Review: Asus EEE PC 701 4G notebook computer

Although notebook computers are cheaper today than ever before, it's still rather unusual to see one for sale for less than £350.

What's more, cheaper notebooks tend to be rather similar: most have a 15.4in widescreen display, and although they're fairly powerful very few are light enough, or have a battery good enough, to be really portable.

Asus's oddly-named Eee PC, then, is rather unusual. Not only is it a complete notebook computer that costs just £220 including VAT, but it's both tiny and portable. There are several things that might put potential buyers off choosing the Eee over a conventional computer.

Firstly, its size can be troublesome: the Eee is tiny and when closed, it’s not much larger than two DVD cases stacked together. This makes it easy to fit into even the most cramped travel bag, but it also means that everything about the notebook is similarly small.

The keyboard, for instance, has keys that are minuscule and rather wobbly. It's possible to type fairly fast if you have small fingers, but we wouldn't want to write a long document on it. The battery itself is also fairly small, but will keep the Eee running for between two and three hours when surfing the web.

More importantly, the Eee has a small screen. The 7in display has a resolution of just 800x480 pixels, giving far less room for programs and documents than most notebooks. This also means that text is generally small, making it a poor choice for anyone with worse than 20/20 eyesight.

Another key difference between the Eee and a regular notebook computer is that, unlike most notebooks, the Eee doesn't come with Windows XP or Vista. Instead, it uses a special version of the free Linux operating system. This uses clear menus with large icons that give access to all the free software included on the Eee. This includes the Firefox web browser, the Thunderbird email program and the excellent OpenOffice suite, which can open and edit Word and Excel documents.

The downside of using Linux is that it's not possible to install any Windows programs you might have, but with so much good software installed already there's a good chance you won't need to.

Finally, the parts used inside the Eee are rather different to those found in most modern notebooks. The processor, for example, is a simple and slow one rather than the fancy dual-core chips found in most notebooks, and there's only 512MB of memory.

The biggest difference of all, though, is the fact that the Eee doesn't have a hard disk. Instead it stores files and programs on 4GB of flash memory, the kind of storage used in a camera memory card. Over half of this is filled up with the programs that are installed as standard, so there isn’t much left, but it’s easy to add more storage space by plugging in an SD memory card.

Overall, the Eee is a mixed bag. For everyday computing or work it’s no substitute for a normal notebook computer running Windows with a big screen and keyboard, but as a tiny, portable way to surf the web wirelessly from the sofa, or for travellers on a budget, it’s brilliant.

Vista compatible: No