Asus Eee PC 1000HA – Review

Asus Eee PC 1000HA – Review By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla After our initial impressions on the Eee PC 1000H, we're ready with the full review. Things improve with time and this sentiment is true when it comes to Asus’ Eee PC line. The original netbooks, which have sold 4 million units to date, were highly successful and created a new niche of inexpensive, fun and functional sub-notebooks which other makers scrambled to compete with. The first run of the Eee PC was successful, here at The Canadian Reviewer, we had the chance to use and examine both the 4GB and 8GB models and while they were simple and fun to use, we really couldn’t take to the Xandros OS, which was preinstalled on the units. We found the units a bit dinky and to be honest, they felt like toylike. We soon moved on to netbook offerings from HP and Raon Digital which seemed better built but were more expensive. More on the Eee PC after the jump! Leaping Ahead As longtime users of the ThinkPad line of subnotebooks (specifically the X40 tablet, the X61 tablet and our perennial favorite, the X60s) we felt we needed a change and were attracted to the Asus Eee PC 1000H line- which offered, among others, an super bright LED screen at 10’1 inches, an alleged 7 hour life on included 6-cell battery, a built in SD card reader and Windows XP Home out of the box. Since our ThinkPads did not come with optical drivers, we were totally fine going full-on cloud with the Eee PC. So we sauntered off to Canada Computers and nabbed ourselves a glossy black model which sported the Intel Atom Processor but which did away with Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth, a $100 savings that ended up costing $470 Canadian without tax. Aside from the glossy “fine ebony” finish, we liked the overall look and feel of the 1000HA. Touch-typing on this netbook is easy save for a few misplaced keys (arrow up is where the shift key should be, the shift key is right beside it but it is easy to miss). There are a few metallic accents like on the trackpad (which we find too sensitive and we prefer using an external mouse) and on the tips of the hinge. Build is generally solid save for the battery which feels a bit flimsy in its chamber and doesn’t seem to lock in perfectly. The bezel holding the screen is tough and flex free and the screen itself is pristine, we have to have brightness set at about ¼ of the capacity as it is really bright – much brighter, in fact, than our LED MacBook. Easy to Love Netbook For the price and the specs, the Asus Eee PC 1000HA is easy to love. The storage space is ample at 160GB (we’re not thrilled that the hard drive has been split into two sectors, this seems to be a Eee PC thing which we observed even with earlier models). You get the most important connectivity with Wi-Fi B and G, three high-speed USB ports and a 1.3 Megapixel camera and two microphones to boot. Windows XP is on SP3 now and works great on this netbook, the Atom Processor is a revelation in power and economy –we love it and its ability to switch gears from economy mode (running the processor at 1.2GHz) to high performance (1.7GHz) makes this little notebook quite the overachiever for light to moderate computing. We are already planning trips to take the Eee PC on and won’t feel bad tossing it into our knapsack and throwing it into the conveyors at airport security. Something we’d hate to do with our more expensive notebooks. Verdict We like the direction Asus is taking the Eee PC line of netbooks, something for every possible user. With the 1000HA they cover business users and frequent travelers who may not want to lug their main machines. The 1000HA is attractive, functional and reasonably priced for a full-functioning, hassle free netbook that I actually fun to use and compromises little. We think people in the market for a second portable or who are planning a trip and need to keep connected, should check these out.

Click to read more ...