ASUS Eee PC 1000HE Netbook - A Home and Office Powerhouse?

[barryegerber]

Vendors of small, light and allegedly underpowered netbooks promote them as browsing tools, best suited for web browsing and email.They’re only partially right. Some of the netbooks available today are ready for business computing prime time.

ASUS Eee PC 1000HE Netbook - A Home and Office Powerhouse? : Read more

 

[cadder]

I have wanted a netbook for casual use and travel, because they are small and cheap, even though I have a very fast desktop and 2 15" laptops, one of which is pretty powerful. My wife wanted a small and light laptop for Christmas so I ended up buying her a 12" Toshiba. It cost 3 times what some netbooks cost, and even though it has a 1.4GHz processor, it is about twice as fast as a netbook. I wasn't sure if a netbook would be fast enough for her, and I'm sure she would not have been happy with the smaller screen and keyboard. I think the netbooks are probably plenty powerful, and eventually they will evolve more to blend in with the smaller laptops. Hopefully they won't get more expensive in the process. With good battery life as a plus, this ASUS seems like a good model and I agree that lots of people could use it as their only computer, even some business travelers.

 

[caiusmartius123]

I want a netbook soooo bad, but I still feel that 1024 x 600 is UNACCEPTABLE, at any size. That is the 1 thing holding me back and has held me back for so long. Why can't they just use a 1280 x 800 (better) or a 1366 x 768 (optimal) panel? I'm not asking for full 1080p (and at screen sizes of 10" and 12" that would be stupid and unecessary).

I can't be the only who feels this way after using a netbook with a 1024 x 600 screen.

 

[Guest]

From what I've read, XP is the problem. MS decided to restrict resolutions on the XP they allow for Netbooks to 1024x600, so manufacturers are making the screens that resolution.

 

[cleeve]

1024x600 is a very usable resolution on this size of screen if you've ever tried it.

Even the older 800x480 screens were passable to get the job done, although sometimes you'd have to scroll the screen. But with 1024x600, this is much less of a problem.

 

[barryegerber]

I can remember far enough back to the days of the Compaq luggable portable with a 9 inch 25 line by 80 character screen, it weighed 28 pounds and was a great way to lengthen your arms. I carried two of them, one in each arm, across the San Francisco airport one miserable day. I always remember that day whenever I get misty about the good old days. http://oldcomputers.net/byte-compaq.html.

 

[presto311]

I own a 1000H and love it. I successfully ran windows vista for a few months and now have the windows 7 beta installed. I did upgrade to 2 gigs of ram though. It runs the OS great, even with aero running. The 1024x600 resolution hasn't really been a problem. If it was increased anymore stuff would be too small to see. I highly recommend this netbook. Great all around. I have a powerful desktop for gaming and everything else, so this netbook is perfect for school to use for internet and taking notes. I occasionally watch tv shows on it too and it works fine!

 

[radguy]

Netbooks are pretty neat but you should expect these devices to do what they are designed for. Its small low power very portable internet laptop device. Yes it can do a lot more than surf the web but it was meant as a device to pull out at the coffee shop and check email or go online. I waited for a long time and finally picked up the 3 cell msi wind for 300 bucks with a coupon. on xp it handels just about anything I have thrown at it but games ( I tried farcry, fear, and several others that I had problems with because they wanted a cd install and after 2 hours off trying to get around it gave up). But office, itunes, movies, the occasional time wasting games like snood and peggle). I installed win 7 and have been very happy. It doesn't have the speed of xp but it runs fine as long as you don't try to do too much at once. I put an extra gig of ram and turbo mode is really nice. I will note the battery sucked buy I bought a 6 cell.
My problem with the eee 1000H was the looks more than anything. the 1000HE is a slight improvement but the 1002 would be better. However the N280 without the better chipset isn't worth the extra money so we wait for the new chipset. The battery life does make it a very nice deal for the price though.

The product isn't really a laptop and even though you can buy a nice 13 inch laptop for 600 bucks which I would recomend if needed more speed. The xp, atom, gma 950 does more than what need for the basics. It should be noted that most of the people who would read this would want more than the basics so take that into consideration before judging the product. I am hoping for some better designs and upgraded tech for the 12 inch ish market at about 400-500 but intels atom and windows xp restictions are causing some major problems with that.

Thanks for the review

 

[bosjee]

I don't understand why all these manufactures cannot make the netbook any thinner.

 

[presto311]

[citation][nom]bosjee[/nom]I don't understand why all these manufactures cannot make the netbook any thinner.[/citation]

There are a few reasons. I think mostly they want to keep the cost down, since that's one of the main concepts. Cheap, basic, portable, simple. The parts and engineering for an ultra slim like the mac air require more money to produce.

 

[randomizer]

Anyone tried running Visual Studio on this low resolution?

 

[Guest]

They do it's called the s101 by asus...

 

[Guest]

I hope that this netbook can run light DirectX games.
It probably can, but it might need 2 GB ram, instead of 1.

 

[presto311]

[citation][nom]jcao219[/nom]I hope that this netbook can run light DirectX games.It probably can, but it might need 2 GB ram, instead of 1.[/citation]

I've run halo and star craft on it. Halo runs decently. Just the big open levels lag a bit. I've heard people run WC3 on it pretty well.

 

[TerFar]

I have a Samsung NC10 upgraded to 2GB memory. Its main pluses are the outstanding keyboard (with its extra large left shift key) and its outstanding battery life (I usually get at least 6.5 hours.)

One niggle I have is the touchpad: it works fantastically, with great features for scrolling and gliding, but because its surface feels so similar to the body and fits flush to the surface, I am forever sliding off the touchpad. It just needs to be recessed a little or have a slightly raised edge to make it perfect.

These Netbooks are no powerhouses and are best for Internet, email and chatting. Great for video Skype whilst away from home too. Business wise, they are OK for documents and small spreadsheets. I do dump my camera pictures onto it and it is fine for quick viewing, but I do all my photo editing on my desktop PC and view on my TV.

The Asus 1000H was on my shortlist, but the Samsung NC10 won for me because I prefer the keyboard. But note, I am talking about UK layout keyboards: as the US keyboards are always different, try before you buy.

 

[jaclarkaus]

"Computers running XP Home can’t log into or work easily within MS Windows domain networks."

YES YOU CAN - you VPN to it, then it's the same as logging on using XP Pro

 

[Guest]

I have had mine for a week, and love it! It will almost play 720P video. The disk drive is almost Raptor fast, quite a surprise. It boots quick, N-wireless, 5 hours of heavy wireless use is no problem. Screen is crisp and clear. Everybody that touches is, wants it. Multi-touch pad is icing on the cake.

 

[etittel]

I just installed Win 7 on mine and it runs surprisingly well with a 2GB memory upgrade. The only driver unrecognized was the Atheros wired Ethernet, but it was easy to find and install. Win7 picked up everything else, even the Webcam! The 380 is a bit snappier than I had expected it to be, and works well with both XP and Win 7 (I'm running in dual boot mode right now, but will probably switch over to Win 7 when the real release hits later this year, and "downgrade" from Ultimate--the only version available in beta--to Pro or Business).
Nice review, Barry: always a pleasure to see you keep your hand in the game.
--Ed--

 

[thepinkpanther]

[citation][nom]randomizer[/nom]Anyone tried running Visual Studio on this low resolution?[/citation]

i tried netBeans on ubuntu, it works flawlessly. But the resolution is unacceptable.

 

[coldmast]

[citation][nom]bosjee[/nom]I don't understand why all these manufactures cannot make the netbook any thinner.[/citation]
they can and they do, but as far as storage goes I'll take a 2.5" HDD over a puny 1.8" HDD or expensive SSD (though in time it will get cheaper and maybe surpass HDDs).

 

[Guest]

Has anyone tried to view the screen in sunlight? Do they work outdoors?

 

[danimal_the_animal]

[citation][nom]caiusmartius123[/nom]I want a netbook soooo bad, but I still feel that 1024 x 600 is UNACCEPTABLE, at any size. That is the 1 thing holding me back and has held me back for so long. Why can't they just use a 1280 x 800 (better) or a 1366 x 768 (optimal) panel? I'm not asking for full 1080p (and at screen sizes of 10" and 12" that would be stupid and unecessary).I can't be the only who feels this way after using a netbook with a 1024 x 600 screen.[/citation]


What are you talking about?

the dell mini 10 can be upgraded to a 720p (1366 x 768) screen for 35 bucks extra!

I just ordered one....

 

[Guest]

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