The super-small Asus Eee 2G Surf is well built, easy to use and its monitor provides a sparklingly clear image. It's size though, makes it unsuitable as a primary pc since the small keyboard makes intensive typing slow - see a further review below. If you're thinking of buying an ASUS EEE PC try the links below:

See the full range of ASUS Eee laptop computers and accessories at amazon.co.uk or see what is on offer at amazon.com

The ASUS 2g eee pc laptop comes with:

• Intel (R) Mobile Processor
• RAM: 512MB
• Hard Drive: 2GB Solid State Drive
• 7.0" Screen(800 x 480)
• Wireless LAN: 802.11b/g
• Battery: Lithium-Ion (4 Cell)
• Battery Life: approx 2.8 hours
• Dimensions: 22.5 x 16.4 x 2.15 - 3.5 cm
• Weight: 0.92kg
• Operating System: Customized Xandros Linux
• Software: OpenOffice 2.0, Firefox, Thunderbird, Skype
• Kensington lock slot
• 1 x Memory card slot which can read MMC/SD cards from digital cameras, MP3 players, mobile phones and PDAs
• 1 x VGA Port
• 1 x Headphone-out jack
• 1 x Microphone In Port
• 1 x RJ-45
• 3 x USB 2.0
• Power Adaptor (battery re-charges when plugged into the mains)
• Support CD and Windows XP drivers (needs an external optical drive)

I bought the eee 2g as a secondary laptop. My Toshiba Equium M40X laptop works very well as a primary computer connected to a full size keyboard, external monitor, scanner and printer. But it's rather heavy and somewhat irksome to keep disconnecting and reconnecting all the peripherals in order to move it to the sitting room.

The 2g is very easy to connect wirelessly to the BT Home Hub. After working with the Toshiba most of the day I like to flop in an armchair with the TV in the background, browse around various blogs, keep up with a few forums adding an occasional comment, check and reply to email, read the online news, and generally surf around. For these tasks the Eee PC 2g Surf has turned out to be ideal. It also makes it easier to spend time in the same room as other family members instead of being shut away in a computer room which is isolating and can even lead to relationship breakdowns for avid computer users.

Can memory be upgraded in the eee pc 2g surf? Unlike the eeepc 4g, the 2g lacks an access panel in the base so the answer is no - the RAM memory cannot be upgraded.

In addition to the Firefox browser and OpenOffice, the eee pc 2g includes a calculator, photo manager, and media player for music and movies. According to the eee pc manual, the photo manager supports PNG, JPG, TIF, TIFF, GIF, BMP, XPM, PPM, PNM, XCT, and PCX formats. Also according to the manual, the AUS eee pc supports video and audio files in the following formats: wmv, DVD, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, SP, Xvid, mp3, wma, ogg, wav, MPEG4 AAC, PCM, and Dolby digital (2.0 decode) format.

It's a reasonably quiet mini-laptop. Turn it on and initially it runs silently but after a few minutes the system fan kicks in and this makes a variable whirring sound.

I was disappointed to find the 2g surf lacks an internal modem - the socket for the phone connection is sealed so no dial-up. There is no built-in 0.3 megapixel web cam on this model either and it lacks a carry case. Also, the keyboard area to the right of the touchpad becomes warm during operation but not unbearably so. Despite these limitations the eee pc 2g surf is proving to be an invaluable secondary wireless mini-laptop and is serving its purpose well.

See the full range of ASUS Eee laptop computers and accessories at amazon.co.uk or see what is on offer at amazon.com