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For the impatient, the final verdict is: useful for the road-warrior but expensive. I’ve read a couple of reviews on netbooks in general (I don’t…...
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I posted to worthyisthelamb.info
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worthyisthelamb.info
For the impatient, the final verdict is: useful for the road-warrior but expensive.
I’ve read a couple of reviews on netbooks in general (I don’t remember the links now) that basically say, “Netbooks suck, they aren’t powerful enough, they are only toys, blah blah blah…” There is some truth to that — the truth being that netbooks are obviously not powerful enough to run PhotoShop or other CPU-hogging apps but that they are perfectly fine for wordprocessing, Internet surfing, watching videos, webcam, etc… you know, all the stuff an average user would do. (Yes, there is a market for that, like me, for example.)
On the other hand, I would never use a netbook to replace my main laptop or desktop. The 10” screen is way too small — my already poor eyesight feels like its getting even worse when I stare at that screen for more than 2 or 3 hours at a time. (But, yeah, even for that, there is a market, ahem, like me, again.)
The Eee PC 1000HE
As for the actual netbook, I got a $400 Eee PC 1000HE.
First the good:
battery life. I get the advertised 9.5 hours, sometimes more depending on what I don’t do. size (but not the weight). It brings back the notebook in notebook computer. It takes the space of about two small notebooks, fitting perfectly alongside my lunch in a small briefcase. OS (Windows XP). Yeah, Windows XP. I love it on the Eee PC because everything just works — bluetooth, WIFI, webcam, etc. And it’s very lightweight. keyboard size. The keyboard size is decent, not as tiny as the Acer One but still a little small. I can type just as fast as with a regular keyboard. Note that I have tiny hands though. hard drive. I don’t think the solid-state drives are ready for prime time. As of purchase date, the reasonably priced solid-state drives were about 6 GB — that’s only big enough to run an OS, so I went with a regular hard drive instead. At 170 GB, its perfect for my pics and music files.
easy to upgrade/mod. An extra 1 GB of memory is dirt cheap at $20. Also, for the hackers, upgrading and/or modding your Eee PC will not void your warranty.
Now the suck:
weight. At 3.5 pounds, it’s one of the chunkier netbooks. In fact, I really hate the weight — you can feel that you’re carrying a computer in your bag. At this weight, the Eee PC is starting to approach the suck point where its the weight of a regular laptop but without the power or screen/keyboard size. webcam. At first, I was excited with the integrated webcam, but then I realized that the quality could have been way better. A 3-year-old $10 microdia webcam gives way better results. It looks like Asus skimmed on the webcam. touchpad. The EEE PC has a multitouch touchpad. Two-finger scrolling and zooming. One word for these: “Meh.” Nothing really revolutionary, in fact, I can live perfectly without them.
poor build quality? The charger died after about 1 month of use. Fortunately, Asus sent me a new one free of charge. Two brand new USB memory sticks were mysteriously bricked. I suspect that it may be the hardware because my SD cards have been working just fine. The computer freezes if I try to surf the web and have the Skype webcam open at the same time. I suspect that this may be a combination Windows and the computer not being able to take the extra stress. (Note that it works just fine if all I do is Skype.)
What is it good for?
As I wrote above, I was really excited about Windows XP. Yes, Windows XP. Well, the drivers to be exact. You see, I’m a Linux user, and drivers in Linux are hit-or-miss. The problem is that Linux drivers are often written by lone volunteers working in their spare time, so you get what you pay for. For example, take my WIFI card — the built-in kernel driver runs only at dial-up modem speed (ouch). If I use the ndiswrapper driver, I lose WIFI encryption (DOH). Or take my 3-year-old microdia webcam — Linux support came only last year, and the quality is very poor. Linux software is often the same…
It was much to my surprise when I booted up Windows XP that all the drivers worked and worked well. On top of that, I’m really liking the new Windows Mail and Photo Gallery. The one-button-push integrated web sharing won me over. So I stuck with Windows XP, threw on Blackbox, and installed all the usual open-source apps that I use. My netbook was ready to work.
To those that say netbooks are toys, I’m living proof that this is false. I’m a math editor and the Eee PC is perfectly capable of handling my work flow. I use Emacs with AucTeX and MikTeX to edit math files, R and Maxima to check work, and OpenOffice for charts and graphs. Everything that I do in the office, I can do on the netbook.
HOWEVER, my CPU requirements are small and that’s the catch. Your software, on the other hand, may need something more state-of-the-art. I would argue that the majority of people do NOT need the latest-and-greatest gear to work — this is the point that netbook naysayers are missing.
At least for me, the real problem with netbooks are the tiny screens and keyboards. While it may be perfect for carrying around, it’s too small to use for long periods of time. That keeps the Eee PC from replacing my main laptop and turns it into just another tool in my “road warrior” arsenal.
I’m perfectly comfortable with having a computer for use only on the commute to work. However, at $400, the Eee PC is more of a luxury item than a cheap alternative to a regular laptop.
Final verdict: useful for road warriors but too expensive for the mainstream.
Array ( [title] => Eee PC 1000HE, Review [permalink] => http://worthyisthelamb.info/blog/content/eee-pc-1000he-review [content] =>
For the impatient, the final verdict is: useful for the road-warrior but expensive.
I’ve read a couple of reviews on netbooks in general (I don’t remember the links now) that basically say, “Netbooks suck, they aren’t powerful enough, they are only toys, blah blah blah…” There is some truth to that — the truth being that netbooks are obviously not powerful enough to run PhotoShop or other CPU-hogging apps but that they are perfectly fine for wordprocessing, Internet surfing, watching videos, webcam, etc… you know, all the stuff an average user would do. (Yes, there is a market for that, like me, for example.)
On the other hand, I would never use a netbook to replace my main laptop or desktop. The 10” screen is way too small — my already poor eyesight feels like its getting even worse when I stare at that screen for more than 2 or 3 hours at a time. (But, yeah, even for that, there is a market, ahem, like me, again.)
The Eee PC 1000HE
As for the actual netbook, I got a $400 Eee PC 1000HE.
First the good:
- battery life. I get the advertised 9.5 hours, sometimes more depending on what I don’t do.
- size (but not the weight). It brings back the notebook in notebook computer. It takes the space of about two small notebooks, fitting perfectly alongside my lunch in a small briefcase.
- OS (Windows XP). Yeah, Windows XP. I love it on the Eee PC because everything just works — bluetooth, WIFI, webcam, etc. And it’s very lightweight.
- keyboard size. The keyboard size is decent, not as tiny as the Acer One but still a little small. I can type just as fast as with a regular keyboard. Note that I have tiny hands though.
- hard drive. I don’t think the solid-state drives are ready for prime time. As of purchase date, the reasonably priced solid-state drives were about 6 GB — that’s only big enough to run an OS, so I went with a regular hard drive instead. At 170 GB, its perfect for my pics and music files.
- easy to upgrade/mod. An extra 1 GB of memory is dirt cheap at $20. Also, for the hackers, upgrading and/or modding your Eee PC will not void your warranty.
Now the suck:
- weight. At 3.5 pounds, it’s one of the chunkier netbooks. In fact, I really hate the weight — you can feel that you’re carrying a computer in your bag. At this weight, the Eee PC is starting to approach the suck point where its the weight of a regular laptop but without the power or screen/keyboard size.
- webcam. At first, I was excited with the integrated webcam, but then I realized that the quality could have been way better. A 3-year-old $10 microdia webcam gives way better results. It looks like Asus skimmed on the webcam.
- touchpad. The EEE PC has a multitouch touchpad. Two-finger scrolling and zooming. One word for these: “Meh.” Nothing really revolutionary, in fact, I can live perfectly without them.
- poor build quality? The charger died after about 1 month of use. Fortunately, Asus sent me a new one free of charge. Two brand new USB memory sticks were mysteriously bricked. I suspect that it may be the hardware because my SD cards have been working just fine. The computer freezes if I try to surf the web and have the Skype webcam open at the same time. I suspect that this may be a combination Windows and the computer not being able to take the extra stress. (Note that it works just fine if all I do is Skype.)
What is it good for?
As I wrote above, I was really excited about Windows XP. Yes, Windows XP. Well, the drivers to be exact. You see, I’m a Linux user, and drivers in Linux are hit-or-miss. The problem is that Linux drivers are often written by lone volunteers working in their spare time, so you get what you pay for. For example, take my WIFI card — the built-in kernel driver runs only at dial-up modem speed (ouch). If I use the ndiswrapper driver, I lose WIFI encryption (DOH). Or take my 3-year-old microdia webcam — Linux support came only last year, and the quality is very poor. Linux software is often the same…
It was much to my surprise when I booted up Windows XP that all the drivers worked and worked well. On top of that, I’m really liking the new Windows Mail and Photo Gallery. The one-button-push integrated web sharing won me over. So I stuck with Windows XP, threw on Blackbox, and installed all the usual open-source apps that I use. My netbook was ready to work.
To those that say netbooks are toys, I’m living proof that this is false. I’m a math editor and the Eee PC is perfectly capable of handling my work flow. I use Emacs with AucTeX and MikTeX to edit math files, R and Maxima to check work, and OpenOffice for charts and graphs. Everything that I do in the office, I can do on the netbook.
HOWEVER, my CPU requirements are small and that’s the catch. Your software, on the other hand, may need something more state-of-the-art. I would argue that the majority of people do NOT need the latest-and-greatest gear to work — this is the point that netbook naysayers are missing.
At least for me, the real problem with netbooks are the tiny screens and keyboards. While it may be perfect for carrying around, it’s too small to use for long periods of time. That keeps the Eee PC from replacing my main laptop and turns it into just another tool in my “road warrior” arsenal.
I’m perfectly comfortable with having a computer for use only on the commute to work. However, at $400, the Eee PC is more of a luxury item than a cheap alternative to a regular laptop.
Final verdict: useful for road warriors but too expensive for the mainstream.
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