Asus Eee PC T91 Review

Asus has been continually expanding its successful EeePC line. The T91 is the first Eee to take on the convertible tablet form factor.

Design

Click the image to see the T91 at Amazon

The T91 is an extremely compact, lightweight tablet. It features an 8.9″ touch screen display (1024×600 resolution), and the aforementioned convertible form factor, allowing it to function in either a traditional laptop or tablet style.

With this computer, Asus has crossed some interesting lines. Tablets have traditionally been more expensive, and largely relegated to the business realm. The T91, like most computers in the Eee line, features a low price (sub $500), and typical netbook components, just arranged as a tablet computer. This is a real boon for anyone put off from buying a tablet by their high prices.

In addition to price, the T91 has a real advantage over most tablets due to its low weight and small size. Most convertible tablets feature 12 inch screens, and weigh over 4 pounds. The T91 Eee weighs only a little over 2 pounds, and features a compact size befitting an 8.9 inch screen.

Although the small size and price are appealing, there are of course some tradeoffs. The screen on this Asus tablet is fairly good, but its small size and low resolution makes working on larger documents a real challenge – many web pages cannot even fit within the borders. The computer is powered by an Intel Atom CPU, the Z520, which helps keep down power consumption and cost, but offers just barely adequate performance. Outside of these two constraints, it’s a pleasure to use – but don’t expect it to replace an expensive, larger screened laptop.

Usage

Using the T91 is an interesting experience compared to many of the tablets on the market. The upsides include:

• Very light, you could carry it all day
• Convertible form-factor provides flexibility
• SSD makes some tasks fast

There are some downsides, however:

• The display is small
• The system overall is relatively slow

It is really nice having a tablet that is so light, and yet includes a hardware keyboard. On the other hand, it possesses the usual tradeoffs with which netbook buyers are quite familiar – a little screen and slow speed go with the small price. The presence of an SSD instead of a regular hard disk is another tradeoff. This does speed up startup/shutdown, along with opening programs. The downside is that you have a relatively small amount of storage space, although you can purchase memory cards to provide space for more media.

Battery Life

This system is rated at a 5 hour battery life by Asus. As is normal, this is somewhat optimistic, although Asus tends to provide more reliable estimates than most manufacturers. Your experience will vary based on the programs you’re running and screen brightness used, but you can expect 5 hours to be around the higher end of what you will achieve.

Conclusion

The Asus Eee PC T91 tablet is, as mentioned previously, a fairly unique combination of netbook and tablet. There are some competitors, but they are mostly being produced by less well-known names than Asus, the manufacturer of the original netbook. This tablet is not the right choice for someone looking to replace a powerful tablet or laptop computer. It is, however, a great option for someone looking for a very lightweight, yet flexible tablet PC. The T91 may also appeal to netbook buyers. If you are buying a netbook, but would like to experience some iPad-like surfing the web on your coach, using a touchscreen – this tablet could be the perfect fit.

To check prices or buy the T91 – check out it’s section on Amazon.