Features
Quality
Value
Overall

Introduction

Netbooks as a product category have gained tremendous popularity because they bring the advantages of ultra-portability at an attractive price. The EeePC netbook series from Asus, with its robust performance and value for money has been among the fore-running brands in the category.

Asus Eee PC 1005HA netbook overview

The Asus EeePC Seashell 1005HA is among the latest offering of Asus in the EeePC netbook range. Through the 1005HA, Asus has improved on its predecessor the 1000HE. As compared to the earlier model that had a non-removable battery, the Asus 1005HA netbook comes with a removable 3 or 6 cell battery. The Asus 1005HA netbook is competitively priced at around $400 and offers more value for money than other Asus netbooks such as the 1008HA which is slightly more expensive.

Here is a detailed analysis of the Asus 1005HA:

Overall design

The EeePC 1005HA retains most of the sleek design features of the 1000HE. The design is compact, unlike some of the boxed designs of some of the other competitors in the netbook space. Given the compact structure, the ergonomics of the device is quite satisfactory. The glossy finish, however, has been criticised in the past models, because it gathers fingerprints marks quickly which spoils the clean look of the device.

Performance

Battery

The EeePC comes with an option of 3-cell or 6-cell removable battery. The device has an enviable 10 hours of battery life while running normal applications. With resource-intensive applications such as multimedia and videos, the performance is found to drop to about 6 hours, which is still pretty impressive when compared to others.

Screen

The 10.1 inch back-lit LCD screen fits in a very slim profile and is designed to consume little power. The screen has a resolution of 1024 by 600 pixels. The sharp display that we observed while using the bundled Windows XP makes up very well for the smaller screen and provides good visibility.

Keyboard and touchpad

The keyboard is made to spread out as much as possible on the 10”+ surface with large keys. The size of the keyboard comes to about 95% of conventional laptops. We found typing on the system fine after getting used to it. The touchpad is a raised dotted area and performed accurately.

Multimedia

EeePC 1005HA comes equipped with a 1.3 mega pixel webcam built on top of the compact screen. Having video conferences and chats on the move is nice and easy. The system has a built-in high definition audio engine with stereo speakers and a digital array microphone that gives clear sound pick-up.

Conclusion

With the balance of reasonable price and fully loaded features, Asus EeePC 1005HA offers a great bang for the buck. It is ideal for use for traveling business professionals and students. The multimedia performance of the device breaks the myth of performance for these ultra-portable devices. While absence of optical drive can be a hindrance this is to be expected with netbooks and any one of the three USB ports may be used for connecting an external optical drive. Overall Asus 1005HA delivers commendable performance and can be considered among one of the best products in the netbook category.

Pros:

• Sleek and compact design
• Removable battery with option of 3 – 6 cell
• Longer battery life
• Reasonably priced

Cons:

• No optical drive
• Finger-print prone glossy finish

Technical Specifications

Asus Eee PC 1000HA photos