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Review: Asus Eee PC
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16-Dec-2008
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Asus is a company that has been around for awhile (my almost 6 year veteran is, in fact, an Asus, and they still have my full confidence), however, until recently they have been little known. Thanks to having an outstanding product line with excellent quality, as well as leading the charge with the newer 'netbooks' (which I am writing about today), they now stand poised to unseat Dell, Apple, and any other 'leader' in the laptop genre. The specific model I will be writing about today is the Eee PC Model 1000 HA.
The Good:
Operating System. Yes, this is a brand new laptop...that still comes with Windows XP! There is a Linux alternative, that I honestly recommend – due to the hard drive, but I will discuss that later.
Price. You can expect to pay $400 or less (plus shipping and tax) for one of these babies, brand new. This truly is a steal.
Battery. Although the battery is listed at upwards of 7 hours (which is completely unrealistic...), I have experienced about 5 and half hours of battery life. This is simply unheard of...this should be Energizer's new marketing tool.
Weight. This thing weighs under 3 lbs. And with its slim and sleak design (not obscene, like the Macbook Air), you literally can take it anywhere, everywhere – even on the plan and not have to worry about not having enough space to work.
Hard Drive. This model comes with a plain old spinner – with 160 GB capacity. There is an alternative model that comes with a Solid State Drive; however, that model only has 40 GB of onboard storage. I personally think that is plenty of space considering the benefits to performance and battery life; however, the extra size is more than enough consolation. If you aren't married to Windows, I do recommend the 1000 H model with the SSD and Linux – for about the same price.
Web Camera. As is common with most Asus laptops, there is a built in Web camera. At only 1.3 Megapixels, it is certainly not the best Web camera in the world; but, considering that it gives you the ability to video conference from the train or plane with no hassle – that more than makes up for the lower quality.
The Bad:
Monitor. The monitor is on the small side. However, you can't have an ultra-portable netbook without a small screen (...so far...). Nonetheless, it does come in widescreen format so it is all setup for movie viewing while on train or plane.
Optical Device. There is no optical reader onboard. You certainly can get an external DVD or Blu-Ray disc player, but that will cost you extra. There is an onboard SD card reader – and I fully support their decision, as that is the direction the industry is moving in. Operative tense is current/future. Although music albums (and probably DVD's) are transitioning to microSD; that hasn't happened quite yet. So you will have to do your own manual transfers for now, or simply rely on online movie sources such as Netflix.
The Verdict:
The verdict is in, and so is the Eee PC. Again, my personal preference is for the 1000 H as this has the SSD, but any of the models are particularly good. If you go lower than the 1000's into the 900's or lower still, expect smaller and smaller screens. I consider the 10” on the 1000's to be the minimum acceptable. Nonetheless, this is an excellent bargain, a steal for $400, and the 1 GB of RAM is plenty for anything you would use it for. Get one for Christmas, they are in stock. |
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