Review by J. Welch for ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – 10.5 Hour Battery Life
Rating:
There are three US versions of the Asus 1005HA:

- Best Buy offers the 1005HA-B for $299 (plus tax). It features the N270 (1.6GHz 533FSB) cpu, glossy display, 3-Cell 23Wh Li-ion Battery (4 hrs), and a 1.3MP webcam. Excluded are the Bluetooth module, 10GB online Eee storage, and netbook sleeve. This is obviously the “Basic” model. I was able to demo this unit at Best Buy on June 27th, and IMO you are giving up quite a bit for the ~$60 savings over the ‘P’ model. Not to mention that as of now Asus will not sell you a spare 3 or 6-cell Li-Ion battery.

- The 1005HA-V is in the middle of the bunch and the only one with a matte display. Those that frequently work outdoors or despise reflections will appreciate the matted display. It also features a N270 cpu, 6-cell 48Wh Li-ion Battery (8.5 hrs), 0.3MP webcam (according to Amazon specs, but it may in fact be 1.3MP), no Bluetooth, and absent again is the netbook sleeve.

- So in a nutshell (or would that be seashell?) the 1005HA-P offers the faster N280 cpu, glossy display, 1.3MP webcam, 6-Cell 63Wh Li-ion Battery with a whopping 10.5 hrs run time, Bluetooth v2.1, and a black netbook sleeve. Realistic battery numbers are between 8.5-9hrs. of battery life if you’re using wifi & doing email/word processing/YouTube/web surfing.

The glossy LED display offers excellent color and contrast when used indoors. I was also pleasantly surprised with the excellent horizontal viewing angles. Keep in mind that once you get in a room full of light or step outdoors screen reflections could become annoying. I’ve used mine outside on a sunny day, and the screen is still very much legible. In fact it was much more detailed than the matte screen on my Dell D600.

All three units come with the Digital Array Mic which consists of two powerful microphones. Ambient background noises are eliminated, as well as reduced echoes for clearer voice recording. What’s more, with only direct sound (within 60°) recorded, you’ll obtain better voice capture. I’ve tested the mic with Skype, and it’s loud and clear once you fine tune using the Realtek HD Audio manager. All models also include a WiFi 802.11 b/g/n adapter and 160GB 5400RPM hard drive. My 1005HA-P contains a Hitachi HTS543216L9SA00 hard drive and Atheros AR9285 wifi card. Atheros chipsets are known for excellent range and are typically less prone to connection drops. I’d like to point out that the AR9285 is only capable of 150Mbps.

All three variations of the 1005HA ship with 1GB DDR2 800MHz memory. The good news is that you can remove the memory door on the bottom of the chassis and swap it out for a 2GB DDR2 200-pin SODIMM in under 2 minutes. Anytime you install new memory I’d recommend running a Prime95 “Blend” torture test for 12-24 hrs to make sure your system is stable. The Eee Super Hybrid Engine utility lets users overclock or underclock their Eee PC’s to boost performance or provide better battery life depending on their immediate requirements. In Super Performance mode CPU-Z shows the bus speed to increase up to 169.9MHz which translates into roughly 1.7GHz. One way to quickly change modes is to press Fn + spacebar.

One word of advice is to be really careful about which anti-malware software you install since it will degrade performance both on and off the internet on these netbooks. Whatever you elect to install I would highly recommend you benchmark the performance both before and after. In regards to free anti-viruses that run light I would tip my hat to Antivir (nag screen can be disabled by searching Google) and Panda Cloud. For pay versions Norton 2010 & NOD32 should be considered.

One minor annoyance is that the display will not tilt back as far as some people may like. The glossy chassis is also a fingerprint magnet. A few other things I’d like to point out is that you must push the micro-sized right angle end of the ac adapter until it snaps in place or the battery may not charge. In addition the ac adapter does get quite hot while it is actively charging the battery, which Asus clearly mentions in the user manual, so one should not be alarmed over the heat output. The final quirk is that the hard drive is split into two 80GB (before formatting) partitions. Fortunately this can be resolved by using Easeus Partition Master Home which is a free utility.

Overall I am extremely satisfied with the 1005HA-P, and it is arguably the finest 10″ netbook on the market. Keep in mind that if you want a White or Pink shell you’ll be limited to the ‘B’ or ‘V’ models. Asus has already released the two aforementioned colors in Europe & Asia, so hopefully by the end of 2009 we’ll get them as an option on the ‘P’ model. Be sure to check out the Amazon community forum for this product located towards the bottom of this page if you require additional enlightenment. You’ll find a lot of tips, tricks, and general FAQ’s.

Review by Richard L. Steiner for ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – 10.5 Hour Battery Life
Rating:
I honestly don’t know where to start with this review of the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BU netbook that I bought. I have read all 152 previous reviews on Amazon.com and a whole bunch of others that I found on computer oriented Internet sites. The four and five star ratings far outnumbered the negative ones, but it was the couple of dozen unenthusiastic reviews that scared the heck out of me. I delayed ordering the computer because of the horror stories of bad batteries, faulty chargers and blue screen crashes.

Eventually, I noticed that most of these critical reviews referred to the battery or to the charging brick and most of those were describing what could have easily been mistakes made by the owners of the machine. They didn’t attach the power cord properly or the charging time was too short and some didn’t seem to understand how to determine when the battery was fully charged. Some complainers faulted the battery life, but didn’t take into account what was running or turned on when using the computer. The battery is drained more quickly when the computer is operating with all rockets running. In other words, when I subtracted the operator associated problems or misconceptions from the difficulty with the Asus hardware there were only a few legitimate complaints about the machine. In reading reviews of other machines it was obvious that they had their share of detractors too. One gripe I can verify is how the Asus Eee PC lid is a fingerprint magnet. It really is.

I researched about all of the netbooks on the market today (Acer, HP, Toshiba, Dell, Samsung and of course the Asus Eee PC line. Having purchased one of the first Eee mini-laptops (the 7 inch 701 with a Linux operating system) when they first came out I have been impressed with the quality and dependability of the Asus product. I suppose that is one reason why I kept gravitating to the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BU as I explored the reviews for other brands–in spite of the warnings about unworkable battery chargers and inoperative batteries I bought the Asus Eee PC.

Frankly after exploring the field, I concluded that most of the netbooks for sale today are not all that much different in features, price or even quality. They all have built-in cameras, 10.1 inch screens, Windows XP operating systems, a plethora of USB ports, a card reader, WiFi and most have a few color choices. The main difference is probably the ten hour battery that is unique and ships with the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BU. All of the other netbooks had three or six hour batteries on board. I wanted the netbook to use on long airplane flights so the long life battery was a real plus for me. I also liked the idea of being able to restore the computer with an fn-key instead of relying on a CD to come out of hiding in case of big trouble. The Asus Eee PC is sleek and that big battery doesn’t stick out on the back edge like the other netbook high capacity batteries do. The `P’ model of the Asus Eee PC has Bluetooth built in and a nice cushy zippered sleeve to protect it while traveling.

I have been using my Asus Eee PC 1005HA just as it came out of the box–no memory upgrade, no Windows 7 and no additional software. I find it just about perfect the way it is. You should understand that this is not a full featured laptop squeezed into a smaller and manageable size. The keyboards are 92% the size of those found on a standard computer and the machines run a little hot. Those 10.1 inch screens are a bit cramped if several toolbars have been turned on. The main thing you might miss on the netbooks is a CD/DVD drive. There ain’t one. However, an external CD/DVD drive can be purchased for about $65. Anyhow, a netbook is meant to be a small back to basics mini-computer for word processing, e-mail, Web surfing and other fundamental computing, but don’t expect to play a lot of high end games or edit photographs on it. Once you see a netbook in your future, the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BU is worth a look.

OK, here is my feeling about the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BU after two weeks of use: I like it a lot; the battery and charger problems I feared so much have not materialized. I am satisfied with my choice and recommend the machine over all of the others I researched. If something really bad happens to my new Asus Eee PC as I use it longer, I will edit this review and let you know about it. I am still a little worried about that battery thing.

P.S. I used a thin coating of guitar polish/wax buffed onto the lid and the finger print problem was diminished considerably.

FOLLOW-UP:

I thought it is about time to update my earlier review of the Asus Eee PC 1005HA netbook. I may have left you with some question about the battery and charging system–I am sorry about that. I no longer have any qualms about batteries or chargers. After almost two months of using my new Eee PC 1005HA I can report no problem with the battery, bringing the battery to a full charge (realistically about 9 ½ hours) or the charging brick itself. Flawless is a word that comes to mind.

While I am at it, I might as well report complete satisfaction with the Eee PC 1005HA build. It is a well made netbook and everything fits and works. It is sleek and solid. It is a little bit on the heavy side, but I don’t have a problem with that. The keyboard is large enough to accommodate touch typing with ease. The machine boots up quickly. It has plenty of memory (1 GB) on board for how I use it–e-mail, web surfing and word processing with the Microsoft WORKS program which is included.

The Windows XP operating system has functioned perfectly. I set up my home network WiFi connection with the netbook easily, quickly and effectively. The Bluetooth feature worked very well too. Some of the Asus special on screen controls, update and expand features built into the machine have not been all that useful and some border on being advertisements for buying Asus stuff. Those things are not obtrusive and can be easily ignored.

I have added the ASUS USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive to my little machine, but have not really used it very much. I got it just in case I wanted to add some software to my netbook or perhaps store some data on disks. Frankly, making that rather spendy purchase for “just in case” reasons is probably rather silly, but I did it anyhow.

The Asus Eee PC 1005HA remains a fingerprint magnet in spite of my occasional clean up with guitar polish. I guess having to live with some smudges on the shiny lid is not a big deal.

I still recommend the Asus Eee PC 1005HA after using it for awhile. I am convinced that this netbook is the best one on the market today.

Update some more:

I just solved the fingerprint problem that exists with the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA shiny surface lid. And at the same time, added a layer of protection for the machine.

I bought and installed an mCover® CLEAR Hard Shell Sleeve Carrying Case for the Asus Eee PC 1005 Series Netbook. I acquired the mCover hard shell from Amazon.com for about $15 as protection for my netbook while traveling. When I got the shell attached (a simple process) I immediately noticed the lid no longer picked up fingerprints. The plastic shell simply does not show prints and the appearance of the netbook is not changed very much. It is just like adding a second skin.

Update even more:

My face is really red today. The mCover shell I bragged about turned out to be a loser–not a winner. The bottom half of the shell became impossible to install and usless when one of the attachment tabs broke off. I am very sorry about recommending that plastic sleeve. I still have the top part of the mCover on my Eee PC, but the bottom section went in the trash. By the way, my ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BU Netbook is still the best there is. I continue to like it a lot.

Review by O. Chang for ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – 10.5 Hour Battery Life
Rating:
I just got my unit yesterday and spent a lot of time enjoying its sleek functionality. The only thing that did not work was the input microphones. After spending time with Asus’ customer service department, they confirmed my suspicion that it was a hardware issue. My choices were to send the unit to them for repair or replacement, (their choice,) or to call Amazon. I was so pleased with Amazon’s answer to the problem. I used the automated phone call system. The moment I clicked the “Call me” button, my phone rang, and I was immediately connected to someone who resolved the issue by sending out a new unit and a prepaid mailing label to return my defective unit. That’s how it should be done, and I highly recommend making purchases from Amazon for that reason.