ASUS Eee PC 1000HE Review

Pros:

Chiclet style keyboard at 92% full size, incredibly long battery life (8 hours plus) with no unsightly battery bulge, 802.11N Wireless, Intel N280 processor at 1.66 GHz, 1.3 megapixel web cam

Cons:

3.2 Pounds, HD Video support lacking, Thick Chassis

Bottom Line:

The ASUS Eee PC is the best netbook on the market right now. I explained why I preordered the Asus Eee PC 1000HE in an earlier post and shared some early hands on impressions and my opinion hasn't changed - this is a great netbook. The chiclet keyboard is amazing and at 92% full size I have no issues using the netbook for extended periods of time. The battery life is hands down amazing! I'm used to traditional laptops that require a charge every two hours or less and for me to get 8 hours plus without having to recharge is a truly special feeling.

Quick Product Specs:

Processor: Intel Atom N280 (1.66 GHz), RAM installed: 1 GB DDR2 RAM, Weight: 3.2 lbs, Screen Size: 10'', Battery Size: 6 Cell
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Full Review:

Design:

The ASUS Eee PC 1000HE has a very solid build quality; however, I can't help but think that ASUS could have squeezed the form factor down a little more. The netbook stands at 1.1 inches at it's thinnest point and 1.5 inches at it's thickest point. While the added thickness is do somewhat to the larger 6 cell battery, competing netbook makers have been able to consistently make thinner netbooks than ASUS. Another important aspect to mention is that the netbook comes with a gloss finish so it's very finger print prone. I bought the black version of the netbook at Amazon here; however, a blue one is also available and four other colors were announced recently as well. The hinge between the keyboard and LED screen is really large, but that's because the battery is built into the hinge.

Above you can see a size comparison between the netbook and my iPhone 3G.

Features:

The netbook offers an Intel Atom N280 1.66 GHz processor, 160 GB Hard Drive, 1 GB RAM, 3 USB 2.0 ports (two on one side and one on the other), a VGA output, Multi Media card slot, 1.3 Megapixel web cam, 6 cell battery and ethernet port (view full specs here). There are a few features that differentiate this netbook from the others on the market. The main difference is the faster Intel Atom N280 processor, 802.11n wireless connection and 10 GB of Eee online storage. It's also important to note that some recent netbooks entrants to the market have been built with only 2 USB 2.0 ports and .3 Megapixel web cams; however, all of the recently announced netbooks offer 3 USB 2.0 ports and a 1.3 Megapixel cam like the Eee PC 1000HE now so this won't be a key differentiating feature for long.

Performance and Usability:

As I mentioned earlier the Intel Atom N280 processor is the fastest processor offered in netbooks today clocking in at 1.66 GHz; however, I noticed no difference between the N280 and it's slower 1.6 GHz brother the N270 (no other reviews I've read found a difference either). I've spent a lot of time experimenting with the netbook to see just what it could handle and what it could not. I really like the addition of the 802.11n wireless connection but keep in mind it's only available at the 2.4 GHz band and below so you may need to change some of your router settings to get the Wireless N connection up and running. After I made the changes to my settings I was getting 130 MB per second.

Multitasking is seamless and I don't really notice I'm using a netbook until I start to try and watch HD video via Hulu.com. I tried a few HD videos via Hulu.com and unfortunately I couldn't get them to play without skipping which was a little bit of a disappointment. Even though the netbook features low end integrated graphics via the Intel GMA 950 graphics chipset it was one of the last things I tested and up until that point everything worked great. I haven't upgraded the RAM in my netbook though so I'm still running off the 1 GB pre-installed stick. I bet with 2 GB's of RAM the HD video would work fine (Amazon is still offering the $25 Netbook RAM special so I'll jump on that and do more testing after I've upgraded the RAM).

The webcam looks great and works perfectly over Skype without any configuration or set up. I literally installed Skype, made a call, turned on the video, used the mic and it was up and running. I called another laptop in the house and had my wife listen to the call for quality. She said it was near cell phone quality and easy to hear.

The battery truly is one of the greatest performing aspects of this netbook. The advertised rate is 9.5 hours which is possible to attain if you turn off bluetooth, wifi, dim the screen and lower the processor speed; however, under regular use I was able to get about 7 hours. The bottom line is that if you're concerned about finding a netbook with a good battery life the decision is easy - buy an ASUS Eee PC 1000HE!

Lastly, the keyboard is spectacular on this netbook. The chiclet style keys make typing a breeze as there is more space between each key and they feel very comfortable to type on. If you are just looking at the keyboard it could pass for a Mac Book keyboard by sight and touch. I've already typed numerous news posts for Netbook Reviews and I rarely miss a keystroke. The keys have also been moved around to a more logical location (like the right shift key). I still don't understand why ASUS insisted on the odd layout for their keyboards in so many of the past netbooks released.