Test Netbook from Asus Eee PC 1215N

The ASUS Eee PC 1215N is the latest netbook to offer a 12-inch HD display and a dual-core Intel Atom processor to deliver multimedia entertainment and multitasking productivity for just $500. While this isn't the cheapest netbook on the market, the 1215N promises to be the most powerful. Keep reading to find out more.

Pros:

• Excellent netbook performance
• Webcam privacy cover
• Nice screen

Cons:

• Limited upgradability
• Bouncy keyboard
• Bad touchpad buttons

Conclusion
ASUS has once again shown why the Eee PC line of netbooks remains popular with many consumers. The new Eee PC 1215N offers the best overall performance we've seen from an Atom-based netbook. Battery life isn't as good as the best single-core netbooks, but it is better than the previous 12-inch Eee PC.

In truth, the only things we didn't like about this netbook were all related to design. First, the keyboard was too bouncy and the touchpad buttons are just horrible. We also would have liked to see easier access to the hard drive and wireless cards since many well-informed owners add new hard drives or SSDs to their netbooks.

Still, it's hard to find another 12-inch laptop that offers better performance for just $500 retail price. If you want an ultraportable netbook with a good screen and good performance for less than the price of a CULV-based notebook then the ASUS Eee PC 1215N probably belongs at the top of a very short list.

ASUS Eee PC 1215N Specifications:

• Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit)
• Intel Atom D525 Dual Core Processor 1.8GHz (1MB L2 cache)
• 2GB DDR3 RAM (800MHz)
• 250GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD plus 500GB Online Storage
• 12.1-inch diagonal WXGA (1366x768)
• NVIDIA ION with Optimus
• 0.3 megapixel webcam
• Realtek 802.11 B/G/N Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
• 4-in-1 media card slot
• 11.65 x 8.19 x 1.31
• 3lbs 3.5oz (not including weight of AC adapter)
• 6-cell Lithium-Ion battery (5200mAh, 56Wh)
• One-year standard warranty
• MSRP: $499.99

Build and Design
The ASUS Eee PC 1215N is the latest addition to the "Seashell" line of Eee PC netbooks and features an attractive wedge design with a very thin profile at the front that gradually thickens towards screen hinge. This shape feels nice in your hands and looks even nicer when the computer is resting on a desk. The combination of glossy black plastics and silver metalic finish help accent the various details in the design of this netbook. ASUS was the company that invented the netbook category with it's original Eee PC, and whether you love them or hate them, netbook sales are still strong enough to suggest that this category of budget ultraportable laptops is going to stick around for a while.

Build quality is very good with the 1215N feeling solid and showing almost no signs of flex. The screen stays firmly shut with a good amount of tension from the screen hinges when closed. Protection from the screen cover is very good; as no distortions appeared on the display when we applied pressure to the back of the cover. Opening up the screen you can tell the hinges should hold up for a long time with strong tension that prevents the screen from flopping around once opened. The body of the netbook seems to be well designed with minimal chassis flex and no obvious creaks from the plastics.

As we've seen on other recent ASUS notebooks, the new Eee PC 1215N features a convenient webcam privacy cover that slides into place over the lens of the built-in webcam when you flip the switch between the "on" and "off" positions. Yes, technically proficient users can disable the webcam using the Windows Device Manager, but many average netbook owners appreciate having a simple way to protect their privacy so unscrupulous outsiders don't use their laptop webcams for spying or stalking. Considering how much value a few cents worth of plastic offers, I'm amazed every built-in webcam doesn't have a switch like this.

One area of the design that didn't impress us was the bottom of the netbook. The expansion bay consists of nothing more than the two RAM sockets. The cover panel is held in place by a single screw, which makes it easy to upgrade the RAM, but ASUS engineers don't give you convenient access to the wireless card or the hard drive. Users interested in making upgrades (a common thing for netbook owners) will have to completely disassemble the Eee PC 1215N if they want to do anything other than upgrade the RAM.

Screen and Speakers
The 12.1" screen on the Eee PC 1215N appears to be the same model used in the older 1201N and is great for browsing the web, editing photos, or even watching HD movies. Color and contrast are excellent thanks to the glossy surface and LED-backlighting. Color saturation is better than average although only in a narrow viewing range. Once you start to tilt the screen forward or back the colors start to look dim or very washed out. Horizontal viewing angles were better; staying visible until roughly 60 degrees where the reflections on the screen start to overpower what is being displayed. Peak backlight brightness was fine for viewing in bright office conditions, but only when the brightness was set to 100 percent. Outdoor viewing was close to impossible unless you were in some serious shade from a tree or other structure.

The onboard speakers were lap-firing and sounded very tinny. The speakers had no low frequency response and just a small hint of midrange. This is fine for listening to streaming music or watching a YouTube clip, but not for sharing a movie in a small room. The speaker orientation causes problems if you have the laptop laying on a bed or pressed against thick clothing on your lap. I was able to easily obstruct the speakers with my legs; making them sound muffled. In short, audiophiles would be better off using a nice pair of headphones or connecting the Eee PC to a stereo through its HDMI-out port.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The nearly full-size keyboard on the 1215N is very comfortable to type although it still has a learning curve compared to regular sized notebooks. Most condensed Chiclet-style (also called island-style) keyboards provide enough space between each key to prevent excessive typos. The keyboard looks quite nice but the keyboard on our review sample suffered from a great deal of flex or "bounce" under heavy typing pressure. Not only does this make typing feel mushy but it can lead to typos when the keys "bounce" under your fingertips. The keys are designed with a rough matte finish on top which helps increase fingertip traction. Individual key action was smooth, giving off a quiet high-pitched click when pressed.

The touchpad on the 1215N is a Synaptics model with great sensitivity and speed. We didn't notice any problems with the touchpad calibration straight out of the box and the lightly textured surface provides just the right amount of traction for cursor movement. The flush touchpad surface is separated from the palmrests by a pair of polished metal strips but I often found my finger moving outside the touchpad area when using the touchpad. Once again, ASUS engineers decided to use a single touchpad button bar rather than two separate buttons. This makes it easy to accidentally hit the wrong mouse button since there is just one button and no dividing line between the two sides. Hopefully one of these days someone at ASUS will read these reviews and stop using touchpad buttons like these.

Ports and Features
Port selection on the Eee PC 1215N is fairly standard for a modern netbook. ASUS gives you three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI-out, VGA, LAN, and audio jacks. It also features a SDHC-card slot for expanding internal storage or just loading images off your camera while traveling. We won't complain about the port selection, but since we're starting to see USB 3.0 on more consumer notebooks we hope it will start showing up on netbooks soon. The only negative aspect of the connections on this Eee PC is the super-tiny AC adapter plug. Compared to any other notebook or netbook (and even some cellphones) it is smaller and potentially weaker. We can't accurately speculate on long term reliability, but we don't imagine this power jack could hold up as well as more robust connectors.

Front View: Activity lights

Rear View: Battery and screen hinges

Left Side View: AC-power, VGA out, HDMI-out, one USB 2.0 port, and media card reader

Right Side View: Audio jacks, two USB 2.0 ports, LAN, and Kensington Lock slot

Performance and Benchmarks
Like the older Eee PC 1201N, the dual-core Atom processor paired with NVIDIA's ION puts the ASUS Eee PC 1215N somewhere in-between the performance level of a single-core netbook and a CULV notebook. General system performance is only slightly more impressive than single-core Atom netbooks, as the 1215N is less "laggy" in a Windows environment but still isn't as responsive as the latest Core i5 and Core i7 CULV processors.

The latest version of Nvidia ION inside the Eee PC 1215N offers several new features not seen in previous ION-based netbooks. First, since the latest Intel Atom processors integrate the memory controller, display controller and integrated graphics processor (IGP) onto the same die as the processor itself, ION is able to use Optimus technology to pair the discrete/dedicated GPU with the CPU and IGP to offer better performance when wanted and better battery life when needed. Thanks to Nvidia ION with Optimus, the ASUS Eee PC 1215N is basically smart enough to know when it needs to use the dedicated graphics for high performance (video and gaming) and it can switch to the low-power integrated graphics when you need to have as much battery life as possible.

In terms of real world gaming this means you can play World of Warcraft on low detail settings at 1366x768 resolution and gameplay has an average framerate of about 45 frames per second. Similarly, you can play Left 4 Dead on low settings at 1366x768 and get average framerates in the low 20s. The bottom line is the latest version of Nvidia Ion works fine for games with low requirements (World of Warcraft,Portal, or Sims 3) but really starts to slow down with slightly more taxing first person shooters like Left 4 Dead or Resident Evil 5. Although this level of performance isn't as jaw dropping as a portable gaming system like the Alienware M11x, the Eee PC 1215N certainly is the most impressive standard netbook we've reviewed to date.

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark06 measures gaming performance (higher scores mean better performance):

CrystalDiskMark storage drive performance test:

Heat and Noise
Under stress the dual core Intel Atom D525 and Nvidia ION graphics raised the outside case temperature of the 1215N into the "warm but still comfortable" category. After 30 minutes with both the CPU and GPU stressed, some parts of the reached temperatures as high as 89 degrees Fahrenheit. Under normal conditions at or near idle the same spots were about 5 degrees cooler. The system fan worked harder in this netbook compared to models we have tested without the NVIDIA ION or dual-core Atom, but it still stayed below audible levels in a typical office environment. While at or close to idle the fan noise would be comparable to a virtually silent whisper or heavy breath and under load would be a quiet whisper.

Battery Life
The ASUS Eee PC 1215N has a dual-core Intel Atom processor and NVIDIA ION graphics both working against it when it comes to battery life. Despite this, ASUS claims that this netbook can deliver up to 7 hours of battery life depending on the settings and use. In our tests with the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and Windows 7 set to the Balanced profile, the ASUS 1215N stayed on for 5 hours and 34 minutes. This is roughly an hour more than the older Eee PC 1201N which used a battery with higher capacity cells. Granted, this isn't as good as some of the older ASUS netbooks that delivered more than 10 hours of battery life, but this is the most powerful Eee PC we've seen so far.

From : http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5832&review=asus+eee+pc+1215n

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ASUS Eee PC T91 Review

by Jerry Jackson

The idea of a compact convertible notebook tablet might not be anything new, but ASUS found a way to create a mini tablet that sells for just $500. Since similar tablets cost at least twice the price, what makes the new ASUS Eee PC T91 so special? I spent a week putting the T91 through its paces and what I discovered was a convenient little companion PC that might actually be more impressive than the specs suggest. Let's take a closer look.

ASUS Eee PC T91 Specifications:

• Windows XP Home
• 8.9" LED-backlit display with resistive touch panel
• CPU Intel Atom Z520 (1.33GHz, 533MHz FSB)
• Intel US15W chipset
• Graphics: Intel GMA 950
• LAN onboard 10/100 Mbps Ethernet controller
• Wireless: 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth V2.1
• Memory 1GB (DDR2 533MHz)
• Storage Total 52GB (16GB Solid State Drive + 16GB SD Card + 20GB Eee Storage)
• Webcam: 0.3 Megapixel (VGA)
• Media Readers: 3-in-1 MMC, SD, SDHC flash card slot and SD card expansion slot
• Dimensions 225mm (W) x 164mm (D) x 25.2 ~ 28.4mm (H)
• Weight 2lbs (0.96kg)
• Battery: Integrated Lithium Polymer (estimated 5 hours battery life)
• Warranty: 1-year
• MSRP: $499.99 USD

Observant readers will probably notice I did not mention three features that ASUS mentioned when the T91 was announced at Computex: optional GPS, TV Tuner, and 3G (HSUPA). That's because this release of the T91 doesn't include any of those features. That said, knowing ASUS' track record with Eee PC releases, I wouldn't be surprised if ASUS releases another version of the Eee PC Touch that has additional features at a later date.

Build and Design
The Eee PC T91 is the first touchscreen netbook from the company that created the netbook category of laptops. It's too early to tell whether consumers will go crazy for the T91 the same way they have for all the other Eee PCs, but it's safe to say this mini tablet is quite unique. The Eee PC T91 features a thin and light chassis design weighing in at just two pounds and measuring no more than one inch thick. The integrated lithium polymer battery certainly helps keep thickness to a minimum, but the lack of an extended life battery option may bother some shoppers (more on that later).

Our review unit of the T91 features an all-black exterior, but ASUS also offers the T91 in white as well. Build quality is quite good despite the mostly plastic construction. The glossy black plastics suffer from minimal flex, the keyboard is very firm, and the screen hinge provides excellent tension. The swivel hinge was one of the first things I wanted to examine when our review unit arrived because budget tablets usually suffer from weak hinges that are loose and don't keep the screen firmly in place. Thankfully, ASUS did a fantastic job with the hinge on the T91. Just swivel the LCD around and fold it down and you've got a compact touchscreen computer and electronic notepad.

The bottom of the netbook chassis shows a simple RAM access cover. If you want to upgrade the RAM in your T91 all you have to do is remove two screws on the access panel on the bottom of the netbook. I would have also liked to see an easy-access panel for the SSD, but since the T91 includes a second SD card slot just for storage expansion I suppose I can live without easy access to the internal SSD.

ASUS was also kind enough to include a soft slipcase to keep the glossy T91 looking like new when you toss it inside your backpack, briefcase, or purse. The sleeve doesn't offer much in the way of padding but it should protect the T91 from damage from loose change or car keys.

Screen and Speakers
The new Eee PC T91 uses a nice and bright 8.9-inch LED-backlit display panel with a 1024x600 native resolution. The glossy screen offers good color and contrast, but glare and reflections indoors under strong lights or outdoors under direct sunlight can be a problem. The touchscreen accuracy seems good, though our review unit required recalibration after it arrived since the touchscreen was showing activity about a half inch to the right of where we touched the screen. After calibration everything worked fine.

The only issue I had with the 8.9-inch screen is that the small size makes if difficult to use your finger to highlight text or perform other precise tasks. Vertical viewing angles are average, with obvious color inversion when viewing from below and some over-exposed colors when viewed from above. Horizontal viewing angles are less than impressive with colors starting to shift at wide viewing angles (possibly a result of the touchscreen layer).

The built-in speaker performance on the Eee PC T91 is pretty good for a 8.9-inch tablet netbook. I'm not a fan of the location of the built-in speakers since they're located on the bottom of the chassis, but the audio quality is fine for netbook speakers. The speakers produce good volume (enough to fill a small room) and there is minimal distortion until you get to higher volume levels. The speakers lack any real bass, but the range of highs and midtones are fine. That being said, the audio output from the headphone jack is probably the best solution when paired with earphones or a good set of external speakers.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The T91 uses a new keyboard that feels akin to the first-generation Eee PC keyboards with slightly larger keys. Granted, ASUS wasn't able to use a larger keyboard since the T91 uses a smaller 8.9-inch display, but I personally prefer the "chicklet" style keyboard used on the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE since there is more space between the keys to prevent me from accidentally hitting the wrong key. If you just need to hammer out a quick email the keyboard on this netbook is perfectly usable ... just don't plan to make this your primary PC.

The Synaptics touchpad used on the T91 is surprisingly large considering the 8.9-inch form factor of this netbook. The touchpad surface is covered in a simulated brushed metal finish that provides smooth movement and good sensitivity. The left and right touchpad buttons are located beneath the touchpad under a single rocker-style button. Unfortunately, with no separation between the left and right side it's easy to accidentally press the middle of the touchpad button when you're trying to press the left or right side. The touchpad buttons have extremely shallow feedback with sharp yet quiet clicks.

Tablet Features
The T91 quickly converts into tablet mode with a twist of the screen and a press of the dedicated screen rotate button. The included pen stylus isn't very large and actually collapses to half its size for east storage inside the pen silo at the front of the T91. The biggest problem I have with this pen (other than the small size) is the fact that it often collapses to the smaller size when you're using it to write notes.

The Eee PC T91 uses a resistive touchscreen rather than an active digitizer, so don't expect advanced WACOM pen features in this $500 tablet. You can touch the screen directly rather than use a mouse or take notes on the screen with the included pen. However, because of the small screen it's easy to accidentally trigger the wrong icon on the screen when using your finger.

The T91 also features a revised version of the ASUS "Eee Docking software" located on the Windows desktop. In much the same way that the Apple OS X dock or ObjectDock from Stardock software allow you to use quick shortcuts to utilities and applications, the Eee Docking software provides an easy way to locate utilities, software and digital content. It consists of the following: Eee Vibe (music/media application and Eee download website), Sharing (Data sync, messenger, and Eee Storage), Xperience (Voice Command) and Tools (Parental Control, Font resizer, and Settings), and all of these suites are easily accessed as the software “docks” to the top of the screen and is semi-hidden when not in use. The new addition to the dock is the icon for the ASUS "Touch Gate" interface

Touch Gate is an alternative desktop environment to Windows XP ... essentially a new, simplified touch interface that sits on top of Windows XP. From the Touch Gate screen you can press large customizable icons to activate applications, access files, or manage settings like wireless access or volume. Adding new shortcut icons (limited to no more than five at one time) to the Touch Gate interface is as simple as drag and drop. Touch Gate also offers "Widgets" similar to the sidebar widgets in Windows Vista -- a nice feature if you want to constantly monitor stocks or multiple clocks for different time zones. Unfortunately, like Windows Vista, the more widgets you have running at the same time the more it negatively impacts system performance.

Touch Gate also includes simple notepad and memo applications in case you need to scribble a few quick notes during the day.

Input and Output Ports
The Eee PC T91 does an okay job with ports, but I would have liked to see at least one more USB port. The T91 only gives you two USB 2.0 ports compared to most netbooks that offer three. Even the original 7-inch ASUS Eee PC 4G (701) included three ports, so I hope ASUS adds at least one more to the next model. As if to make up for the lack of USB ports, the T91 includes two media card readers: one for storage expansion and the other for reading the memory card from your digital camera. The T91 also includes the standard headphone and microphone jacks, Ethernet port, and a standard VGA out port.

Here is a quick tour around the Eee PC T91:

Front view: Media card reader (left) and pen stylus silo (right corner).

Rear view: Security lock slot and VGA out.

Left side view: Power jack, USB 2.0 port, and media card reader storage expansion slot.

Right side view: Pen stylus silo, headphone jack, microphone jack, USB 2.0 port, and Ethernet.

Performance and Benchmarks
This is the section that I hate the most whenever I write a netbook review. There isn't much to say about performance benchmarks in a netbook review because most netbook have virtually identical specs (thanks in large part to the limitations Microsoft enforces for Windows XP licenses). All Intel Atom-based netbooks have nearly identical performance in terms of actual real-world use. Overall performance with the Intel Atom platform is very reasonable for daily activities like Web browsing, email, using Microsoft Office, listening to music, and watching DVD-quality movies. If you're in a bind you can even use photo editing software like Photoshop or GIMP for basic image editing.

In order to keep heat under control the T91 uses the Intel Z520 processor with a slower clock speed of just 1.33GHz compared to 1.60GHz or even 1.66GHz used in most other netbooks. Still, despite the lower clock speed the real world performance of the T91 is on par with other Atom-based netbooks.

The use of Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics continues to be a mixed blessing for netbooks. This integrated graphics processor (IGP) is powerful enough to handle displaying a PowerPoint presentation on a projector or watching DVD quality movies, but if 720p and 1080p video playback is your primary concern then you'll want to look elsewhere. We selected a family-friendly movie trailer and downloaded three different versions in 480p, 720p, and 1080p resolutions. We used the CCCP Codec Pack for decoding and Media Player Classic Homecinema (version 1.1.796.0) for playing all of the video files.

Video Playback Performance:

Video Resolution	CPU Usage	Playback Comments
480p	25%-35% (hyperthreading)	Plays flawlessly
720p	50%-55% (hyperthreading)	Plays with an occasional dropped frame and some audio sync errors
1080p	60%-70% (hyperthreading)	Plays with severe stutter, dropped frames and audio out of sync

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240 seconds
HP Pavilion dv2 (AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 @ 1.60GHz)	103.521 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)	114.749 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)	116.030 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)	116.421 seconds
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz)	123.281 seconds
Acer Aspire One (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)	125.812 seconds
Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (2009) (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)	126.406 seconds
ASUS Eee PC T91 (Intel Atom Z520 @ 1.33GHz)	141.031 seconds
Samsung NC20 (VIA Nano ULV U2250 @ 1.30GHz)	173.968 seconds

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Sony VAIO TZ (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950)	2,446 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv2 (1.60GHz AMD Athlon Neo, ATI Radeon HD 3410 512MB)	2,191 PCMarks
ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, NVIDIA 9300M 256MB)	1,851 PCMarks
Toshiba Portege R500 (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950)	1,839 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	1,637 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	1,564 PCMarks
Acer Aspire One (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)	1,555 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	1,535 PCMarks
Samsung NC20 (1.30GHz VIA Nano ULV U2250, VIA Chrome9 HC3)	1,441 PCMarks
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)	1,437 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC T91 (1.33GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)	1,292 PCMarks

HDTune for the internal SSD:

Heat and Noise
Temperatures on the new Eee PC T91 are in line with what we've come to expect from netbooks with Intel Atom processors. Temperature readings taken from the outside of the plastic chassis remained mostly "lap friendly" during normal use with only one particularly hot spot around the RAM.

Below are images indicating the temperature readings (listed in degrees Fahrenheit) taken inside our office where the ambient temperature was 74 degrees Fahrenheit.

Battery
Battery life with the integrated 3-cell lithium-polymer battery is reasonably impressive for a compact travel tablet. In our test with the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and XP set to the laptop/portable power profile the system stayed on for 4 hours and 31 minutes of constant use. Although it's frustrating that you cannot replace the battery or use an extended life battery, the fact that the Eee PC T91 delivers more than 4 hours of battery life with constant use is pretty impressive.

Conclusion
The new ASUS Eee PC T91 deserves serious praise for being the first budget-priced tablet netbook on the market. The closest direct competition to the T91 is the Fujitsu U820, but with the Fujitsu retailing for more than $1,000 the Eee PC T91 essentially stands alone in the marketplace at half the price.

The hardware specs might not seem too impressive at first glance, but if you're in the market for a low-cost tablet this is indeed your only real option priced below $700 without rebates or coupons.

What really makes the Eee PC T91 so compelling is the new Touch Gate interface that ASUS developed exclusively for the Eee PC Touch series of netbooks. Sure, it might just be an attractive, touch-friendly skin over Windows XP, but it's also one of the most consumer-friendly touchscreen interfaces I've seen on a tablet PC ... and it's a great way to show new owners what makes a touchscreen computer so unique.

Is the Eee PC T91 a better choice than lower-priced netbooks with bigger screens and better specs? Possibly. Is it a good tablet to buy if you just want a cheap secondary computer to carry with you for taking notes, staying connected, or sharing video, photos, and music? Absolutely.

Pros:

• Low-priced tablet
• Nice build quality
• Good battery life
• Slick touchscreen interface

Cons:

• Small screen
• Integrated battery
• Weak stylus/pen

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Notebook Review Spec : ASUS Eee PC 1005HA

It's easy to get confused by all the variety of netbooks on the market today. These low-cost ultraportable laptops generally have very similar features and many even look virtually identical. That said, it's never easy to overlook the latest Eee PC from ASUS. The Eee PC 1005HA Seashell is the newest netbook from ASUS that promises to deliver the perfect balance between lightweight style and functionality. Let's take a closer look.

Our ASUS Eee PC 1005HA Seashell features the following specifications:

• Operating System: Genuine Windows XP
• Processor: Intel Atom N280 Processor 1.66GHz (667MHz FSB)
• Memory: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM (667MHz)
• Internal Storage: 160GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD plus 10GB Eee Online Storage
• Display: 10.1-inch diagonal WSVGA+ (1024x600)
• Graphics: Intel GMA 950
• Wireless: Broadcom 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Expansion: 4-in-1 media card slot
• Ports and connectors: (3) USB 2.0 ports, VGA OUT, power connector, RJ-45/Ethernet (Gigabit), stereo headphone/line out, stereo microphone in, 1.3 megapixel webcam
• Dimensions (H x W x D): 0.89-1.40 x 10.2 x 6.9 inches (including feet)
• Weight: 2.8 lbs (not including weight of AC adapter).
• Power: 6-cell Lithium-Ion battery (5600mAh, 63Wh)
• Warranty: One-year standard warranty
• MSRP: $389.99

Build and Design
The Eee PC 1005HA is a lower-cost version of the 1008HA Seashell and features a similar clamshell chassis design but is a little thicker and comes with a removable battery. Unlike the 1008HA, which had plastic covers over every port, all of the ports on the 1005HA are easily accessible so you won't have to struggle to plug in a USB flash drive. The 1005HA also isn't as thin as the 1008HA Seashell, but the 1005HA makes up for extra bulk with a high-capacity removable battery.

If you look at the top of the 1005HA it's easy to see the "Seashell" heritage, and thankfully it manages to retain some solid build quality for a budget netbook. The glossy black plastics aren't prone to flex and the keyboard is very firm ... two things you usually don't see on budget notebooks. The various parts of the chassis come together with tight build tolerances like a higher-priced laptop. This isn't the most rugged netbook we've ever seen, but ASUS gave the 1005HA a pretty solid build for less than $400.

One nice improvement on this netbook compared to the last Seashell is the return of an easy-access RAM cover. If you want to upgrade the RAM in your 1005HA all you have to do is remove one screw on the access panel on the bottom of the netbook. I would have also liked to see an easy-access panel for the hard drive, but most netbook buyers aren't going to mess with the hard drive.

Screen
The new Eee PC 1005HA Seashell uses a fairly standard LED-backlit display panel with a 1024x600 native resolution. The glossy screen looks identical to what we saw in the 1008HA: the glossy screen offers good color and contrast, but glare and reflections indoors under strong lights or outdoors under direct sunlight can be a problem. Again, although the 1024x600 resolution is pretty standard for a netbook these days, I'd much rather see a 1366x768 screen in the next Eee PC. Vertical viewing angles are average, with minimal color distortion when viewing from below and some over-exposed colors when viewed from above. Horizontal viewing angles are better with colors staying accurate at extremely wide viewing angles with just a little bit of color wash out.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The 1005HA Seashell uses the same 92% of full size keyboard first seen on the 1008HA Seashell. The keys are slightly smaller than the keys on an average notebook but the spacing between the keys is quite limited. If you prefer the shape and feel of traditional keys then you'll probably like the new keyboard. That said, I personally prefer the "chicklet" style keyboard used on the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE since there is more space between the keys to prevent me from accidentally hitting the wrong key. Still, the keyboard on this netbook is quite usable and should be perfectly fine for typing quick emails or editing documents while traveling.

The Synaptics touchpad used on the 1005HA is likewise identical to the gesture-enabled model on the 1008HA. This allows you to use multi-figure gestures such as "pinching" your fingers together or "pulling" your fingers apart to zoom in or out. You can also use a "three-finger tap" as an alternative to a right click on a mouse. The Synaptics control panel in Windows also allows you to customize these gestures as well. The touchpad surface is covered in dots that provide a clear indication of the edges of the touchpad, but this also makes the touchpad surface too rough for quick finger movement. The left and right touchpad buttons are located beneath a single rocker-style button, but with no separation between the left and right side it's easy to accidentally press the middle of the touchpad button when you're trying to press the left or right side. The touchpad buttons have extremely shallow feedback, so it isn't always easy to feel when you have or have not pressed a button.

The 1005HA lacks a dedicated wireless on/off switch, but ASUS did include a dedicated touchpad on/off button as well as FN keyboard shortcuts for wireless, screen brightness, video output, volume, and Windows task manager.

Input and Output Ports
The 1005HA provides a few more ports than the 1008HA. Namely, you get three USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 media card reader, headphone and microphone jacks, Ethernet port, and the return of a standard VGA out port. The 1005HA lacks the protective port covers seen on the 1008HA, but I personally don't like protective covers since I have to move them to use the ports.

Here is a quick tour around the Eee PC 1005HA:

Front view: No ports here, just clean lines and indicator lights.

Rear view: No ports here either, just the hinges and battery.

Left side view: Power jack, VGA out, USB 2.0 port, security lock slot, and heat vent.

Right side view: 4-in-1 card reader, headphone jack, microphone jack, two USB 2.0 ports, and Ethernet.

The 1005HA is also the first Eee PC to offer a software "dock" on the desktop that ASUS calls "Eee Docking software." In much the same way that the Apple OS X dock or ObjectDock from Stardock software allow you to use quick shortcuts to utilities and applicatiosn, the Eee Docking software provides an easy way to locate utilities, software and digital content. It consists of the following: Eee Vibe (music/media application and Eee download website), Sharing (Data sync, messenger, and Eee Storage), Xperience (Voice Command) and Tools (Parental Control, Font resizer, and Settings), and all of these suites are easily accessed as the software “docks” to the top of the screen and is semi-hidden when not in use.

Performance and Benchmarks
I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's difficult to get excited about the benchmarking a netbook since most netbook have virtually identical specs. If you've read our reviews of other netbooks that use the Intel Atom processors then you know that all Atom-based netbooks have nearly identical performance in terms of actual real-world use. Overall performance with the Intel Atom platform is very reasonable for daily activities like Web browsing, email, using Microsoft Office, listening to music, and even watching movies. If you're in a bind you can even use Photo Editing Software like Photoshop or GIMP for basic image editing.

On a positive note, ASUS includes a proprietary overclocking application on the 1005HA called the "Super Hybrid Engine" that allows you to cycle through pre-set power profiles to maximize battery life by underclocking the processor, keep the processor at stock speed or slightly overclock the processor (from 1.66GHz to 1.70GHz).

Unfortunately, there's only so much anyone can do with Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics. This integrated graphics processor (IGP) is powerful enough to handle displaying a PowerPoint presentation on a projector or watching DVD quality movies, but if 720p and 1080p video playback is your primary concern then you'll want to look elsewhere. That said, ASUS managed to squeeze some pretty solid benchmark numbers out of the Intel graphics in the 1005HA.

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240 seconds
HP Pavilion dv2 (AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 @ 1.60GHz)	103.521 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)	114.749 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)	116.030 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz)	116.421 seconds
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz)	123.281 seconds
Acer Aspire One (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)	125.812 seconds
Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (2009) (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)	126.406 seconds
Samsung NC20 (VIA Nano ULV U2250 @ 1.30GHz)	173.968 seconds

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Sony VAIO TZ (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950)	2,446 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv2 (1.60GHz AMD Athlon Neo, ATI Radeon HD 3410 512MB)	2,191 PCMarks
ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, NVIDIA 9300M 256MB)	1,851 PCMarks
Toshiba Portege R500 (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950)	1,839 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	1,637 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	1,564 PCMarks
Acer Aspire One (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)	1,555 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	1,535 PCMarks
Samsung NC20 (1.30GHz VIA Nano ULV U2250, VIA Chrome9 HC3)	1,441 PCMarks
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GM1 950)	1,437 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results against netbooks @ 1024 x 768 resolution:

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
HP Pavilion dv2 (1.60GHz AMD Athlon Neo, ATI Radeon HD 3410 512MB)	1,520 3DMarks
ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, NVIDIA 9300M 256MB)	1,417 3DMarks
Samsung NC20 (1.30GHz VIA Nano ULV U2250, VIA Chrome9 HC3)	151 3DMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1005HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	127 3DMarks
Acer Aspire One (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)	122 3DMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	116 3DMarks
HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GM1 950)	112 3DMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950)	92 3DMarks
Sony VAIO P (1.33GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 500, Windows Vista)	88 3DMarks

HDTune for the built-in hard drive:

Audio
The built-in speaker performance on the Eee PC 1005HA is pretty good for a 10-inch netbook. I'm not a fan of the location of the built-in speakers since they're located on the bottom front edge of the 1005HA, but the audio quality is better than what we typically hear from netbook speakers. The speakers produce good volume (enough to fill a small room) and there is minimal distortion even at higher volume levels. The speakers lack much bass, but the range of highs and midtones are fine. Still, the audio output from the headphone jack is free of any obvious distortion and is a better solutiuon when paired with earphones or a good set of external speakers.

Heat and Noise
Temperatures on the new Eee PC Seashell are in line with what we've come to expect from netbooks with Intel Atom processors. Temperature readings taken from the outside of the plastic chassis remained "lap friendly" during normal use. The only time that temperature readings spiked was when I connected the netbook to an external display.

Below are images indicating the temperature readings (listed in degrees Fahrenheit) taken inside our office where the ambient temperature was 74 degrees Fahrenheit.

Battery
ASUS claims that the 1005HA provides "all-day computing" with up to 10.5 hours of battery life on a single charge. As difficult as that might be to believe, it's not completely out of the question. In our test with the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and XP set to the laptop/portable power profile the system stayed on for 9 hours and 37 minutes of constant use. If we turned down the screen brightness even more, disabled Wi-Fi, and allowed the netbook to occasionally go into sleep mode then I'm quite certain the 1005HA could have exceeded 11 hours of battery life!

Conclusion
The new ASUS Eee PC 1005HA Seashell might seem like "just another Eee PC" at first glance, but upon closer examination it's clear that ASUS has refined their popular line of netbooks with every variation. The Eee PC 1005A is one of the best eveolutions of the Eee PC line so far.

Yes, on paper there's not much to get excited about with the latest Eee PC since it features the same processor, integrated graphics, and standard 10-inch display seen in almost every netbook, but in this case the whole may indeed be greater than the sum of its parts.

I'd still like to see a higher resolution screen, different graphics solution, and better touchpad buttons in this netbook, but overall there are plenty of reasons to like the latest Eee PC. If you're in the market for a $400 netbook then this is worth your consideration.

Pros:

• Nice build quality
• Excellent battery life
• Good port layout ... for a netbook

Cons:

• Thick for a modern netbook
• Still uses weak integrated graphics
• Bad touchpad buttons

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