

Conclusion

As an affordable touchscreen netbook I found the Asus T91 to be very good, I can see these being popular, especially in certain industries, i.e. for drawing floorplans, auditing, stock taking, or even for day to day internet surfing with the added benefit of being able to replace some of the basic laptops available. The keyboard is compact but usable, and the 5 hour battery life is sufficient for a machine of this calibre, but would have been nice to be able to remove the battery and replace it when out on long journeys, but this is a minor issue as most people can get to a power source quite easily nowadays.

In summary, I can’t fault this netbook. It has all the requirements for day to day internet use, as well as some nice features which move it beyond basic surfing. I think this is a nice looking, affordable unit which can be proud to wear the Asus Eee PC badge.

Review by: Gary