ASUS Eee PC S101 Difficult, if Not Impossible, to Upgrade

After reviewing the ASUS Eee PC S101 we attempted to take a look under its hood. However, shortly after grabbing the screwdriver, we realized that the S101 doesn’t provide the same options as previous Eee PCs. While there is a small latch for getting to the RAM, that is about all you can access. We had no problem unscrewing that latch and replacing the default 1GB SODIMM with a 2GB stick of DDR2 RAM; in fact that is the easy part. However, when we popped in the RAM the Windows XP operating system didn’t recognize the extra 1GB, still showing only 0.99GB. Is it possible the BIOS itself won’t recognize more than 1GB? We haven’t gotten an official answer from ASUS about this, but it looks like that’s the case. Ok so we didn’t really think the Eee PC S101 needed more RAM any way. But a new SSD would be pretty sweet, considering we weren’t all that impressed with the one that came standard on the system. We have a new Eee PC SSD upgrade chip from SuperTalent. However, there is no easy way to access the SSD from the back of the system. Even after we pulled off all the screws we couldn’t get to the internals. We assume you have to pry the keyboard off, and since ASUS lent us one of its first review units, we didn’t think it was appropriate to dismantle it. Of course, it will only be a matter of time before some reader (or JKK Mobile) figures out a way to upgrade the ASUS Eee PC S101. However, if you are one of those that just can’t wait to start tweaking the S101 or at least upgrade its internal organs to be as flashy as its outside chassis, you may want to think again.