The Asus Eee PC S101 is unrecognisable from the “cheap and cheerful” look that defined its first Eee and the first generation of netbooks. With its sophisticated, golden-brown lid and subtle silver trim its definitely a step toward taking netbooks to sexyland.
A new grown-up style isn’t the only advantage of the new Eee, it’s also one of the slimmest (19mm deep) and lightest netbooks around (just 1.1kg). This’ll make it a sure-fire winner with commuters… especially those with weak, emaciated arms.
On the inside Asus has given it a meagre 16GB solid state drive. While SSD means that the S101 does run zippier than a hard drive model and is more, well, solid, it also means you’re only going to be able to store a fraction of your Bon Jovi collection on here.
The S101 runs Windows XP Home or Linux, contains the usual Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor and an adequate 1GB of RAM. The 10.2-inch LED-backlit screen, meanwhile, is pretty average to be honest. In fact all the S101′s spec is very “seen it all before”. And it doesn’t help that there’s no built-in mobile broadband. Still, at least the battery life is pretty decent at around 5.6 hours.
But the most outrageous thing about the S101 is the price hike. Asus has given this netbook a £450 price tag. Okay, it’s better looking, but £150 more better looking? We think not.
