I recently purchased the Asus Eee 900HA and have assisted a friend who owns the Acer. I was originally planning on purchasing the Acer. I liked every aspect except the following:
- the Acer's 3-cell battery did nor provide enough operating time for air travel at 3 hours and the optional 6-cell Acer added weight, cost and length. Also the 6-cell battery extends far enough out that you cannot tilt the screen back like you sometimes need to on a plane.
- the Acer's left and right touchpad buttons are difficult to use. I tried getting use to it, but you no longer can use your thumb to click.
- upgrading. I can live with 1G of memory and 160G hard drive TODAY, but I know what happens, and in a year I'd wish I could upgrade either of both memory and hard drive. The ASUS is easy, the ACER requires a time consuming and potentially problematic install.

I really enjoy the new ASUS. It boots into XP fast, the keyboard is fine, the screen is great, and the two figure scroll controls on the trackpad works great. I believe the fit and finish is better than the ACER, better hinging mechanism and keyboard touch - but this is subjective.

I installed OpenOffice deleted MS Works and MS Live components, went to the ASUS support and upgraded all the drivers. I tried UBUNTU EEE, but found no benefits it boot time or features.

At 2 lbs 7 ounces and a 5 hour runtime - this PC hit the center of my requirements for a netbook.

I was looking for an affordable netbook with enough storage space for music and movies. At first I was going to buy from the Dell web site, but I saw that most of the Dell netbooks have very little storage, so I decided to surf various models in Amazon.com and I found this for a smaller price than a Dell Inspiron Mini yet with more hard disk space.

As an Ubuntu GNU/Linux user, I was hesitant because this netbook comese pre-loaded with Windows XP and I doubted that it would work effectively with Ubuntu. I made some research in other websites and I found that it has an Intel chipset, so I thought I could just erase MS Windows and install Ubuntu.

After the Ubuntu installation, everything worked except the wireless and the integrated microphone, so I looked through the Ubuntu support pages and I found a web site dedicated to Ubuntu users of ASUS Eee PCs: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EeePC The site covers from installing Ubuntu from a USB drive (since this Netbook doesn't have a CD drive) to making sure all the features work once installed.

The trick is installing a modified Linux Kernel that will make all the features in this ASUS Eee PC work. For users of Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex (8.10), the simple and easy-to-follow instructions can be found in this site: http://www.array.org/ubuntu/setup-intrepid.html

After getting rid of monopolistic and faulty MS Windows, this Netbook worked perfectly with Skype and the Compiz effects. I strongly recommend it because it is a good balance between storage, RAM and price.

As a woman with not-so-tiny hands I'm having a little bit of trouble adapting to the cramped keyboard; otherwise I can find no flaws with this adorable little netbook. I think I'll be able to overcome the keyboard.

The screen is matte instead of the glossy finish of the Acer Aspire One. The Acer w/same screen size has a slightly bigger keyboard, but not 100% full sized.

The battery life of the ASUS is blowing my old full sized laptop out of the water. After a couple hours it still has 40% of the battery life remaining.

The speed is good. I love the fact that this one has Windows XP -- something I've found I can't live without is the Windows operating system.

This little computer appears to have a sturdy build. It gives the appearance of reliability, but only time will tell....

The only reason I took away one star was because of the cramped keyboard.

First, I ordered this product with free shipping and Amazon (and UPS) got it to me 4 days early....and during the December holiday season. Thanks for the very good service.

The machine arrived in such a small box it kinda took me back and when I opened the box it was reminiscent of the little toy laptop that you buy your kids to emulate you and your laptop. HOWEVER, THIS IS NO TOY. Nope, no toy; rather, it is a powerful small PC that is just amazing in power, speed and capability.

I took the advice of previous reviewers and purchased the 2GB memory upgrade. Excellent recommendation! In a previous review, one person described the install a little differently than on my machine. There are 4 small (tiny, tiny, tiny) screws to remove and you must remove the battery before you can lift the cover to access the factory-installed 1GB memory module. Then, there are silver-colored spring clips on each side of the existing module that you may want to push to the side before you try to remove the existing module. The old module will pop up at about 45 degrees when it is free of the spring clips. Remove that module by pulling it out at this 45 degree angle - DO NOT lift it straight up. The new 2GB chip can only be installed one way. The slot in the chip will only fit into the machine by lining up the slot on the chip with the slot in the machine. The manual does not cover memory expansion or hard drive upgrades - that would be my only downer.

Performance with XP is comparable to the speed of my 2 y/o HP laptop with VISTA. Did I mention the Windows XP seems to be a luxury for those of us who have been saddled with VISTA? Like all Microsoft software, it is far from perfect but it does the job very nicely on this machine because (I believe) you cannot load up this machine with all the crapware you put on your larger hard drive laptop or desktop units.

Last, one of the expenses that folks don't consider with a new PC is the addition of software you need including anti-virus and a (much better than Windows) firewall. I was able to add everything I needed from various web-based freeware sites. This software ranges from office suites to firewalls, A/V checkers, anti-spam, file management, compression tools, utilities I have become accustomed to, etc. In all, no additional costs beyond the netbook and the memory upgrade.

You can plug it into an external VGA monitor, install a USB keyboard, USB mouse and a USB external hard drive using the 3 USB ports and adding a powered USB hub. With that, if you are not a power user or mondo game player, you can almost have a desktop replacement for web surfing and "normal" PC home use. I use a cable modem...don't recommend dial-up same as I don't recommend placing my hand in my table saw as it is just as painful as dial-up but the table saw does the job much quicker.

Last, my wife likes it! She thinks it is a good value, and is looking forward to (my) toting it on our next vacation. So am I. Dragging my old heavy, bulky laptop was a real drag (sic)! What else can be better!

Buy it, (most of you) will not be disappointed.

Great mini pc/netbook!!! When I first purchased eeepc900ha, my main purpose was to use for basic apps. like internet and e-mail.But after studying my eee, I realized this has so much potential to do more than just that.Unlike many other netbooks on the market you are able to UPGRADE many components to the eee pc. I was able to upgrade the ram to 2gb.(crucial technology ddr2 sodimm available at amazon for under $30).Also I was able to upgrade my internal hd to 320gb. (western digital 2.5" sata internal hd also available at amazon for under $80). Installation was extremely easy just unscrew the bottom and carefully remove the components and replace with upgrades.(GO TO YOUTUBE FIND INFORMATIVE VIDS TO PERFORM UPGRADES). Once completed,I made a already quality performing machine into one that performs just as good or superior with laptops and desktops 2-3 times it size. I'm not finished yet! Keep in mind that eee pc has several usb ports for which you add devices. I was able to accommodate my eee pc with quality logitech devices such as their audiohub speakers (amazon $30-$40),logitech v220 cordless cordless optical mouse for notebooks (amazon under $30), as well as logitech alto cordless notebook stand (amazon $80-$85 BOTH AUDIOHUB AND ALTO CORDLESS HAVE EXTRA USBS GIVES YOU EXTRA FLEXIBILITY).Combine these with a all-in-one printer, external cd/dvd burner and lcd monitor which is hooked through the vga port. I'm equipped with enough hardware to give myself a great setup and user experience thats versatile for home and always when needed take on the go.(ALSO I WOULD LIKE TO MENTION YOU CAN ADD A TOUCHSCREEN PANEL THAT IS AVAILABLE AT EBAY. GO TO YOUTUBE CHECK IT OUT. ANOTHER REASON TO BUY EEE PC).