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.
EPCS101-BRN004X
Price
£449 inc VAT
Rating
5 out of 6
Good
Fabulous good looks; very slim & light; large SSD
Bad
Precariously pricey for a netbook; would benefit from HSDPA for "high end" tag
Verdict
The Asus Eee PC S101 is a truly stunning netbook, but we'd like to see at least a small bump in the specs to justify that "high end" price tag.
I didn't see anything about battery replacement. Can it be changed out by the user?
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Battery written by Julian Prokaza , October 07, 2008
It's a standard, replaceable battery - nothing funky here.
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... written by cjdshaw , October 07, 2008
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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Graphics??? written by ron , October 07, 2008
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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Battery life vs eee1000? written by Sam , October 08, 2008
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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... written by oioi , October 08, 2008
does have a multi-touch pad likes the other eeepc??
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Keyboard written by Robin , October 08, 2008
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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... written by Lardo , October 08, 2008
Netbooks tend to run a little warm due to their small casing, so its easy to guess that with this machine will be an even bigger problem. Its beyond me why reviewers tend to "forget" about this aspect which greatly affects their usefullness. Any info about it, please??
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fan vents on bottom?? written by DustyMac , October 09, 2008
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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... written by ProDigit , October 13, 2008
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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... written by Paul , October 19, 2008
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!
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... written by Mark , October 20, 2008
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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Battery Life and weight written by anonymous , October 22, 2008
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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asus eepc s101 available written by Paul King , October 30, 2008
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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... written by Robert Pirillo , November 14, 2008
I hope to see that Viyya Technology is adde to the EeePc soon for web 2.0 cloud computing
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