Asus EeePC 1000HE Mini-Review

Thanks again to Ken at GenTechPC for providing astounding customer service and having the patience to answer all my questions regarding my 1000HE purchase.

Asus has come a long way from being one of the first netbook producers in the market and securing the title "King of netbooks" for the past couple years. The EeePC 1000HE is one of many netbooks in the Asus Eee family and provides one of the most extraordinary features that no other brand or model of netbooks could come close to. Featuring the new Intel Atom N280 processor, Intel's UMA integrated graphics, and a 6 cell battery, the 1000HE boasts a generous 9.5 hour battery life that can surprise even ultimate road warriors.

Specifications
Processor: Intel ATOM N280 processor 1.66Ghz
Graphics: Intel UMA
Operating system: Windows XP Home 32 bit
Memory: 1GB DDR2 memory
Display: 10” LED backlit WSVGA screen (1024x600)
Hard drive: Seagate 160GB 5400rpm 2.5" SATA + 10GB Eee Online Storage
Optical drive: None
Ports & slots: 3x USB 2.0, 4 in 1 media card reader, VGA, microphone-in, headphone-out, Ethernet
Wireless: AzureWave wireless 802.11a/g/n
Battery: 6 Cell (8700 mAh)
Other features: Built in Bluetooth, 1.3 MP webcam
Weight: 3.20 lbs. (1.45 kg) with battery
Warranty: Asus 1 year limited hardware warranty.
Included accessories: Zippered sleeve

MSRP: $399






Screen
Model: HSD03E9 (unknown manufacture)
Colors: Like most LED screens, the 1000HE screen tends to have a bluish tint (aka "Blue pollution"). This is a common in LED panels as LED emits more blue light than conventional outdoor light sources such as high-pressure sodium lamps. Although this may not be best for photographers and other image editors, the screen is more than enough for the average netbook user.
Viewing angles: above average
Clarity: minimal graininess
Brightness: Based on the numerous laptops/netbooks I have owned, my best guess is 250-300 nitts.
Build: Very robust. Hinges are tight and provide minimal wobble. No creaking sound when opening/closing the cover. No distortions when pressure is applied from back.



Build & Design
Although the 1000HE is not the most attractive in design, it's made from durable plastic with a scratch resistive lid which makes flex almost non-existent in the chassis. Due to the glossy finish, the screen cover is a fingerprint magnet.

Keyboard
Chiclet-type keyboard. Minimal flex. Small, but quaint sized keys. Shallow travel but very nice tactile feedback. The right shift key is extremely small and will be hard for touch-typists to get used to. Overall use if very comfortable.



Touchpad
Larger than average for a netbook. Good traction between fingers. Mac-like multi-touch gestures make it extremely useful when browsing the internet or working on a multi-page word document. The zoom in-out feature is a little difficult to use (not as smooth as the Apple macbooks/iphone). Good response.



Battery
7.5 hours with 1/4 screen brightness, wifi while browsing the internet and word processing.



Speakers
Above average for netbooks. 2 speakers are located in the bottom front of the unit. Maximum volume is very sufficient in a quite room and holds fairly well with minimal distortion. Bass is lacking as with most laptop/netbook speakers, but certainly good enough for it's purpose.

Performance
Enough for surfing online, checking e-mails and basic office applications. Streaming video at 480p from Hulu.com is laggy, but still watchable; high-def 720p youtube videos are almost impossible to watch as it requires a significant amount of CPU power to render these videos. Basic flash games will still run, but are also laggy in most cases. Video playback on the hard drive is perfectly viewable.

The below video illustrates how well the 1000HE plays an AVI file with the following specs:
Width: 656 pixels
Height: 264 pixels
Bit Rate 112kbps
Audio format: MPEG Layer-3
Frame rate 25 fps
Data rate 840kbps

<object width='425' height='344'><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YPapJbWCxYc&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YPapJbWCxYc&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='425' height='344'></embed></object>

Webcam
Let's start by saying that Jason Biggs would not be happy to use this webcam in his first American Pie movie. Most 1.3MP cameras are decent enough for video conferencing, however, the camera in the 1000HE is mediocre at best. The webcam does not capture enough light to fully illuminate the images and even in a brightly lit room, objects appear much darker and grainier in comparison to other 1.3MP webcams.



Conclusion
The Asus 1000HE clearly stands out as being one of the better netbooks in the market. With a superior build and a battery life lasting 7.5+ hours, it shines as being one of the most practical netbooks at a very attractive price point. Although the 1000HE isn't able to perform all the tasks that a regular notebook can, it still serves as an excellent secondary computer and for the note-taking student.

 

Side Notes
Removing/replacing the keyboard takes courage. Not only is the keyboard secured by 4 small clips at the top, it is also secured by double sided tape. After unhooking the 4 clips, you'll need to apply more force than you're comfortable with to remove the keyboard.



Once removed, you'll see the "Void if removed" sticker tucked nicely above a screw. Any attempt to replace anything other than the keyboard, hard drive, ram and battery will void the warranty.



Hard drive and ram are located right underneath the bottom panel which takes only 2 screws to remove



Unfortunately, the wifi card is located in a section where you'll have to remove the top case assembly which will void your warranty. You can see the wifi card looking from the inside of the hard drive compartment.



Here's a nice disassemble guide for the 1000HE by Josh
http://jenders.vox.com/library/post/asus-eeepc-1000he-teardown-guide.html

 

Added to Info Booth & Reviews and Owner's Lounges Index, thanks!

 

Awesome, as usual.

I'm liking these keyboards Asus is throwing on to their netbooks.

 

Nice review David.

Just thought I'd let you know it says that the graphics are the 9300m under the specifications, might want to edit and fix that.

 

The 1000HE actually doesn't have the 9300M GPU. I believe only the N10 does.

 

Hmm, do you think upgrading to 2gb ddr2 would be worth the hassle?

 

Absolutely! In fact, it's not hassle at all. It'll only take 2 mins of your time.

 

Awesome lol David what happened to the "im not gonna a review it this time?" thats fine though its always great to hear your opinion

And that build quality is phenomenal

 

I got bored and couldn't resist

 

I knew it what can i say you are just a natural reviewer

 

I'm curious. How would this netbook do at playing 720x480 divx files directly from the hard drive? I have a large library of DVD's ripped in divx at 720x480 and I like to load several on the hard drive when I travel. Will the 1000HE play these smoothly? I'm torn between the 1000HE, the N10, or just continuing to lug my M1530 everywhere.

 

it SHOULD be able to play those considering this notebook can play 720 content(of course down sized because of res) i dont it will be a problem.

 

Thanks for the review

 

I don't have any 720x480 videos at the moment, but I've uploaded a 656x264 AVI file for reference (video in original review). Video is silk smooth, as if viewing on a regular notebook.

 

Oooh nice review!

When are you selling this bad boy, David? I hear the 1000HA is out lol

 

Thanks

I really like the 1000HE so I might keep it for a while. We'll see what happens when the 1008HA comes out

 

Just a quick comment on replacing the RAM, have never replaced ram before, and replacing it on the 1000HE really is easy. So easy that I went ahead and replaced it on my other computers too....

 

Yup. The ram and hard drive are both relatively easy to upgrade.

 

So far from just pulling information it looks like the 1000HE only really gained battery life as a benefit to the older 1000H, its possible the touchpad is worse, the speakers, and the camera.

I could live with the camera but touchpad & speakers were 2 of the things that really amazed me on the 1000H beating out other netbooks by a large margin.

The new keyboard I am not sure if its good or bad, I would have to use it in person to decide.

 

got this baby, loved the keyboard size. very good build quality and snappy performance. though the touchpad multi-touch capability needs a driver update coz sometimes its not sensitive enough.

But overall i love it, i even played wow on it, and get decent fps. now i can play and at the same time..

 

Hey Dave, I think you might have made a mistake about the GPU. The HE doesn't have a 9300M GS.

 

Thanks, Plasma. I've corrected the specs now

 

Having dreams about the Asus N10J i see?

 

Just got Blue 1000HE and it ROCKS!!!!

I had ordered a Dell Mini 12, and within 1 hour it locked it, and felt cheapy. Returned it and got the Asus instead, which is 1000x better!!!!!!!

 

Congrats on your purchase microman
I'm sure your 1000HE will serve you well.

 

Yea, got a 2gb stick of memory on its way to really pump it up also.

Playing around with some Linux OS's too. Using Eeebuntu right now!!!!!

 

If only :'c

 

David, I just got my 1000HE, and while I love it. It has the upper left corner flex problem (The epicenter seems to be around the f3 and f4 keys). I was going to remove the keyboard and attach some double sided tape, but I can't seem to get it out. I have a 5/64 flat head and a eyeglass flathead, but I can't seem to find a place to apply upward pressure after I push in the clips. Any tips? The little metal "U" in the clip slots is attached to the keyboard and you DON'T want to apply pressure correct?

 

The 4 U-shaped clips on top is part of the keyboard and it's secured by 4 spring-loaded tabs which needs to be pushed down. I used a small flat head screw driver.

Once you've unclipped the 4 clips on top, place all your fingers (except for your thumbs) across the top of the keyboard (it'll be a tight fit) and pry it towards you with gradual force. The keyboard is secured with pretty strong double tape just below and across the number keys and another 2 strips of tape near the 2 sides of the keyboard (see the first picture in the second post of this thread).

 

I purchased an asus 1000he and am very happy with this little netbook. I am wondering if someone can help me with the audio. I was watching a movie on the airplane and I could barely hear the audio with my earphones. is there any way to enhance the audio output?: I had the volume all the way up and set to headset.

Kathy

 

If you go into the audio advance settings, you can increase all of the equalizer settings. This will raise the volume some.

 

So you got 7.5 hours on power saver [i assume since you said 1/4 of brightness].

I read in another review that a person was getting 8 hours on full power. I can understand that 9.5 hours would require power saver or some other custom setting.

 

yeah... the 9.5 hours is probably with wifi off and the screen brightness set at the minimum.

 

I pressed on the back of the lid and could small ripples on the screen. Is that normal?

I am liking the good resolutiona and the speakers sound nicer than dell from what I have seen [not heavy usage yet]. The laptop also runs cool even compared to my 15.4 HP and especially the HP mini which warmed up very fast.

 

Don't worry about the small ripples - most notebooks/netbook have them. But I never experienced it on mine unless I was pushing down on the screen really hard.

 

Well I kinda was because someone here on this forum said that one should check for it? I just want to make sure everything is right before I upgrade the RAM [when I actually find that screwdriver lol].

 

ahaha I love how it has 3dmark installed thats awesome. What were the scores?

 

I downloaded 3dmark06 but never actually ran it.

 

ooooo I want to know the scores now lmao just for wonders

 

I have been having some issues with XP on this computer

Like 1 out of 10 times I guess, the windows woudn't start after I put in my log on details at XP startup screen. I shut the system down and then restart and it is fine.


I find it odd that it is happening. Is it some BIOS related issue?


PS Does anyone have had any dealings with the ASUS support? Do you chat with them online and send your unit in case of a problem like for example HP has american service centers?

 

Shriek11, this sounds more like a registry issue than a BIOS related issue. Try use a registry cleaner such as Ccleaner or Registry Mechanic to repair/clean any bad registries.

I've dealt with Asus support several times, usually via e-mail and phone. I believe Asus has 2 service centers in the US, one is located in California, the other is somewhere in the mid-west (I forget which state).

 

Has anyone installed Win7 yet on this machine with 2 GB of RAM?

 

Is it a beta version? I just had to ask since i've had problems with windows beta programs like IE 8 beta was horrible compared to now.

I don't know what general advantage would Win 7 provide over XP? I would stick with my original windows.

 

I have windows 7 installed on my 1000he with 2gb of ram and it is running rock solid...there are a few issues that have to be worked out which you find over at http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewforum.php?id=55 which is a series specific discussion

 

windows 7 is just a better operating system than both xp and vista....more stable and even "prettier" ....I'm loving it on my netbook.... when installing it recognized about 90% - 95% of the hardware... the rest I got from the asus ftp site

 

^ So the startup is as fast as the regular XP startup?

I have Win 7 on my other laptop but they have a better processor than the 1.6 Ghz here. Since Win 7 is based on vista, I think it would use more resources than the .5 Gb of XP use.

I already had to uninstall a comp associates virus program for I was having horrible startups and xp stopped functioning two weeks ago when there was an update. I chalk it to a bad program since mcafee seems to be working fine now.

 

***bump***

 

Mine boots faster, but I have upgraded the memory and HDD

 

But I am already maxed out at 2 gigs of RAM but I don't know what good upgrading to a new HDD would do for startup?