Asus Eee PC 1000HE

The Asus Eee PC range of netbooks have opened up a completely new area in laptop computing. One of the latest to arrive is the Asus Eee PC 1000HE. The 1000HE comes with a 10 inch screen making it very usable, but at the same time very portable.

One remarkable thing about this netbook is it’s battery life. This netbook is capable of 9.5 hours on a full charge which doubles, maybe even triples what most others in it’s class are capable of. This battery life is achieved by using a technology exclusive to ASUS named the energy-saving Super Hybrid Engine. That engine works by working out exactly how much power is needed for the particular task it is doing. The netbook weighs just 3.2 pounds and yet in it’s small and light casing it manages to squash in a 160GB hard drive.

The 10 inch display is backlit by LED, is widescreen and has a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. It’s not the highest of resolutions as some new comers to the market are offering 720p HD, but the width at 1024 allows for comfortable browsing of most websites without the need to scroll sideways. The keyboard is slightly smaller then a regular laptop keyboard at 92% size, but from reports it is still very usable. I have used a similar sized keyboard on the Dell Mini 9 and had no complaints there although it did take an hour or 2 to get used to it.

The Eee 1000HE is powered by an Intel Atom Processor running at 1.66GHz. The Atom is another reason why netbooks can achieve longer battery life as they only consume 2.5 watts which is less then 10% of a regular PC processor.

Connectivity is very good too with Wi-Fi being the main source for accessing the internet. Wi-fi is compatible with 802.11 b/g/n networks. Bluetooth 2.0 allows connection to a mobile phone should you want to tether your data plan if wi-fi is not available. 3 USB 2.0 ports can be found inside too along with an RJ-45 connector, memory card reader and VGA for connecting to larger monitors or LCD projectors.

A 1.3 megapixel webcam is found just above the screen making video conferencing an option. Operating system wise the Eee 1000HE runs Windows XP Home with Works.

All this for just $375 you can’t really complain at that. You are getting a lot of power (maybe not size) for your money with this one.

Available from Amazon.