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| Introduction and Specifications | ||||
| Asus continues to broaden their Eee PC line of netbooks, as we roll through the first quarter of 2009. Clearly, however, Asus was aiming more for evolutionary than revolutionary with its latest Eee PC 1000HE. Even though it's largely unchanged from its siblings, there are still enough refinements to the product here to take notice. For the most part, Asus took aim at rival machines that were praised for their usability and portability but hammered when it came time to examine battery life. Essentially, the 1000HE wraps up everything the world has come to know and love about the Eee netbook line, but also offers a few enhancements like a faster Atom N280 processor, a new keyboard layout and perhaps most interesting, longer battery life. The fit and finish, build quality and overall allure of this machine isn't all that different versus its closely related family members. And, as you can certainly tell from the model number, Asus didn't intend for it to be any huge departure from the norm. In fact, the 1000HE leads you on to believe that this is simply an Extended version (in terms of battery life, not cargo room) of the existing 1000H. In many ways, that's absolutely true, but as you'll see when venturing through the pages ahead, there were enough tweaks made to give even existing Eee owners a reason to pay attention. ;) ;) Asus has been extremely careful not to drastically modify the magic elixir that has made the Eee PC line so successful, and while machines such as the S101 prove that the company doesn't mind rolling the dice, the 1000HE is about as safe as it gets. ASUS took no long shots in the design of this one, which will delight those already in love with the standard Eee PC look, but will probably disappoint those looking for a radical departure from the status quo. Our own feelings on the matter are this: the 1000HE is a fine form factor, though we wouldn't mind it losing a bit of thickness and seeing its bulk redistributed more evenly. Looking at the hardware spread on this netbook, the whole "evolutionary" term pops back to mind. A few subtle updates are sprinkled throughout, though most of the components remain unchanged. Here's a look at what makes the Eee PC 1000HE tick:
 The retail shipping box is remarkably similar to that which came with the Eee PC 1000H, boasting just enough room for the machine itself, a thoughtful slip cover and the AC adapter. |
| Mechanical Design and Exterior |
Anyone remotely familiar with the Eee PC 1000H
will be right at home with the 1000HE. Every aspect of this machine's
external appearance is the same as its shorter-lasting cousin, save for
the more polished access panel cover underneath (which we'll touch
more on later). On the left side, you'll find a lock slot, a 10/100
Ethernet jack, a USB 2.0 port, a speaker grille, a line-in socket
(3.5mm) and a headphone jack (also 3.5mm). In the front, you'll notice
the edges of your left and mouse right buttons peeking out, alongside
four LEDs that let you know if Wi-Fi / Bluetooth are turned in, if your
HDD is actively seeking and if your AC adapter is plugged in.;) ;) Scanning to the right, you'll notice a 4-in-1 multi-format card reader, a pair of USB 2.0 ports side-by-side, a VGA output and the AC adapter input. As with the 1000H, the rear of the 1000HE is devoid of ports, with the high capacity battery demanding most of that real estate. Opening the lid is as simple as prying the top from the bottom -- there aren't any magical latches or locks holding it together. We will say that prying the display up took more force than we imagined, making it practically impossible to open with just a single thumb and forefinger. The hinge was sturdy, and there was absolutely zero "wiggle" from the LCD panel. It stayed precisely where you put it, and it took deliberate force to relocate (that's a good thing). ;) ;) The 1.3 megapixel webcam was unsurprisingly perched atop the LCD bezel, while the trackpad and buttons were planted dead center beneath the keyboard. Personally, we didn't much care for the very stiff left and right buttons; call us wimps, but they both required too much force for comfortable use. The trackpad, and specifically, the multi-touch gestures, was a joy to use. Though small, the pad is far from being the smallest we've seen on a netbook, and it was sensitive enough that we rarely found ourselves having to pick our fingers up, move to the opposite side, and continue swiping. The zoom in / out functions and the two-finger scrolling were perfectly implemented, and we greatly appreciated the ability to use gestures instead of having to revisit those sticky buttons time and time again. A Welcomed Refinement In Keyboard Layout: The new "Chiclet" keyboard is said to be 92 percent the size of a standard issue keyboard, and we believe it. Typing on this netbook was about as good as it gets; generally speaking, we detest typing on netbooks for any length of time, with the 'Shift' and 'Enter' keys causing the majority of the problems. We can say that we didn't miss the 'Shift' key a single time during our extensive typing test, which bodes well for anyone planning on using capital letters. Did it still feel small? Without a doubt. We never "forgot" that we were typing on a miniaturized keyboard, but we were also comfortable enough with it to not toss it across the room in a fit of frustration. You should know you're getting a smaller-than-normal keyboard when buying a netbook, but Asus has done a great job of almost getting that "full size" feel into the 1000HE. ;) ;) At 3.2 pounds, this one won't weigh you down too badly. It still carries the bulk of its girth in the rear, while gradually getting thinner towards the mouse buttons. Looking straight on from the side, the 1000HE isn't what we would call "thin" (we're spoiled; we know), but it's perfectly acceptable given just how quiet this thing stays the majority of the time. It's a personal preference, but we'd rather the casing have a bit more breathing room in order to keep the fan noise to a minimum. Overall, the build quality here is top shelf for a sub-$400 computer. While you may expect to get something akin to a toy for $375, this feels just as solid as machines costing four and five times more. We have to say, we'd prefer the entire unit be matte black, as the glossy lid does nothing but attract fingerprints and make photographing the unit practically impossible. Jests aside, we wish Asus would have wrapped that matte finish on the bottom all the way to the lid. A minor quibble, but there it is. |
| A Closer Look At Optimizations |
| Some may feel that Asus has done itself both a disservice and a favor by creating so many
variations within its Eee family of netbooks. On one hand, it's great
that there are so many choices to fit so many needs. On the other, the
average consumer would have to dedicate hours to sifting through each
model in order to determine what minor changes were worth having or
worth glossing over. We tend to prefer the customize-to-order model
that PC vendors such as Lenovo, Dell, HP and Apple have adopted, as
that keeps the amount of model names to a minimum while still providing
the option to mix in different components from those listed in the base
configuration. That aside, we figured it prudent to break down the minutiae in order to highlight the changes between this Eee PC 1000HE and the awfully similar Eee PC 1000H that we reviewed last fall. We'll start off by going over what hasn't changed. For starters, Windows XP Home is still the pre-installed operating system, and 1GB of DDR2 RAM (in a single RAM slot) is still all the memory you'll get from the factory. The new machine also retains the 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi radio and Bluetooth 2.0 module, both of which can be switched on / off independently via a simple Function button press or via the taskbar. The same 1.3 megapixel webcam is there, as is the trio of USB 2.0 ports, VGA output and audio in / out ports. Both machines also tip the scales at a very manageable 3.2 pounds, and in most regards, the well appointed, classy exterior is the same we found on the 1000H. ;) Now, for the differences. Here's where things get interesting. You see, Asus in large part is marketing this machine as just a longer lasting version of the 1000H. And for the everyday netbook buyer, maybe that's all the justification they'd need to select the 1000HE. But when we began to break things down spec by spec, we realized that Asus did a phenomenal job in tweaking this machine in a litany of small, but very appreciated ways. Granted, most of these changes are important only to the technology enthusiast, but we can't help but applaud Asus for not just slapping a bigger battery in here and calling it a day. Fit and Finish: Right out of the gate, you'll notice a few substantial design changes upon either flipping the netbook over or opening it up. Underneath, the once bulky (and rather unsightly) hard drive / RAM cover has been replaced with a smoother, more tightly integrated panel. Upon cracking open the lid, keen eyes will recognize that the once matte LCD bezel has been replaced with a glossy one, while the new "Chiclet" style keyboard should stand out to just about anyone. Rather than having all of the keys bumping up against one another as on the 1000H, this new style looks awfully similar to the keyboards on Apple's new line of MacBook machines. It gives each key a bit of "breathing room," if you will, and just generally makes typing a lot more fluid. A quick point on the bezel -- we felt the 1000H had too much gloss as it was, so needless to say, we were a touch disappointed to see reflections of all sorts surrounding our display when opening this machine up for the first time. It's subjective, sure, but was there really a problem with the matte bezel? Internal Component Selection: At any rate, another minor (and unpublished) change that we can't help but remark upon is the complete lack of stickers. We lamented the inclusion of palm rest stickers on the 1000H, and this time, Asus has listened to our cries by keeping things clean and uncluttered, even removing the sticky labels from the underside. A nice touch, indeed. Moving beyond aesthetics, the first notable change from the 1000H to the 1000HE is the central processing unit. The 1.6GHz Atom N270 has been replaced with a 1.66GHz Atom N280, which provides an obvious (however slight) speed increase and a jump from 533MHz to 667MHz on the front side bus. Unfortunately, the new CPU is paired up with Intel's older 945GSE chipset, which is still different from the 945GME in the 1000H. That said, we would've loved for Asus to pair this CPU up with Intel's GN40 chipset instead, which provides a 720p hardware-based video decoder. As it stands, the N280 + 945GSE combination only amounts to minor performance improvements. Also, the 1000HE doubles up on the hard drive space by including a 160GB drive, which turns out to be the Seagate Momentus 5400.5, complete with 8MB of cache, a 5400RPM spindle speed and a SATA interface. In addition, Asus adds in 10GB of online Eee Storage, which is complimentary for the first 18 months. Among the more minor tweaks are a multi-format card reader that accepts a larger variety of cards (SD, SDHC, Memory Stick and MS-PRO versus just SD, SDHC and MMC in the 1000H), a pre-loaded Skype VoIP calling application and an "array" microphone. ;) ;) High Level Usage Experience: We'll get to the facts and figures in a bit, but you're probably wondering just how well this unit performed in everyday situations. Truth is, it performed just about as well as every other Atom-based netbook out there. On the surface, it's hard to recognize that there are speedier components within, but when we fired up a 720p movie trailer to see how it would handle intense loads, we were pleasantly surprised with the results. The machine managed to churn through with barely a stutter, and when the same trailer was viewed in 480p, everything was perfectly smooth. Oh, and since you're just dying to know what happened when we tried out the 1080p clip, let's just say you wouldn't want to watch it for long and frankly 1080p is overkill for a 10" screen-based netbook anyway. The 1000HE handled Office tasks, Web browsing and other non-graphically intense tasks with ease, though -- as with the 1000H -- it showed its weakness when attempting to play modern 3D games at levels above the lowest possible settings. Our advice? Don't buy a netbook for gaming -- you wouldn't buy a Mini Cooper for mountain climbing, would you? We did notice the occasional bit of lag when switching between Firefox tabs, but that eased up with we closed a few of the dozen tabs we had open. Like we said, performance is apt to be hit-or-miss when things get intense, but if you're really buying a netbook to do things it was intended for, you'll be more than happy with the responsiveness and handling of the Asus Eee PC 1000HE. |
| Power Consumption and Battery Life |
The big question on everyone's mind is likely this: does the high
capacity battery on the 1000HE really make that much of a difference?
After testing this thing out for hours on end with no AC outlet in
sight, we can safely say "yes." Asus claims that you can get up to 9.5
hours out of a full charge under ideal conditions, and we believe it.
With Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on, we were able to squeeze around 6 hours and
20 minutes out of a completely full battery, and that was under typical
working conditions. Surfing the Web, typing emails and documents,
listening to a few tunes and zoning out on occasion to grab a bite to
eat. 6 hours and 20 minutes is a long time, and if you weren't working
almost nonstop, you could probably break the 7 hour barrier without
much issue. And, mind you, this is all with a battery that's no bulkier than previous versions. There's no huge two-inch long bulge poking out of the rear, and there's no gigantic hump underneath. Maybe it's magic, but whatever keeps this thing going so long, we appreciate it, and we get the idea that serious road warriors will too. It should be noted that this measurement was achieved with "Power Saving Mode" active, but our experimentation with "High Performance Mode" showed only a five to ten percent decrease in battery life, which isn't a bad trade off if you really need the horsepower to churn through 480p media clips.  It's not often that PC companies actually keep their extreme promises, and while we weren't gentle enough to get 9.5 hours out of the 1000HE, that figure is totally within the realm of feasibility. A new netbook benchmark for battery life has been set, and we're excited to see everyone else attempt to match it (or better yet, exceed it).  |
| Software and Benchmarks |
| Asus doesn't provide a huge amount of additional software aside from
the core Windows XP Home Edition OS and Skype, but truthfully, that's a
good thing. The last thing you want when buying a netbook is gobs of
bloatware weighing it down before you even get a chance to do any
damage yourself. Booting into Windows was rather snappy given the
components. It took 26 seconds to see the "Welcome" logo, 30 seconds to
hear the famed Windows chime and 37 before we could mouse to anything
on the desktop. Not too shabby at all. As you might expect, the N280 doesn't provide a huge performance boost over prior machines with Intel's Atom N270. For starters, the average human will find it almost impossible to detect the incremental 0.06GHz increase in clock speed, and while the front side bus is boosted somewhat, the whole package is hamstrung more so by its aging 945GSE chipset. As you'll notice in the SiSoftware Sandra Processor Arithmetic test below, the 1000HE's CPU was about 6 percent better than the baseline N270. We'll take all the extra performance we can get, thanks very much. ;) Click to enlarge Looking at the Processor Multi-Media test, you'll notice that it notched markedly better scores. And it shows. The 1000HE could actually manage (albeit just barely) 720p content. Not too many netbooks can say that, though that will obviously change when machines built with an Atom N280 + GN40 chipset combo become more pervasive. ;) Click to enlarge Memory performance was nothing to write home about, but results were about as expected. You can only expect so much from a single channel DDR2 configuration. ;) Click to enlarge |
| Conclusion | ||||
| All things considered, we think the Asus Eee PC 1000HE is a surefire top-seller at
just under $400. Windows XP Home runs perfectly smooth in everyday
scenarios, and even when pushed, this machine responded admirably. Of
course, you should realize that the 1000HE, like any netbook, has
its limitations. However, so long as you don't expect to play back 1080p
movie trailers or fire up Crysis, you should be pleasantly surprised. We don't see the need for current Eee PC owners to upgrade, but for consumers just now looking to buy a netbook, this is a great option. The near-full size keyboard is a boon for those who spend a large amount of time typing, and the amazing battery is beneficial to anyone who stays far, far away from AC outlets. And unlike some netbooks, which are attempting to push the price barrier higher with "luxury" features, Asus keeps the asking price on this machine at a reasonable level. If you've never used a netbook before, we'd still highly recommend finding one and using it for an hour or so (if possible) before biting the bullet. Some will simply find the screen too small for extended use, or the keyboard too cramped to type on comfortably. Mind you, this isn't a fault of the 1000HE -- it's the nature of the proverbial beast. If you're confident your next laptop should be a netbook, you'll be hard pressed to find an argument against the 1000HE. Let's put it this way, if someone had $400 or so today that they were looking to invest in a netbook, we can't think of recommending anything other than the 1000HE currently. It simply outdoes the rest of the machines in its price range, in terms of performance, usability and battery life. We're giving it an Editor's Choice award without hesitation.
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