Asus Eee PC 1008HA review

Pros:

Only 2.4 pounds and 1 inch thick, Impressive battery life (for 3 cell), Incredible design, perfect keyboard design, Intel Atom N280 1.66 GHz Processor, 1.3 megapixel web cam

Cons:

3 cell battery is not removable by user, No RAM bay, 2 USB ports (3 is current standard)

Bottom Line:

If you desire a netbook that is really light weight (2.4 pounds) while at the same time providing a stellar 3 cell battery life than you should buy the Asus Eee PC 1008HA hands down. The only time I would recommend you go with another netbook is if you need an even stronger battery life like what is offered by the Asus Eee PC 1000HE. The lack of an easy upgrade path for the battery and RAM are the only downsides to this netbook with so many things going it's way. Bottom line this is the best netbook out right now.

Quick Product Specs:

Intel Atom N280 1.66 GHz Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, 3 Cell Battery, Windows XP Home
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Full Review:

As a previous owner of an Asus Eee PC 1000HE and now the Asus Eee PC 1008HA, I can say that the latest member of the Eee PC family is truly incredible and finds a way to out do the Asus Eee PC 1000HE in every category except battery life (but I'll get to that later). The Asus Eee PC 1008HA has been at the top of my wish list since it was first announced several months ago and it's nice to say it's finally here even after the delays. Let's jump right into what makes this netbook great.

Design:

The first thing you'll notice when you open the box is just how much thought was put into the design. At only 1 inch thick and 2.4 pounds the netbook looks stunning.

At only 10.31 inches x 7.01 inches x 1.01 inches (LWH), the Asus Eee PC 1008HA looks miniscule when compared to it's bloated brother the Asus Eee PC 1000HE which comes in at 10.5 inches x 7.5 inches x 1.5 inches.

Every port is neatly hidden away which makes the design stand out even more. In fact, these design choices remind me of the much more expensive Macbook Air.

All of the ports are hidden by flaps and the VGA extender is actually hidden on the bottom of the Eee PC and held in by magnet. The Ethernet port acts as a rocker that opens the space wider as you push in the Ethernet cable. Nifty.

Usability

The keyboard is spacious at 92% full size and the keys are very large. I had no issue immediately getting to work on emails, and no missed keys while typing. They've also found a way to improve the shift key too check it out. I actually prefer the layout for the smaller up and down arrows with how they rearranged those keys.

The Eee PC 1008HA also brings to the table a new touchpad design I have never seen before. It's a dimpled / textured touchpad that takes some getting used to. My first experience was when it was about 78 degrees in my house when I was working on the review and at first my finger seemed to have trouble sliding across it easily because of the perspiration. After a little more practice I got used to the extra "drag" offered by the dimples and now I don't even notice it. The chrome rocker is firm and responsive but not too firm (no need to use both hands to push it down)

Battery Life

The Asus Eee PC 1008HA features a non removable 3 cell battery which many people have complained is the only thing holding this netbook back from stardom; however, after extensive testing I found it still manages to crank out an amazing battery life. I ran Battery Eater Pro 2.7 with the machine on Super Performance Mode, Full Screen Brightness, Both WiFi and Bluetooth on and got 3 hours 5 minutes and 11 seconds of battery life. You have to remember this is taxing the computer constantly at 100% under the very best settings you can run it at! Based on this number, I'm certain you can easily see 4 - 5 hours of battery life under normal use (and better if you drop down to power saving mode and dim the screen). If you need a machine with better battery life, I suggest you buy the Asus Eee PC 1000HE. I used that netbook for 3 months before trading up to this one and the battery life was insane.

Overall Performance:

This netbook features the faster Intel Atom N270 1.66 GHz processor, so it's slightly faster than most of the other netbooks out there, and even though it's incredibly thin at 1 inch thick it sill finds room for a 160 GB hard drive. The speakers in this netbook are an improvement over what I'm used to hearing on the 1000HE and can fill a small room easily. The Wi Fi performs great after flashing the new BIOS, read this post if you find your wireless suddenly disappears. The netbook has 1 GB of RAM pre installed just like all of the other netbooks. I would have liked to see an option to buy the 1008HA with a 2 GB stick of RAM pre installed, but with the way Asus comes out with models so frequently we just may see that someday. In any case, I upgraded the RAM in my Asus Eee PC 1000HE but didn't notice much of a performance boost, so the fact that you can't upgrade the RAM in this netbook shouldn't matter that much.

Overall, I believe this is the best netbook out right now and only stands to be surpassed in the coming months by perhaps the Asus Eee PC 1004DN (built in optical drive) or the Asus Eee PC 1005HA (removable battery). Even then the Asus Eee PC 1008HA will still be lighter and slimmer. If you want maximum portability buy the Asus Eee PC 1008HA.

Purchase Options:

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