Asus Eee PC 1008HA black and white.

By Janet Tuesday, 25^th of August 2009

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Asus Eee PC 1008HA

Good: 1008HA is extremely comfortable to hold and carry in one hand -- whether it is open or closed. The 10” LED display is easy to read.

Bad: The price is quite dear for a Netbook.

Similar products: Asus Eee PC 1005HA-H, HP Mini.

Asus' history for creating an endless stream of different Netbooks is well documented and it has been both good and bad. On the one hand it has kept Asus' growing Eee PC brand in the spotlight; on the other it has created uncertainty in the marketplace when a new model is released. This is not helped by the almost unchanging hardware, even with the improvements that Asus has made to its latest offering, the Eee PC 1008HA. As far as hardware goes it is fairly similar to the next.

Beyond the slimness and light weight design there are a lot of little details that make the 1008HA a very attractive offering. While the glossy black finish will not appeal to all customers, regardless of its stylish appearance, for the usual reasons, there will be white, pink, blue and red versions.

Having commented on Netbooks in general about their common features, Asus generally delivers more features than most. The 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 processor, 1GB RAM and 160GB hard drive are not big drawcards, but it does have Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR. There's also a 1.3 megapixel webcam and a stereo array of microphones, rather than just the single mic found in most other netbooks. These might be small details, but when there's so little difference between one netbook and another, these small differences have greater significance.

Most significantly Asus have after many attempts supplied a keyboard that finally is good for more than typing quick messages. The 1000HE, whose isolation keyboard was a massive improvement over previous models, lacked a little depth and feel to the keys but the 1008HA does not have this problem. In place of the isolation keyboard, Asus has used a tile-style keyboard in the 1008HA, where the keys are completely flat except for a slight groove between each key. This allows for large and clearly defined keys, but most importantly the depth and feels that was lacking in the 1000HE's keyboard.

Finally the ports on the 1008HA are all neatly hidden behind flaps definitely helps to keep the machine looking neat and tidy. Asus has resisted the temptation to clutter the inside with too many lights or buttons, with only the power button on the right, toggle buttons for the wireless radios and the touchpad on the left, and a quartet of status lights neatly integrated into the hinge section it is both simple yet stylish.

Overall, this is a very good Netbook with all essential features i needed.

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