Asus Eee PC 1005 HA Seashell Review

With this latest Eee PC 1005HA, more than 20 different models of Eee PC are available in the market which actually gave birth to the now-so-popular netbook category of laptops. It features excellent balance of size and battery life along with other standard features of a netbook. Let’s take a closer look at the netbook to know the details of this netbook before you buy one.

Design

The Asus Ee PC 1005 HA follows the company’s new ‘Seashell’ design which they say is inspired by seashells. In closed condition, the system looks wider at the back than in the front with its thickest part measuring at 1.4 inches. The hinges are so designed that the screen slides down behind the keyboard which makes us feel the whole thing a little more smaller. The build quality is solid enough for a budget netbook and there is no flex or very little flex of the plastics used to make the device.

Display

The display is standard 10.1 inch LED backlit glossy LCD panel with 1024 X 600 native resolution. Color and contrasts are rich and vibrating but glossy screen suffers from the drawback of glare under strong lighting or sunlight. The vertical viewing angle is average with minimal color distortion and horizontal viewing angle was also good with colors staying accurate even at moderately large angles.

Processor, RAM and HDD

It uses Intel Atom N280 Processor 1.66GHz (667MHz FSB) Processor with 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM (667 MHz). The N280 processor is slightly faster than the N270 CPU which is commonly being used in many other netbooks available. Though it is not exactly a speed demon, it would be enough for normal computing tasks such as web browsing, watching movies or working with some office softwares and so them simultaneously. There is also an option to over clock or underclock the CPU which you can use to run it faster or use less power. The 160 GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD is also fast enough for normal usage.

Graphics

As with many other netbooks, this system also comes with the same Intel GMA 950 graphics, so don’t expect to play games on this device. But you can enjoy web videos from Hulu or YouTube and even HD movies on it. Though it can play 720 p videos in number of formats, the bitter truth is it chokes on 1080p videos. Also it should be noted that this netbook is not made for watching full 1080p videos in its 1024X600 screen.

Keyboard and TouchPad

The keyboard stretches itself from one end to the other to make a good use of the limited space available. Though the size is not of a full sized keyboard, it features large keys which are more comfortable to type on. Both the shift keys are large enough to impress me but it made the arrow key layout less interesting. The touchpad was average.

Ports

On the front and back, there are no ports. On the left side there is power jack, VGA Out, USB 2.0 port, security lock slot and a heat vent. On the right side there is a 4-in-1 card reader, a headphone jack, a microphone jack, two more USB 2.0 ports and a Ethernet. The total list of ports is very satisfying for a netbook.

Sound

The built in speaker quality is better than normal netbook speakers. It can produce good volume levels without much distortions. The high and mid range sound was satisfying but it lacked bass. The headphone jack was free of any distortions and will be a better solution to the audiophiles.

Battery Life

Battery is the main feature of this netbook. Though it may sound crazy but it is true that the 1005 HA can deliver as much as eight hours of runtime under normal usage in power saver mode with its six cell battery. Under heavy usage expect it to run at least six hour with continous net surfing over WiFi in full bright screen. Unlike the Asus Eee PC 1008 HA, this battery is removable which means you can carry in an extra battery if you still need some extra life out of your system.

Price

$389 with standard configuration from Amazon. The price is little on the higher side of the netbook lineup.

Pros

• Build quality is good for budget netbook
• Battery life is amazing
• Port Layout is good for a netbook

Cons

• Thick for a modern netbook
• Weak integrated graphics
• Bad touchpad buttons

Conclusion

It might seem at first that it is just another Eee PC from Asus but if you give it a closer look you’ll find very delicate improvements or rather, I should say, refinements of their popular lineup of products. This one is fine tuned for excellent battery life and also offering standard performance, nice keyboard and standard build quality which you should expect from a portable netbook. Though it feels to have a higher resolution screen and better graphics, the configuration that you get is worth its price tag.