We were very lucky to get our Asus Eee PC 1000H today from Clove Technology. The version we have here in the Geekanoids office is a 10-inch Windows XP version, with 1GB RAM and an 80GB hard drive. Having only just unboxed the tiny wonder and played with it for around one hour, this is by no means a full review, rather a first impressions.
See the gallery at the end of this review.
Firstly, the accessories you get in the box make it seem a lot better value than other offerings. The stumpy, yet high capacity battery should yield much longer runtimes than the 3-cell batteries shipping with other netbooks. You also get a nice little manual, a polishing cloth, Support CD and MS Works 9.0 licence. There is also a slip case, which is functional and means you can get out-and-about with your Eee very quickly.
The 1000H unit is very very sexy. Our model is in black and it has a very high gloss finish. It looks as thought it'll really be a fingerprint magnet, but this does not seem to be the case. Touching the outer lid leaves no traces of smudges, which is a good sign. On first switch on, you get a feel for how the screen delivers a nice bright picture. It is not quite as bright as the Advent 4211 (MSI Wind), but it is bright enough, giving a just slightly off-white look (only very slightly) at its brightest setting. The keyboard is nicer than the Advent, it is better spaced, and you have a little room at the edges, so I like it a lot more. The feel of the keys is nicer too, giving a nice amount of travel and a very positive feel.
Where the 1000H really wins my vote is the trackpad. It is a proper size and offers multi-touch, so you can do the two finger scrolling that makes navigating web pages and your other windows just so much easier. Yes, I know that this unit is an extra £70 over the Advent, but it does come in at almost the same price as the official MSI Wind. I think that the extra price is more than justified. It feels more solid, more like a real laptop and like I said, you will love the trackpad and the keyboard. When you think that those two features are the most used on any laptop, the Eee PC 1000H is certainly a very wise choice. Don't ride the 'wind', fly higher on the Eee.
