REVIEW – ASUS EEE PC 1000H – the ultimate Netbook/Mini-Laptop so far!

There is so much rage in the netbook arena. With so many companies jumping into the Netbook arena, it definitely becomes difficult for the number one netbook manufacturer, ASUS to stay as the leader. With the ASUS EEE 1000H, it seems like they have made the ultimate netbook so far. Combined with fast processor, ample storage space, great upgrading options and EXCELLENT battery life, they seem to have got everything right

REVIEW - ASUS EEE PC 1000H - the ultimate Netbook/Mini-Laptop so far!

A little HISTORY

Last year, ASUS was the first one to introduce netbooks into the market. It was due to the Asus, the term netbook became popular. ASUS first came with the EEE PC 70x series which included 700, 701 and 702. Those models became very popular due to their low price tags; good build quality and ruggedness. After few months, it launched ASUS 900, which was similar to EEE 701 but with bigger(8.9″) and better screen(1024 x 600). Size increase was marginal too. After a month, they came out with EEE 901, which sported Atom processor and bigger battery. 901 is still selling very well. Some even said that the EEE PC 901 is the best balance of power and mobility.

I personally own two EEE 701s. They work very nice for me. I upgraded to 900, but returned it as it also had the exact keyboard as 701. It is not that I hate the keyboard of 70x series. It is great for 15min data entry but definately not for prolonged durations. I didn’t upgrade to 901 just due to one reason. The reason was that I have been yearning for a better keyboard. Sooner, my wish was answered by ASUS when they introduced the ASUS 1000H. According to ASUS, the keyboard of the 1000H is 95% of the normal laptop size keyboard. This makes me a happy camper for sure!

Bootup

The EEE PC 1000H boots up very quickly. Definately, it boots faster than my 701 which has my personal nLited verson of XP professional. The EEE PC 1000H comes with Windows XP Home edition(too bad they don’t have XP professional option).

KEYBOARD = Perfect for typing and great for the bloggers

The size of the keyboard of the ASUS EEE PC 701 was just ok. It is perfect to enter small URLs and do some basic editing. If you had plans to write a lot on the keyboard, then, I would really not prefer you to write on the small keyboard of the 701.

On the other hand, the keyboard of the 1000H is simply fantastic. Infact, I’m writing the whole review on the keyboard of the ASUS 1000H. I feel like typing on the full keyboard. Asus claims that it is 95% of the full keyboard. The first time I started using this keyboard, I’d to make no adjustments at all. The keys are of good size and they have excellent tactile feedback.

1000H keyboad

701 keyboard
701 keyboard

Screen

The screen is 10.2″(25.9cm) screen which sports a resolution of 1024 x 600. It is clear and bright. The resolution is adequate for this screen size though I wish they could have packed a few more pixels into it. 1280 x 800 would have been great. But, seriously no problems with current resolution at all.

Here are some comparison pictures of EEE 1000H with 701(first pic) and Acer 14.1″ laptop(second pic)

Size of the 1000H = Just right!

The size of the EEE PC is optimum for taking to the college or to a business meeting. It can also a dream come true for the people who loved the size of the SONY TZ series, but were unable to buy it due to it’s lavish price tag.
The size of the EEE PC lies between the 12″ tablets/laptops and the 70x series, which have 7″ display.

Here is the picture of the EEE PC with includes HTC Diamond on top; Sandisk Sansa; ASUS EEE PC 701; ASUS 1000H and below it, is my good ‘ol and very reliable ACER 3620(a typical 14.1″ laptop).

Benchmark

wPrime – 32M – 158.234 seconds @ 1.710.1MHz (super performance mode)

Battery Life

THe EEE PC 1000H comes with a 6600mAH battery.It truely shines in this department. The ASUS often advertises the EEE 1000H as a “whole day” device meaning that you can run it contuniously without charging for ~6-7h. Those figures are great for such a small device which is also so light when compared to similar sized notebooks/tablets. In the battery life department, I am impressed. Seriously impressed.

Basic tests of the popular applications

I installed the Photoshop CS3 extended on the 1000H and as expected, it ran fine. The fast processor really helps here. The Office 2007 also ran fine. No problems here. I went ahead and installed Visual Studio 2005. I first thought that it would be an overkill for this little thing. But, the 1000H proved me wrong! It ran faster than my 1.5GHz celeron laptop which also has 2GB of RAM. Youtube videos played without a problem even on full screen.

Overall, I am pretty sure that most of your win32 applications will install and run without any problem.

Touchpad – here comes the magic of multi-touch on a netbook!

Other things I liked about the EEE PC 1000H was it’s touchpad. Well, it is not just another touchpad. It supports multi-touch. You can configure it to launch applications by doing some gestures. eg: two finger tap to launch your favorite web browser. In a web browser, you can use two fingers to scroll up and down. There are many gestures and I’m still learning how to use them.

The 1000H comes with a nifty 1.3MP camera which is great for Skype video and video conferencing. I tested it and the results were more than satisfying. It takes decent pictures too. The built quality is great. The hinge seems very solid and durable.

VISTA?

Many people have praised EEE 1000H regarding it’s ability to run vista quite nicely. Though most of them have said that one needs to upgrade the unit with 2GB RAM to enjoy running vista on it. I am not a big of running vista on a small device like this but it is nice to know that it runs it incase in future I want to run it.

Final Thoughts

The EEE PC is great for the people who travel a lot and want a powerful companion with them all the time. It is also great for the programmers who want to do programming-on-the-go. The keyboard is great for typing long documents.

Since it has ample storage capacity(80GB or 160GB), I also recommend it to the photographers. On the top of the icing, it runs photoshop CS3 great too!

 

Specifications:

  • Processor type: Intel Atom
  • Processor speed: 1.6 GHz
  • Operating system: Windows XP Home
  • Webcam: Yes
  • RAM: 1GB
  • HDD capacity: 80GB/160GB
  • Dimensions: 20 x 225 x 170 mm
  • Screen Size: 10.2″
  • Resolution: 1024 x 600
  • USB ports: 3
  • LAN: Yes
  • Dialup modem: No
  • Claimed Battery life: 8H
  • VGA out: Yes

ASUS 1000H official page

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