Computersight -

The Gorgeous 1008HA

So I got my White Asus EEE PC 1008HA. I will soon be posting an extensive review, but for now, here is a slight overview of the system.

Looks: 5/5 Beautiful. Honestly, I think this is the best looking netbook I have seen. Its small and compact, all of its ports are hidden behind rubber covers, and the black frame around the screen is very nice. ITS ONLY 1 INCH THICK!

Design: 4.5/5 Its well designed. The keyboard is 92% of the regular sized keyboard and takes minimal adjustment to adapt to. The touch pad/ WIFI and Bluetooth switch above the keyboard are very helpful when trying to save battery. The battery is non-removable but I don’t mind it as it fits perfectly into the chassis and keeps the netbook slim. Though, for those of you who need more than 4.5 hours of battery life, this might not be the netbook for you (go with the Asus 1000he, it can sport over 8 hours and has a removable battery).

Durability: 2/5 This is the area which disappointed me most. On the unit I received, the keyboard was warped and the bottom of the chassis was loose. This was probably caused by the Asus Certified Upgrader who sold me the netbook with 2GB of ram and a 500GB HDD rather than 1GB of ram and a 160GB HDD. Still, it is unacceptable for me to receive a unit out of the box like this from an Asus Certified Center and I have contacted Asus via email. I am supposed to get response within 48 hours; 24 hours have passed, still no response. I will update this section if and when Asus contacts me.

Common Use: 4.5/5 This netbook is very comfortable to use and doesn’t heat up or make too much noise. The sound of the fan is minimal and typing on the keyboard actually covers it up. The glossy screen is hard to use outdoors and is the only reason the netbook isn’t receiving a 5 in this category. The OS that ships with this netbook is Windows XP and is familiar to most of us. Browsing in IE, FF 3.5 Release Candidate, and Google Chrome work fine. It gets a little bit annoying vertical scrolling more than usual but that is typical of netbooks. There is rarely a need to horizontally scroll as the screen resolution is a nice 1024 by 600 pixels. Microsoft Office and Open Office run smoothly, as do Skype and Thunderbird. Youtube and Hulu, even in HD, run great; though, I would be surprised if you could play 1080p video on this machine, and I don’t see the need to as the screen is only 10.1″ in size.

Power Hungry Tasks: 3/5 Asus bundles the laptop with a built in software that overclocks the Intel Atom N280’s clock speed in the 1008ha from 1.66 GHz to 1.75 GHz. Though the n280 is only .06 GHz faster than the1.6 ghz n270 (the processor in most netbooks), its FSB is 667 mhz, much better than the 533 MHz FSB of the n270. The faster FSB allows a user to have faster RAM. The 1008ha surprisingly runs Photoshop CS3 and the included Windows Movie Maker quite well. It also handles Cabal Online (mmorpg) alright on lowest settings and plays WOW decently. More fast paced, intensive games like Quake Live and Nexuiz are playable but so slow that they aren’t worth it. Obviously, this tiny device can’t handle anything like Crysis. Other playable games include FretsOnFire and StepMania. Its good for casual gaming, but it isn’t an Alienware.

Overall Score: 3.8/5 (Good)*

*The score can be increased if Asus’s Customer Service is able to fix the durability problems I have faced with my 1008ha

Verdict: The 1008ha could be a revolutionary netbook if Asus fixes its durability problems. Its a good buy for those who don’t need a replaceable battery and don’t mind Glossy screens (otherwise, go for the 1000he). Asus did an excellent job designing the netbook, but I am still disappointed with the durability issues I am having with it.

It brings back the style factor in netbooks that has been exchanged for cheap prices. I am waiting to see what MSI, Acer, and Lenovo bring to the arena in response to Asus’s new, bold netbook: the 1008HA.