The netbook market has certainly graduated from the realm of novelty and the ASUS Eee PC 1000HA clearly exemplifies this notion. While the early Eee PC had a tiny seven-inch display and a barely usable four gigabytes of storage capacity, the ASUS Eee PC 1000HA is almost powerful enough to serve as a primary computer. No, this Eee is clearly no gaming rig and you can’t expect to do any sort of heavy-duty computing on here, but if you’re the kind of person who only surfs the web, plays some music, and performs some basic word processing, this little laptop just might fit the bill.
At the same time, the ASUS Eee PC 1000H is not your only option. How does it stack up, for example, against the MSI Wind U100? Read on and find out.
Features and Specifications
Like so many other Asus notebooks, the Eee PC comes in a wide range of colors, flavors, and sizes. The unit featured in this review is the ASUS Eee PC 1000HA, which is a popular configuration of the Eee PC 1000H. It’s a 10-inch netbook and is the first Eee to feature a conventional hard drive in place of a solid state hard drive that occupied previous models. Listed below are some of the notable features.
- Intel Atom N270 processor (1.6GHz)
- 10-inch WSVGA (1024×800) active matrix TFT color LCD
- 1GB DDR2-400 RAM
- 160GB hard drive
- Integrated SD/SDHC/MMC card reader
- 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
- 1.3 megapixel webcam with mic
- 6-cell 6600mAh lithium-ion battery
- Windows XP Home Edition
If you are looking online for this specific model, the complete part number is the ASUS Eee PC 1000HA-BLK001X. All in all, a pretty well stocked netbook with some decent specifications. Let’s continue and see what else we get with this version of the Eee PC.
What’s in the Box?
Just as many earlier models of the ASUS Eee PC came bundled with a couple of useful, but remarkably inexpensive, accessories, such is also the case with the 1000HA. In addition to the netbook itself, inside the box you’ll find the power adapter, a cleaning cloth, a protective cover for the keyboard, and a suede-like sleeve for easy travel. I like the tiny size of the power supply, adding to the portability of this netbook.
Unlike the Velcro sleeve that came with the Eee PC 701, this sleeve has a regular zipper. I did find the textured cleaning cloth to be different from the norm, but you’ll certainly need it. The glossy surface on this Eee is a giant fingerprint magnet.
First Impressions
Overall, I’m very impressed with what ASUS has done with the Eee PC 1000HA. They’ve taken all of the feedback that people have given about previous models (as well as some competitors) and addressed many of the issues. The build quality is absolutely amazing. The hinge is very solid and the frame has minimal flex. It’s also interesting that the battery makes up a portion of the rounded section, further adding to the streamlined appearance of this netbook.
Perhaps the single greatest design element on the Eee PC 1000HA is that it is naturally propped up in the back. As you can see in the picture above, this creates an “air pocket” underneath the laptop and this aids significantly in keeping it cool under high performance.
While I had some issues with subjective overheating on the MSI Wind, I did not experience the same issue with the Eee PC when using it on a table. When I had the netbook on my lap, however, the vents on the bottom got slightly obscured and the Eee PC starting to get a little warmer. It never got quite as hot as the Wind, though, and it was no warmer than most other laptops.
Usability and Productivity
Like all of the other 10-inch subnotebooks on the market, the Eee PC 1000HA features a WSVGA display. This a quantum improvement over the old WVGA displays on the older Eee PCs, because now websites can actually render properly and you’ve actually got enough room to view most standard programs.
It can be a tight fit for some websites — FutureLooks.com just fits — but having 1024 pixels across is enough for most needs. Image quality is adequate and you shouldn’t have too much trouble watching a few web videos or running simple applications. I also appreciate that it is a matte display and not a glossy one, as this helps to minimize the glare.
I am very pleased that Asus decided to ship this netbook with a real six-cell battery. You may be able to find some competitors selling seemingly similar netbooks for a lower price, but many of those ship with three-cell batteries. The MSI Wind (with a three-cell battery) topped out at about 2.5 hours of regular use on a single charge, but I was able to achieve over five hours on the Eee under the same conditions. The Eee PC also comes with a built-in performance manager, so it can dynamically move between battery-conserving and high-performance modes to maximize both your usability and battery life. That’s using “Smart Mode.” You can also manually adjust those settings.
The keyboard is a good size. It is certainly smaller than the keyboard you’ll find on larger laptops, but it is perfectly usable and it shouldn’t take you long to acclimate. Unfortunately, there is one rather glaring problem and it’s almost enough to be a deal breaker. Note the placement of the right shift key. Why, on Earth, is it placed so far to the right? My poor pinky doesn’t stretch that far. I found myself either hitting up the “up” arrow or the empty space between the up arrow and the forward-slash button when I really wanted to hit shift. This is really annoying and it doesn’t only affect the Eee PC, but other smaller laptops in the ASUS family, namely the U1F. I’m sorry, but that really has to change.
Performance Benchmarks
How does the ASUS Eee PC 1000HA hold up against some standard benchmarks? First, I ran the provided 160GB hard drive (which comes factory partitioned into two volumes) through HDTune. The average transfer rate was 56.4MB/sec, but there are a few segments in there that may be a cause for concern.
My experience with 3DMark06 was a frustrating one. For whatever reason, the first time I ran the basic test, it was able to make it through and give me a score of 68 3DMarks. Not great, but no one expects this Eee to be a graphical powerhouse.
However, when I tried to run the more comprehensive series of tests, I ran into a bit of a snag. The 3DMark06 software gave me an estimated completion time of about 9 minutes, but at about the 10 or 11 minute mark, the Eee PC just froze. It showed me a black screen and refused to be responsive. This happened three or four times before I gave up trying again.
By and large, the ASUS Eee PC 1000H offered a similar level of performance as the MSI Wind U100 when it came to PCMark05. Both netbooks failed to provide a graphics score (and thus failed to generate an overall PCMark score).
The resulting scores for the CPU, memory, and hard drive are fairly close as well, though the Eee’s hard drive (4307) has a slight advantage of over the 80-gigger found in the Wind (3922).
Benchmarks offered no major surprises. This is pretty much what you should expect with a netbook like the Eee PC 1000HA.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
The ASUS Eee PC 1000HA could very well be the culmination of the ambitions from every Eee PC that preceded it. It’s got the perfect-sized display, a terrific form factor, a plentiful battery, adequate performance, and plenty of storage capacity. I really like how the design provides for a built-in notebook cooler of sorts, propping up the back to create an ergonomic angle and a cooling pocket of air.
The “real” hard drive won’t be able to offer the same power or speed benefits of a solid state drive, but this thing has a very workable 160GB of space. I’d say it’s worth the sacrifice. I’m also very pleased with the overall build quality, choice of materials, and the included sleeve. Asus has also included free access to Eee Storage, which acts as an online “cloud” for backing up your data.
The ASUS Eee PC 1000HA is not perfect. The placement of the right shift key on the keyboard is really annoying and the slightly higher price point (when compared to suitable competitors) may sway you in another direction, but let me tell you that this Eee is worth it. If you’re looking for a solid and affordable netbook, you can’t go wrong with the Eee PC 1000HA.
Pros
- Exceptional build quality and great design
- A real 160GB hard drive
- Very good battery life with standard battery
- Free online Eee storage
- Performance is at least up to par with direct competitors
Cons
- Very strange placement of right shift key
- Trackpad buttons feel remarkably stiff
- More expensive than comparable alternatives
- Awkward placement of stereo speakers
Overall Rating: 9.5/10.0
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Asus Eee PC 1000HA Netbook Photo Gallery
