Asus Eee PC 1000HE netbook
Nine-hour battery life? You betcha
Review Asus was clearly stung by criticism last year that its Eee PC line-up wasn't providing the runtime punters had been led to believe netbooks would deliver. Couple that with the confusion caused when some countries got Eee PC 900s with one battery capacity, while other regions got better ones, Asus needed to look to its reputation as netbook pioneer.
Asus' Eee 1000HE: claimed to run for 9.5 hours
It did, and began rolling out machines will higher-capacity power packs. In Register Hardware tests, Asus machines topped the tables for battery life. They still do, despite the introduction of the long-running Samsung NC10.
But Asus has rested on its laurels, and here comes the latest 10in Eee PC, the 1000HE, offering a claimed nine-and-a-half hour battery life, promoted on the machine with a gaudy "one-day computing" sticker.
Central to delivering that kind of battery life is, essentially, bundling a bloody big battery. Our 1000HE review sample came with a 8700mAh power pack that's quite chunky, but fits within the lines of the netbook itself. We expect all 1000HEs will come with this battery, not least because Asus is making such a big deal about the runtime.
Another factor in battery life is the power consumption of a netbook's components. The 1000HE comes with a 10.1in screen with the customary 1024 x 600 resolution. It's also matte, so it'll immediately appeal to all those folk who hate glossy screens. We prefer the latter, with the more vibrant, brighter colours they produce, and while the colours aren't bad on the 1000HE, we found it to be a surprisingly dark display, even with the brightness on max.
Shiny but chunky
To be fair, it's no darker than the nine-month-old Eee PC 900 we have on our desk too, but it's noticeably less bright than laptops and other netbooks we have here, such as the Acer Aspire One. We can't help but feel Asus is limiting the brightness solely to boost battery life. By all means set an advantageous default - say, 75 per cent - but we think the user should have the freedom to decide how best to balance brightness and battery life.
COMMENTS
Its great once you get Windows off it.
Ran it with Ubuntu till I got bored and decided to try Hacketoshing it.
I have the 1000 HA version running Leopard, I doubled the ram, and swapped out the Etheros wireless card for a 1490 Broadcom. "$10" Its a great mini machine, the battery life is incredible and I don't have to worry about someone spilling coffee in My Macbook Pro.
@James
Remember, that's 5.5 hours running video with the screen on continuously on max - that's a much tougher use of the system than web browsing and word processing, so if you're using the machine for those apps you'll get a lot more battery life than 5.5 hours.
Portability
I would not be would be without my Eee 1000 (20 Gig Linux Flash version).
Remember guys that people do pay for portability and that saying "oh it should be 100 quid cheaper" or "I can get a second had Cray with a 32 inch scree and pull it around on a power cord for half the price" does not cut it.
The power pack is very small and portable.
The only grumble I have is the touch pad buttons are rubbish (to hard to click) and that the Xandros repository's are a small subset and infrequently updated.
bought one in tottenham court Road
..on Sat 14th March. Very pleased with it. bought the white one, as the piano black shows every finger mark.
I'm getting a good 3G speed over bluetooth to my SE-W880i handset - but prefer to use the cable, as it recharges the 'phone, too!
XP is fast starting and it has proved ideal for me, using StarOffice (open office, of course) , Dia (visio type programme from Open source) and an open source project manager.
The video playback of avi files is great, too, on the 16:9 screen.
The power supply (matching white) is quite small - with a cool blue LED. The built in webcam and microphone also works well - tried that out over the home wifi this week - probably won't use it over 3G.
Why XP? because I want to use my 'standard' business utilities without having to faff about with Linux. And I'm getting close to the advertised battery life, too - and I've wrecked enough laptop batteries in my time ;^)
@Stuart Halliday
Ah, stuff your built-in (wired in) 3G -- I'm typing this on a 1000HE that's BT to the big I via my AT&T Tilt's wireless/dongleless/cableless tether. Next phone, next carrier, same story -- must have BT 2.x EDR so my work luggable and my Eee stay connected (whenever I run out of free access WiFi)...
Power pack is 36watt, decent AC cord and very long DC cord. Tiny plug.
Pickedup a Samsung USB-powered TruDirect for US$80 last Saturday, comes with pouch similar material to the non-slip grip Eee zipper bag. Yes, the Eee bag has an inside-out wetsuit feel to it.
Tried a TON of current Netbooks at Microcenter, none of them had a decent keyboard. Tried the HEand bought it. BIG difference, and together with the battery life, the determinator.
Cost? Caught the 5 hour daily special at ZipZoomFly for $349 with free shipping (yes, they sold out in 5 hours).
