Asus Eee PC 1001P: Our Favorite Netbook
by Vivek Gowri on March 16, 2010 11:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Asus Eee 1001P: Conclusion
The Asus Eee 1001P is an interesting product in that it seems to undermine the bread and butter of the Eee lineup—the 1005PE. The 1001P uses the same 1005 chassis, has identical hardware specs, a matte textured case that doesn't pick up fingerprints, and a better non-reflective display, all while costing significantly less. The only thing the 1001P gives up is a few hours of battery life. So what's the point of the 1005PE? Only Asus can answer that, though some users do prefer glossy screens and casing.
But beyond the 1001P's somewhat perplexing place in the Eee lineup, it's just a netbook. A well built and attractively styled netbook with a great LCD, good battery life, no major design flaws, and few minor faults, but a netbook nonetheless, and as with so many other netbook reviews, the main takeaway remains. They're the smallest, lightest, and cheapest portable computers that money can buy, but they're also dog slow and not particularly enjoyable to use.
If you're looking for a netbook, there is nothing to stop me from recommending the Eee 1001P, as it is a solid competitor on the netbook playing field. It definitely has its merits as a stylish and ultraportable mobile companion, and the display is really a high point of the design, due to the matte finish and good contrast ratio. At $329, it costs significantly less than the 1005PE and other Pine Trail netbooks like the HP Mini 210 and Toshiba NB305 while offering identical specs and a very similar user experience. Evaluated as a netbook and against other netbooks, the 1001P is one of the better all around values on the market.
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With the Eee PC 1001P, ASUS has earned another Editors' Choice award, and like the ASUS N61Jv it's a Silver Award. There are two reasons it doesn't earn Gold. First is the lack of HD video decoding support; watching YouTube and Hulu is a common enough task that we feel a Gold-level netbook needs better video decoding performance. The other reason isn't quite as critical, but we would prefer Windows 7 Home Premium over Win7 Starter—the inability to customize the desktop background in Starter is just silly. Can anyone get all that into a $330 netbook? Perhaps not, but it's what we want to see.
The final caveat is that you need to stop and ask yourself: do you want a netbook, or do you want to pay ~$100 more for an 11.6" CULV machine like the Acer Aspire 1410 or Gateway EC14? If your only concerns are price, size and battery life with no regards to performance, a netbook will do the job. With over twice the computing power, a much more livable WXGA screen resolution, 802.11n/Gigabit Ethernet, and not much in the way of a size, weight, or battery life penalty, it's hard not to recommend going the CULV route.
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hotbunz - Friday, March 26, 2010 - link
This looks really nice. Hope I win, could use this for school!afkrotch - Tuesday, March 23, 2010 - link
My netbook is mostly just a PMP. I'm just watching my tv on it.EddyKilowatt - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link
Thanks for the review, appreciate your comments about the superiority of the matte screen.Now, could I get you to also direct some journalistic ire toward another fashion-driven faux pas: those filled-out flush-fitting keys on the keyboard! Completely unnecessary, and twice as difficult to keep your fingers aligned by touch, as a practical keyboard with a decent 5mm gap between the key crowns.
My HP2140 is plagued with a similar keyboard design and I can't see any reason for it. It saddens me to see decades of progress (in functional keyboard design) thrown out, apparently for nothing more than a stylish look. Let's keep the style on the outside of the computer, and the functionality on the inside!
AnnonymousCoward - Friday, March 19, 2010 - link
That's a great point, and one I haven't thought of before.Stokestack - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link
Come on. It's time to put VGA to rest.The0ne - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link
So by saying favorite you like the netbook right? I was under the impression, and Anand confirmed this in his ipad review, that no one like any netbook and tablet PCs.Maybe semantics is different by whom is using it?
ric3r - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link
It means that it's the best netbook on the market. Netbooks are netbooks, they're not a particularly enjoyable class of devices to work with, but if you were looking to get one, this is our favorite of the lot and thus we recommend it.I'm pretty sure you can find people out there who like netbooks and tablets. While I'm not the hugest fan of netbooks, they definitely have their place in the market. I do genuinely enjoy tablet PCs though, so I hope I can do some tablet reviews in the future :)
MamiyaOtaru - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link
the first eee I would consider buying since the 900 (though I do miss the dearly departed 9" form factor). Thanks Asus for offering at least one option with matte case as well as the even more important matte screen.I'd get this and slap Easy Mode for XP on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyMn92mQSns">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyMn92mQSns
Jellodyne - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link
HDMI is certainly capable of sending a high def signal, but it's also just as capable of pushing 480p to a TV set. So it's not like an HDMI would be a pointless port.SSquirrel - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link
I'd be curious to see what kind of numbers the 1005PE and 1001P produce if you replace Windows 7 Starter with Home Premium. People have reported that the extra accelerations in Aero have actually extended their battery life. Drop some of the excess crap from Aero but let the accelerations function.