Asus Eee PC T101MT-EU17-BK 10.1-Inch Convertible Tablet

5 Responses to “Asus Eee PC T101MT-EU17-BK 10.1-Inch Convertible Tablet”

1. M. Nateras Says:
   June 9th, 2010 at 1:56 pm

   Hello all. I want to confirm what others have been saying about the T101MT.
   
   I will describe the computer by listing its features, and try to be thorough to help u guys out.

   Casing.
   
   the laptop is very solid and lighweight. screen and keyboard does not feel “flimsy and cheap” as other netbooks i’ve come accross at stores. namely the Acer netbook models. Cooling fan is very quiet; the hard disk little clicking noises are actually a louder than the fan itself.

   Touchscreen.
   
   Its a very useful feature. Being able to navigate through windows with your index finger is very liberating. takes some practice to get accurate with index finger, but overall fun.

   Multitouch.
   
   I didnt expect T101 to compare to ipad, but in my opinion, the computer is still “high tech” enough to impress people, if thats what youre aiming for.

   Keyboard.
   
   comfortable, solid, key size and spacing comparable to that of a full size laptop. right shift button was shrunk to half size to make room for up arrow and Fn key

   Pen
   
   The writing experience is the only weak point of the T101MT. i own a toshiba M400 laptop (more than 2x price of T101MT) so I am comparing it to a high end tablet. T101MT’s responsiveness is bad (no exaggeration). E.g. writing at
   
   normal speeds and normal text size, the computer will not recognize some of your characters. It is especially difficult to write the letter “O”. Hand gets a little tired after writing with pen for few minutes. To my dismay, Windows 7 does not come with Windows Journal program installed. I do not recommend T101MT if you want to take lots of notes with it in meetings or in school.

   Screen.
   
   the T101MT is big enough to work MS office programs, watch youtube videos, and read long texts comfortably without squinting.

   Video card.
   
   I do not plan to install any high end graphics games, but as others have mentioned, you cannot expect to play high end graphics games on T101MT. I have one comment: under display properties, resolution is 1024×600 and 800×600 only. Other than that, no complaints

   Performance
   
   With windows 7 starter (and 1gig ram), computer is sluggish. E.g. after removing all original junkware, and running no programs, right clicking on an file to display its properties will still take about .5-1.0 second, a good sign that youre running with very little available RAM.

   RAM
   
   When i looked under properties, I noticed that windows 7 alone took up about 65% of the RAM space. 10% was taken by other internal processes. Windows 7 starter only recognizes up to 2GB ram max. Also, the T101MT is very picky about which ram it will recognize.
   
   I tried the following:
   
   - PNY DDR2 5300 1GB: not recognized, blank screen when turned on (many card reseatings, and bios updates did not solve the issue)
   
   – Kingston DDR2 5300 2GB: not recognized, blank screen when turned on.
   
   – Kingston DDR2 5300 1GB: RECOGNIZED!!!

   On the plus side, after installing the only RAM stick that was recognized, most of the slugishness issues went away!

   Conclusion: This netbook will give you good performance for your money. If you’re only going to use it for navigating internet, typing in word and checking email, the T101MT is ideal. For the experienced pc users: If you are expecting to run 2 to 4 programs at a time regularly, get the RAM upgrade. That way you will get the computer to wait for your command, and not you wait on the computer when giving commands.
   Rating: 5 / 5

2. S. Parvin Says:
   June 9th, 2010 at 2:28 pm

   Others give it low ratings because it does not come out of the box with everything they want, but to me this is not important. Who cares whether you need to spend some extra money getting the unit up to spec versus paying more initially for the same specs. I think it is better to give a cheaper option and then give customers the option of whether they want to upgrade or not. In terms of the upgrades, I’ve put on Windows 7 Home Premium (I liked how the computer comes with Windows 7 Starter as I already had a Home Premium licence, so getting it without Home Premium meant I didn’t have to pay as much), and a Corsair Nova 64GB SSD drive (although the computer did not seem too bad without the standard hard drive – the SSD drive is certainly faster, lighter, consumes less battery, produces less heat, and is more robust). I have also ordered a 1GB memory module as it looks like you need this (and not a 2GB module) to upgrade the ram to 2GB.

   With these upgrades, the tablet is everything I’ve been looking for. Build quality is fantastic (although heavier than I was expecting, but the SSD does lighten it), looks very sleek, keyboard is very good. You can run the Asus Super Hybrid Engine to overclock the processor to 1.83GHz. Everything is very snappy.

   But what I most love is the pen for the touchscreen that has its own holder in the case. I find the accuracy of the resistive screen to be quite good using a finger, and only the slightest touch is needed to detect a click. However, with the pen, accuracy is fantastic, and I find I can skip through menus and dialogs even faster than I can on my desktop using a normal mouse!

   Most importantly, the limitations with how the computer comes are not things you have to live with, but can be eliminated just by upgrading. Also be aware that the US version do not come with bluetooth (but again, there is a connector so it could be added later if you want to) and you need to void the warranty to install the SSD drive and it is a difficult job – you might want to take it to a professional. However, once upgraded, I think this computer is by far the best tablet available in the price range (or really any tablet for this size).
   Rating: 5 / 5

3. J. Warren Says:
   June 9th, 2010 at 4:48 pm

   This PC is almost there….but its missing some crutial items. Windows 7 starts will work but you are missing the multi touch capability to match the hardware. To get this you need to upgrade to at least Home Premium for an additional 80.00 at this time. This will then make it necessary to upgrade the ram to the maximum of the netbook : 2GB. I am having trouble with the suggested upgrade: Crucial 2GB 256Mx64PC2-5300 CT25664AC667 DDR2 200-Pin SODIMM. When I installed it, the machine wouldn’t boot. Suggestions from the ASUStek forum point to this ram module: Kingston 1GB DDR2-5300 which is reported to have worked and added up to its 2Gb max. Others who tried the Crucial reported that it worked until a reboot make it not work anymore.

   My BIOS at this time is 404 date 2/3/2010. I see an older version of the BIOS on the Asus update (401) but someone in the forum reports the machine won’t downgrade.

   The ASUS website and manual have almost no information on this unit at this time. It comes with bloatware that has been reported to be difficult to remove from the machine and registry.

   Aside from a rather small right shift key, the keyboard is better than I expected. I will report more as I keep messing with this machine.
   Rating: 3 / 5

4. Assistechwiz Says:
   June 9th, 2010 at 5:26 pm

   If you are considering this netbook, just go ahead and upgrade to Win 7 Home Premium or above, and add 1GB of memory. THESE UPGRADES WILL MAKE THIS NETVERTIBLE ALL YOU COULD HOPE FOR AND THEN SOME.

   Asus documentation is not very clear, but my machine recognized a Kingston 1GB PC2-6400 800MZ. It would NOT recognize any PC2-5300 667mz memory. The motherboard can only handle a total of 2GB, and 1GB comes with it, so do not purchase the 2GB chip as recommended by Amazon.com
   Rating: 5 / 5

5. Peter Billington Says:
   June 9th, 2010 at 6:51 pm

   Pros: Small size; build quality; tablet with stylus; light weight for a computer; 3 USB ports; monitor port; SD card slot; built-in camera and mic; headset and mic plugs; windows 7 was able to hook to my home win 7 network for easy file transfer.

   Cons: Screen a little fuzzy (probably due to the tablet touch capabilities); off-the-shelf configuration not good enough; may be a little heavy as an ebook reader; some flex at the top of the keyboard at about keys 3 to 5.

   There were several reasons I wanted to try the new Asus t101mt. First, I needed a netbook to take with me while traveling, and a major Asian trip was coming up soon. Schlepping my full size laptop is getting to be too much trouble on the long trips and I don’t need that much power while travelling. I mostly check email, do some web surfing and do some writing. This is my first netbook.

   Second, the tablet concept intrigued me because, as a professor, I make presentations at conferences and this smaller unit can do the presentation and is easy to carry. Also, I often need to write notes on a monitor and have it projected onto the big classroom screen during class presentation. Hoping the stylus would allow that. Haven’t tried yet.

   Here is how my basic setup went and some preliminary observations.
   
   The unit booted up nicely, initialized and captured my home g network login without any difficulty. A little sluggish with about 6 explorer tabs open but this is with the original 1 GB of RAM.
   
   The popup ad to activate the internet security software is getting annoying. Pops up every half hour or so. I need to remove the extra bloatware.
   
   Went to the crucial website to see what they suggest for RAM upgrade, and their recommendation is the 800 mhz PC2-6400. Based on the conflicting reports in reviews of what type of memory has worked, I purchased both the 667 mhz and the 800 mhz varietiesm 1 GB.
   
   Easy to access the bottom door to get to the slot for the RAM. All you can do is insert 1 GB into this slot to get 2 GB total.
   
   It didn’t like the 1 GB inserted until I went into BIOS and set the boot booster to disabled. It says to do that in the little manual, but I forgot to do it. Did that, put in the memory, and rebooted, went into BIOS and there it is showing 2 gig installed. So it looks like the 800 mhz PC2-6400 is the way to go, at least on my unit. Didn’t try the 667 mhz, I’ll send it back.

   The BIOS shows a 667 mhz FSB, so maybe the 667 would work. Should have tried it but didn’t.
   
   Defintely faster with the second gig of RAM. I used Kingston 1 GB PC2-6400 800 mhz 200 pin SO DIMM.
   
   As noted in other reviews, this unit can only take a 1GB module as the first gig is on the motherboard.

   Still using the windows 7 starter. Next up, install the windows 7 upgrade to home premium.
   
   Upgraded smoothly, and this is really needed to get this unit up to speed. Now I can rotate the desktop when in tablet mode, and have a little on-screen keyboard when needed. Haven’t really tried all the capabilities yet.
   
   Stylus works pretty well. Haven’t tried using my fingers much. Win 7 has the nice feature that it will recognize your palm when writing and not go crazy.

   Now. I’m used to a big HP laptop, so anything this small and light seems like a dream, but that could change with time and usage.

   My wife just borrowed it to take notes at a meeting. She didn’t want to carry her notebook to the meeting, so she took my netwook. Worked well for her. She liked it, and she’s a major power user on her notebook. She is not sure if it would fill the bill for her, but she will experiment.

   Touch screen in tablet arrangement using the stylus works well. Writng recognition is good. Haven’t given it a significant workout yet, just playing at this stage.

   So first impressions very good to excellent. I will followup after using this for while. Perhaps after giving it a workout on my Asian trip later this summer.
   Rating: 5 / 5

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website