The good: Intel Atom CPU; 10.2-inch screen; keyboard.

The bad: Weight; lack of 3G.

The bottom line: The Eee PC 1000H is a fabulous machine. It precariously straddles the line between Netbook and ultraportable, but it's well-equipped, well-designed and great for those who need a laptop on the move.

Read full review of the Asus Eee PC 1000H »

By Rory Reid, CNET.co.uk
Jul 14, 2008

The wait is finally over for the Eee PC 1000H, a laptop that promises to slay all that enters into the Netbook arena. It's the most well-equipped--and largest--in the Eee series and has cast aside the usability shackles of its diminutive predecessors.

It's available in two flavors: A Windows XP model with a harddisk for S$888 (US$639.40) and an SSD Linux model, each of which has a slightly different specification. Could this be the perfect balance between portability and function? Or has Asus lost its way on the path to Netbook nirvana?

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com.uk. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

The Eee PC 1000H has much in common with the Eee PC 901. It's got the same shiny, metallic hinges and a curvy-edged lid. Currently, it's available in only one colour--glossy black--but we'd be surprised if Asus doesn't release a white version and other subsequent hues in the near future.

The Eee PC 1000H is the largest mini laptop we've come across. Its 225 x 170 x 20mm chassis is a few millimeters wider and deeper than an MSI Wind, but we don't have too much of an issue with this; it's still very portable. What we do have a problem with is the Eee PC 1000H's weight--1.45kg with the standard 6,600mAh battery. Even without the battery, it tips the scales at nearly 1.1kg, which is what the MSI Wind weighs with its standard 2,200mAh power cell. To say Asus has screwed up in this area would be an understatement.

The extra weight and larger than normal size places the Eee PC 1000H in unusual territory. It's no longer a Netbook, in our opinion, but is more like an ultraportable laptop in the same vein as a Sony Vaio TZ series. There's nothing wrong with this, per se--ultraportables typically cost well over S$2,500 (US$1,800.12)--but Eee PC purists may cry foul.

One thing the purists can't complain about is the 1000H's usability. It's the easiest to use on a daily basis of all the Eee PCs and its assorted rivals. The keyboard in particular is wonderful. Sure, our review sample felt clunky, but Asus says it'll iron this out for final machines. The right shift key is way too small at the expense of full-size cursor keys, but aside from this it's the best keyboard on any machine in its category.

The mouse trackpad is fantastic. Unlike its rivals, it supports multi-touch gesture inputs, so you can stroke two fingers vertically or horizontally to scroll through documents or use a pinch or stretching motion to zoom in and out of photos. This feature is perfect in a machine for which its primary use is surfing the Internet. It just makes life so much easier.

The rest of the chassis is basically identical to the Eee PC 901. On the left side, there's an Ethernet port, a single USB port, plus mic and headphone ports. On the right, there are two additional USB ports, an SD card reader and a VGA output port.

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