Aidan Gauland wrote, On 07/04/10 09:13:
I have a birthday coming up, and up for grabs is a netbook. I have heard good
things about the Eee PC family from CLUGers a while ago, so I would like to
hear any opinions on this model in particular:
<http://www.enetcomputers.co.nz/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ASUS103>. (For
the impatient and those confined by an over-restrictive firewall, it is listed
as an "Asus EeePC 1005HA"). Any recommendations of or opinions on other
models or families would be welcome, as well.
I've got a 901, which is fantastic. But it has some drawbacks.
* Keyboard is small - its not a desktop replacement.
* Screen is fine, but some apps can put themselves (and their OK
buttons) below the bottom of the screen. Not as much of a problem as it
used to be with the 800x480 screens on the 700 models
* CPU is "adequate" but its not a desktop replacement.
* Battery life is great - five hours, more if its intermittent.
* Wireless Aerial is great - I see way more SSIDs on the eee than I do
on other laptops. Never tested the N wireless though.
* Webcam is kinda useless - never had a purpose for it other than playing.
* Bluetooth to a bunch of cell phones etc works nicely.
I still end up carrying a mouse with a shortened USB cable. The
touchpad is better than a 700, but its not stunning.
The provided foam pouch is fine, and the PSUs are nicely small.
One niggle - I swear mine reported a gigabit PCIe wired ethernet card.
Then I did a BIOS upgrade and it reverted to 100 Mbit.
I'd suggest the Solid State version for durability. I've got 4+8 GB
onboard and a 16 GB SDHC card for stuff permanently in the slot.
I dual boot XP and linux depending on the task at hand.
Debian works fine for me with all hardware.
Slightly bigger keyboard would make it fantastic - go for it.
--
Craig Falconer
