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ASUS Eee PC 701 review

8.6

Editors' Rating

Design		9.0
Features		7.5
Value		10.0
Battery life		8.0
Performance		7.5

Rory Reid CNET

Published: 29 Oct 2007

Editor's Note, 4/3/2008
Since we published this review late last year, we have had another ASUS Eee unit (the 2G Surf model) in for further testing. As part of a project on low-power computing, we devised a simple workload test and measured the system's power draw (using a Voltcraft Plus Digital Multimeter VC-940).

The workload test involves typing a short (187-word) document, creating a small spreadsheet and a graph, browsing a couple of web sites and playing a YouTube video (specifically, this one). Because the display is the major power-consuming component of a notebook, we performed the test twice —: first with the screen brightness set to the maximum and then at the minimum setting.

The Eee is certainly a low-power device, drawing an average of 14W with maximum backlight and 13.2W with minimum backlight. Idle and peak power figures were 13.3W and 16.5W respectively with maximum backlight and 12W/15.6W with mimimum backlight.

For comparison, the Inveneo Computing Station, a low-power desktop system, had an average power draw of 19.9W, peaking at 23.5W, under Windows XP. Another small-format notebook, the Intel Classmate drew slightly more power in the workload test than the Eee: 16.7W and 15.3W on average with max/min backlight respectively, and 20.8W and 17.8W peak.

The total time to complete the workload test is a function of operator work-rate, system usability and system performance, and is therefore a somewhat fuzzy benchmark. However, it's worth noting that the Eee's two workload test runs (19.9 minutes and 20.5 minutes) were slightly quicker than those for the desktop Inveneo Computing Station (22.5 minutes under Windows XP and 31.2 minutes under Linux).

Bootup time is a more straightforward performance measure, and the Eee takes around 30 seconds on average to reach an idle XP desktop from power-on. Opening the browser to Google (set as the home page) took only 9 seconds or so.

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