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It has come to light that the EEE PC 900′s in Europe are being shipped with 4200mah batteries – compared to USA EEE’s are rated 5800mah… This means USA users get 1/3 more power than UK users .

ASUS have hinted the lower powered battery is due to the cost of providing a longer EU warranty.

Apparently there was a similar problem in Hong Kong and ASUS replaced the batteries free-of-charge… Could the same happen in the EU?? I doubt it – due to the amount of sales, however an alternative would be to provide a voucher to use against ASUS products in future as good will?

Update: Have just spotted you can buy 5800mah or even 6600mah EEE batteries on ebay for about £20-£30.

Update Update: Looks like ASUS have back-tracked a little, and are offering a battery upgrade for £10.

Finally got my eee pc 900, after having an xp version sat in my house for a week and not being able to touch it… I’ve returned that one and now got my hands on the Linux version that I originally ordered.

The changes between the 4G and 900 are fairly subtle to be honest – the OS appears to be exactly the same and the only differences that I’ve really spotted are the charger is a brick-type with a figure-8 connection to the brick and obviously the screen is larger. I think the keyboard might have been tweaked ever-so-slightly, but otherwise the unit seems very similar!

The underside of my EEE doesnt have the original ‘warranty’ sticker that was on the 4G – but it does have an “EEE PC sticker” – could this be Asus’ way of getting out of the dodgy warranty situation in the US – whilst keeping tabs on whether the item has been fiddled with?

The screen makes all the difference to me – to be honest – it’s just that little bit of extra space that makes all the difference. The black bars were wasted space really anyway.

I’ll report back here if I spot anything else, but I’m very pleased and glad I upgraded. They are the perfect travel companion – for when you just want to chuck a web-appliance in a bag and not feel the weight of an old style laptop!

I was in two minds about ordering an EEE PC 900 – I know the atom version is scheduled for later this year and I’m very interested in the Atom chipset…. However the 9″ screen with 1024×600 res would just make it that little bit easier to use… And with 1GB RAM/Linux/20GB it’s just a nice little step up from the 4G series…

So when I saw BT Shop with stock of the White 20GB/Linux the other day – I got the credit card out… On Tuesday I eagerly tracked my parcel – and on Wednesday I saw it had been delivered on the home delivery network site… Got home – ripped apart the packing material… Saw an XP logo.

Damn! I don’t want a laptop with XP on it (he says — I’m typing this blog entry on a laptop with XP)… But still – I want Xandros, and I don’t want to increase the sale numbers of EEE PC’s with XP! You never know – Asus might do something silly like start to supply the EEEPC exclusively with XP!!!
So I’ve had to fill in the returns section.. Turned the EEE PC on quickly – to check that it did have XP and wasn’t just marked as such, but unfortunately it’s true.

How disappointing… I’ll probably have to wait ages now! Anyone else had this problem??

So you’ve decided you love the idea of the EEE PC, and you realise you can’t beat it for price… It’s just whether you should pay the extra to get the 900 over the 700…

A quick list of ‘extras’ you get with the 900 over the 700 series:

• 1GB RAM – rather than 512MB. Makes the system smoother. To upgrade a 700 series to 1GB ram would cost about £5.
• 20GB Storage – rather than 4GB. Gives you more room for files. To add another 16GB flash using a USB stick would cost about £40.
• 8.9″ screen – rather than 7″. Easier on the eyes, but still to be seen whether it’s a battery drain. Very difficult to upgrade a 4G with a bigger screen.

The 8.9″ screen, at 1024×600 res, gives that extra chunk of space for firefox… It makes your life that little bit easier!

The other question is… Windows or Linux? A lot of people are worried when buying these PC’s that they won’t be able to use Linux, so plump for the 12GB/XP version. FEAR NOT!!!! The version of Linux installed on the EEEPC is so easy to use… er.. a child could use it… After all that is what the EEE PC was originally designed for! Go for Linux – you won’t regret it.

You can buy the EEE PC at BT Shop – it’s currently priced at £335.99 with free delivery. Here are the links:

• White 20GB Linux
• Black 20GB Linux
• White 12GB XP
• Black 12GB XP