Review: ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Netbook

I have been using a ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Netbook I purchased. I bought this to replace the Asus Eee PC 4G Ultra Portable Computer I reviewed last year. I say replace, but actually I still own the older ASUS netbook. Atom N280 Powered Battery Life The ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Netbook is one of the first to run on the Intel’s next generation 1.66GHz N280 Atom processor running a much faster front side bus speed of 667MHz. The real advantage to this newer Atom chip is its lower power consumption allowing ASUS to claim a 9.5 hours running time (probably closer to 7 or 8 hours in real world use) with its included 6 cell high density 8700mAh battery pack. ASUS Super Hybrid Engine offers a choice of performance and power consumption modes to extend battery life according to users needs. ASUS included dynamic underclocking/overclocking utility, Super Hybrid Engine has four pre-configured profiles ( not related to Windows' power saving settings), use the CPU's frequency of the different modes:

• Power Saving: Lower FSB of 500MHz, resulting in a CPU speed between 750MHz and 1.25GHz.
• High Performance: Stock FSB of 667MHz, resulting in a CPU speed between 1GHz and 1.66GHz.
• Super Performance: Higher FSB of 700MHz, resulting in a CPU speed between 1.05GHz and 1.75GHz.
• Auto: Switches between Power Saving when running on battery and High Performance when on the AC adapter.

Default was Auto on my unit. If you are doing basic computer tasks on a battery you can switch to lower setting for more battery life. Plenty of Storage This netbook features a 160 GB hard drive and ASUS includes 10 GB of file-encrypted Eee Online Storage as part of the purchase price which was $374 from Amazon (free shipping available). Since there is also a built-in media card slot you will not run low on storage. I dropped in a 16 GB SD card with 9 movies already. Great for keeping yourself entertained on a long flight. Note: the 160 GB 2.5" SATA mechanical hard drive comes partitioned so you will see a C and a D drive. RAM and Ports The ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Netbook comes with 1 GB of RAM, which I immediately upgraded with a single 2 GB (about $25) RAM module by removing the stock 1 GB RAM module. Easy just two screws (see picture). Featuring 3 USB ports, RJ-45 wired Ethernet, Audio IO (analog headphone output and analog microphone input), stereo speakers, Memory Card Slot - MultiMedia Card (MMC), Secure Digital (SD) Card, SDHC card slot, 1.3 megapixels webcam, built-in mic, a 1024 x 600 pixel 10-inch screen with VGA out for external monitor this little netbook at 10.47 (W) x 7.53 (D) x 1.12-1.50 (H) inches (smaller than a sheet of paper) weighing 3.2 lbs has a full compliment of ports. Wireless includes 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth V2.0. I most note that the WLAN 802.11n support only includes 2.4GHz only and not 5GHz version. No built-in optical drive is included like most netbooks, but if you really need one you can purchase an external USB drive. Since ASUS includes InterVideo's WinDVD you can even watch DVDs with an external drive. Keyboard and Touchpad The keyboard is a chicklet style that is 92-percent sized and quite usable. Looks a bit like an Apple MacBook keyboard. This is a big improvement over some earlier netbooks. Touchpad features a multi-touch interface allows you to scroll and zoom quickly with 2 fingers. No this is not a Mac, but pretty decent touchpad for a small netbook allowing scrolling while browsing by just using two fingers. The touchpad on the 1000HE is a big improvement over some netbooks, but far from perfect. The two buttons below the touchpad are a bit stiff, but seems to have loosened up a little with use. What's In The Box Included in the box was the AC power supply, a zipped travel sleeve, restore DVD, printed operating instructions and warranty card. Warranty is 1 year (6 month for battery) and a 30 day ASUS’ Zero Bright Dot Guarantee where if the purchaser discovers one defective bright dot within 30 days of purchase, ASUS will replace the panel without cost to the purchaser.

The 1000HE Eee PC comes with a built-in quick recovery system that restores your system to its factory settings by just pressing F9 three times during start-up. With the quick F9 recovery process, you won't need any Windows CD or driver CD.

The ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Netbook I received shipped with Windows XP Home and included StarOffice 8, Adobe Reader 8, InterVideo's WinDVD, Skype and thankfully ASUS did not fill it up with loads of crapware. No anti-virus is included so the first thing I did after powering up was run Windows Update to make sure Windows XP was totally patched. install Microsoft Windows Defender (free) spyware protection and AVG Free anti-virus. I installed some additional software including iTunes, Safari 4 beta, QuickTime, Bonjour for Windows, MobileMe Control Panel, VLC media player, Firefox, Picasa 3, TweetDeck, SlingPlayer, Real VNC, FileZille FTP, Nvu, Yahoo! Widgets, and VZAccess Manager for using my USB727 EVDO modem. Fit and Finish The ASUS Eee PC 1000HE comes in Black or Blue. I choose the Black one. The smooth glossy plastic finish looks good, but does attract dust and finger prints. Glare is also a bit of an issue. You may like me wish it was a matt black finish. On the bottom is a plastic cover with only two screws to get to the 2.5" SATA mechanical hard drive and RAM which is a single 1 GB DDR2 SO-DIMM slot. Easily upgrade HD or RAM in about five minutes. You can upgrade to a 2 GB DDR2 SO-DIMM module as I did by removing the stock RAM. Upgrading the hard drive to a solid state unit (SSD) is surely possible. Performance With the weigh, size, storage, and performance I would almost consider the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Netbook to be a "sub-note" rather than a lighter and less powered netbook that are on the market. The screen is a nice vibrant bright display and video playback is quite good including HD playback from Hulu, iTunes, and some movies I loaded on SD media card played with Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player and VLC. This is something that has not been the case on some netbooks using Atom processors. Browsing and running installed software was quite a good experience for such a small device and I have not felt slowed down while checking email, using the included StarOffice, browsing, posting to blogs, etc. With SlingPlayer installed, the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Netbook makes a great little TV. The aspect ratio (lies somewhere between 16:9 and 16:10) of the 10-inch 1024 x 600 resolution looks made for this. I found the built-in wireless to be adequate with no issues connecting to various "b" networks. Using my EVDO USB727 USB modem to connect to Verizon's cellular broadband network as easy as you might expect allowing for Internet access from most anywhere. Conclusions Overall I am quite happy with the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE as it was perfect for what my intended use as a lighter weight and inexpensive laptop for travel. Battery life and video playback improved made upgrading worthwhile. Improvements on the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE would be slimness, weight, better graphics and wireless "n" supporting 5Ghz. Built-in GPS chip and cellular broadband would certainly make this little computer even more interesting. I would not advise that this little netbook be your primary computer, but that is not the intentions of most buyers of netbooks. I sure wish Apple would join the netbook category. I may in the future try turning this ASUS Eee PC 1000HE into a "hackintosh" by trying to put OS X on it, but for now Windows Home serves my purpose which is basic computing on the move. The ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Netbook is awarded 4.5 out of 5 Paws