Difference between EEE 1000H and EEE 1000HE

READ THE FULL REVIEW OF EEE 1000HE here

I had a chance to play with the EEE 1000HE today. Being the user of 1000H, I could not stop myself in comparing the two and justifying, if the EEE 1000H should upgrade to the 1000HE. The EEE 1000HE brings minor, but useful advancements over the EEE 1000H. In this post, I’ve enlisted and explained the differences between the two and if you will gain anything by EEE 1000HE over 1000H.

  1. Keyboard: Immediately when you open the lid, you will see that the keyboard has undergone a huge change. Gone is the small right shift key which was placed at somewhat awkward location. The keys are chicklet styled and have more space between them. Also, The placement of right shift key is more natural now. The location where the right shift key was present in 1000H is now taken by another function (fn) key. The ASUS representative there told me that this will let the consumer use the PageUp and PageDown buttons with one hand. Although, I doubt that one can hold this 1.4kg+ machine for a long time with one hand.
  2. Battery: The EEE 1000H was quite famous for its great battery life thanks to its huge 6600mAh battery, which promised 5-6h of continuous usage. The EEE 1000HE comes with even more capacity (8700mAh). I expected it to be a lot bigger than the 6600mAh one, but it was marginally bigger than it. ASUS claims that it should give 8+ hours of usage and I agree with them.
  3. Processor: The EEE 1000HE comes with a N280 processor, which is 60MHz faster than the N270 that is used in the 1000H. I did not feel any noticeable difference though.

To me, the biggest change is the keyboard. After using it for 3 minutes, I had already become accustomed to the new location of the right shift key. Does the new shift key arrangement makes a difference to me? No. The reason is that I do not use the right shift key much. I made the required change in my typing habits ever since I got my first EEE, which was EEE 701, which also had the small right shift key. So, when I moved to 1000H (I still have my 701), the right shift key did not bother me much.

So, the question arises, whether you should upgrade to the new EEE 1000HE. The answer is simple. If you own an EEE or another netbook, where you find the right shift key annoying and you cannot work without it, then you may go ahead and buy it. Otherwise, if you are accustomed to the right shift key or do not use it much, then you should instead get an extended battery for you existing netbook. However, it is different story if you have few hundred dollars begging to be spent.

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