Asus Eee PC 1001P: Our Favorite Netbook

by Vivek Gowri on 3/16/2010 11:30 PM EST
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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.
  • mczak - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Conclusion says the only thing you give up over 1005pe is battery life. I think in this time and age, not having n-wireless is a fairly big omission too. Maybe not quite a deal breaker, but I'd consider that an important distinction between the two (maybe even more so than the battery life difference).
    I'm wondering though if we'll see most netbooks switch to the N470. Not exactly a performance demon neither, but every little bit helps...
  • ric3r - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    It's purely a cost thing, and honestly, so many public hotspots are still on g (or b) wireless that it's not really a necessity to have -n wireless. Yeah, it's nice to have, but not essential.

    As for the N470, yeah, we'll see. I haven't noticed any difference speed-wise between the N270, 280, and 450, but the N470 does offer a comparatively substantial speed bump so maybe it'll do better.
  • heulenwolf - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Agree, I'm tired of the G-only devices holding up my N-network at home. Even the Nexus One found a way to put N-networking in the device. I guess it comes down to cost, though. A part costing $x more on an unsubsidized device tends to lead to a retail price $3x more. I don't think the mass market wants a netbook when the price creeps near $400. So, perhaps the G-only networking was a cost-cutting measure to keep the price well out of the range where people could even round up to $400.
  • mucker365 - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    > I'm tired of the G-only devices holding up my N-network at home

    Holding up, how? Do you have an internet connection with better throughput or latency than wifi g?
  • Veerappan - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link

    He could be referring to inter-computer transfers, such as streaming videos off of a NAS via wireless. I've had issues in the past with collisions on a 802.11G network impacting playback performance of HD video streamed from another computer on the network.

    I'd also love to do a NAS setup with my Linux boxes where there is a network-mounted home directory, but as it is the wireless speed of 54mbit/s (when I'm lucky, more often it's in the 30mbit range) makes that impractical.

    It's also very possible that he is being held back by his router in his network speed. My FiOS connection at home has been clocked by DSL Reports at 25mbit/s down and 18.5mbit/s up (this has been echoed by real-world transfer speeds). Add those upload/download figures together, add in collision reset times, and 54Mbit/s could actually be a limiting factor.
  • Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    I had the chance to play with a netbook with the same specs as this. I was impressed until I put it in sleep mode. I put my ear up to the vent and noticed that the fan was still running. It never shut off. I tried waking it up but it never came back on. Apparently during the process of closing the netbook lid (which puts it to sleep), I must have caused a hard drive I/O error which locked up the netbook. So it never suspended and the fan never shut off.

    What a joke. It had to be the hard drive. The hard drives in these things are nothing more than cheap garbage. You know it, I know it, everybody knows it. Anandtech ought to be ashamed of themselves for recommending such garbage. Even the smallest, crappiest SSD is better than crap that breaks on a dime. I dont care what any of these morons say, do NOT trust a netbook hard drive any further than you can throw it.
  • strikeback03 - Friday, March 19, 2010 - link

    So you write off the entire category because one example of one design had an issue?
  • JonB - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    You would think a nice, solid state hard drive would be problem free, but it sure wasn't for me. I have replaced the failed 8GB Intel SSD with a cheaper and faster 16GB SuperTalent. This was an Acer AspireOne, though, not the Asus series.

    When an SSD fails, apparently it just goes away. No warning, no chance of recovery.

    Hard drives, even cheap hard drives, usually give some warning.
  • mckirkus - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    I wasn't aware that Intel made 8GB SSDs. The new generation are around $100, 5x larger, and are rock solid. In fact, some say they're better at dealing with failures than the rotating variety.

    I'd rather have a super fast 40GB SSD in one of these things than a 250GB spinning disaster waiting to happen.

    8 & 16 GB SSDs are really old tech.
  • JonB - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Both the 8GB and 16GB SSDs are literally the size of a credit card and barely thicker. A short ZIF ribbon cable connection to the motherboard.

    My AspireOne is running a slightly modified Linpus so needs very little room and I store everything of value on SD cards. My netbook is not a desktop replacement in any way; more like a huge smartphone.
  • Taft12 - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Has anyone made a netbook since the Dell Mini 9 (owned and loved by me) that has no moving parts?

    This should be a design decision netbook makers should strive for, but I don't even know if anyone has even managed this feat since Dell did 1.5 years ago.
  • tlbj6142 - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    "Honestly, I would rather have XP on a netbook—any netbook. Win7 Starter is annoying and unsightly when compared to the "full" version of Win7 Home Premium and shouldn't exist in any corner of the market with its lack of Aero and the ridiculousness of a fixed desktop background."

    Why does this bother so many people? With a 10" screen do you ever even see your background? I know on my 15" laptop, I never do.

    Areo has a couple of nice features (alt-tab layered look), but most are annoying. Especially the blurry "see through" window borders.

    The real advantage Win7 has over XP is readyboost support. A $20 USB makes a world of difference in performance. Even on a 64-bit dual-core machine with 4G of ram.
  • straubs - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    I find the very suggestion that "memory over USB" is somehow faster than extremely fast DDR3 memory connected directly to the motherboard to be completely preposterous.
  • SunSamurai - Tuesday, March 23, 2010 - link

    That is completely preposterous, so its a good thing no one in their right mind ever suggested that.

    Replace DDR3 with Hard Drive and thats what its for. It's suppose to supplement the hard drive to provide less thrashing the pagefile.

    Its still crap, and all it is is a buzzword selling point for dbag sales people in the tech department to toss around at consumers. Its almost as bad at them adding dual-core Ghz speeds together to come up with 5Ghz when really selling a 2.5Ghz chip.

    Toss these people in jail or fine them please!
  • nubie - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    I think you completely misunderstood the point of readyboost.

    Flash ram has much lower latency than any physical medium (IE spinning disk)

    Thus if you intelligently cache the OS and some apps to Flash you can mask HDD latency, and probably improve on hard disk caching by allowing flash cache.

    Hard drive latencies have a large effect on lag issues in a low-ram computer.
  • strikeback03 - Friday, March 19, 2010 - link

    Suppose that is a good point, has anyone tested Readyboost in Win7 to see if it is useful yet? I can't, I run Windows off an X25-M so I'm sure it is faster than a flash drive
  • Taft12 - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    What bothers people is the unnecessary crippling and step backwards from the "antiquated" Windows XP. We should be moving forward, not backwards.

    Also, Readyboost was shown to provide almost no benefit except in contrived benchmarks back in the Vista days and I doubt things have changed since.
  • mschira - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    I am not giving away my eee 1000h,
    It has a nice factory build in button to overclock to 1.8Ghz - effectively the fastest Atom CPU around, and boy it needs every single Hz it can get.
    Asus overclocks the CULV platform, why not Pineview?
    2Ghz? where are you?
    M.
  • synaesthetic - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Using ASRock's OCTuner utility, I've seen people overclock the HP Mini 311 (N270, nvidia ION) to 2.4GHz stable without a serious impact on battery life (lose one hour at most).

    I still haven't seen anything to make me want any other netbook more than the HP Mini 311, purely due to the presence of ION and the ability to increase clock speed by 50%.
  • QuietOC - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    This sounds like the best current netbook. I can't understand why anyone puts up with the garbage LCDs. I didn't know how good my 1000HA was until I got a 11" CULV. I agree the Atom should be clocked at 2GHz--which works on the Eee PC 1000 series. Intel actually does offer one Atom model rated for that speed but it is not Pineview.
  • kevith - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    I´m new here, wonderful site.

    Why all the fuzz over these netbooks? When I look at the specs of this - even brandnew - netbook, I shiver. As many of you, I remember hardware like that, from when it was the hottest you could get - for a desktop that is. And that was NOT very hot indeed. Or fast or effective or environmental friendly or in any way a pleasure to use, related to the hardware of today.

    Why this return to hardware with outdated specs? Battery life? Well, that doesn´t seem to work to great anyway, compared to a real laptop. Smartness? An iPhone would be so much flashier, and probably much faster. Portability? Come on, real laptops weigh 2 kg. You have a serious healthproblem if you can´t carry that.

    The ones I´ve tried, has been an agony to use, slow slow slow, impossible to read and with terrible keyboards.
  • nubie - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Real laptops weigh 1.25 kg.

    Just do a search for a Toshiba Portege, real processors, real laptops, and they were thinner and lighter than the Macbook Air long before it ever came out.

    A magnesium case and a real Intel processor? That I can get behind.

    When do we skip this Atom nonsense and get real On-Die graphics and ULV current-gen processor technology?

    Even AMD can compete if Atom is the bar they have to hurdle.
  • ric3r - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    The Protege R100, back in the day, retailed for $1999 minimum. The MacBook Air debuted at $1799, and now goes for $1499. I could get five netbooks for the price of a base MBA. Some people don't have that much money to blow on a laptop, and for the severely cost conscious who don't need a lot of computing power (or for those that need a dirt cheap portable companion machine), a netbook is perfect. And even if you think they're pointless, a friend of mine recently noted, they have a 12% share of the entire computing market and pretty much own the sub-$400 price point, so they're not going anywhere soon.
  • nubie - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Agreed, but the intelligent user nowadays would simply buy an older (better performance and quality) model for less money than the netbook.

    Less than $300 can get you a Portege with 1.2-1.6ghz Core processor.

    Obviously this won't appeal to everyone, but in person the quality of the depreciated $2k laptop is much better than a new netbook.
  • Taft12 - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Since you're new here, you've missed all the debate that has raged since this type of device was introduced.

    It's not intended to be a main computer, the battery life, portability and (perhaps most importantly) low-cost are the important aspects. The keyboards may suck, but it's still much better than text input on an iPhone.

    An Atom CPU is definitely "good enough" for web browsing, IM and email. As this article points out, Windows 7 Starter sucks but Windows XP or a Linux Netbook distro are certainly appropriate OSes. If there weren't a market for these, OEMs would stop producing them.
  • kevith - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link

    Oh, there has been a debate.

    I wonder what it is, that triggers the emotions so much - mine inclusive - about these little machines? Maybe it´s just envy because everyone that has one seem to love them so much, although they´re tiny...?

    I would like to point out, that the article - like any article I´ve read here - is a pleasure to read and has - in my opinion - a high degree of seriousness and credibillity. This is the one place I would seek information when considering new hardware. May it happen again soon...

    Only sad thing about AnandTech is: I don´t live in the USA so I can participate in the giveaways.:-)



  • samspqr - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    and still, my sister loves hers

    there must be some people out there with needs that are appropriately matched by these little machines
  • kevith - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link

    Yeah, guess you´re right. They seem to be a great hit, so it is only I that are getting a bit too old:-)
  • drvelocity - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    "The capabilities of netbooks have not changed—you still can't play HD video or HD flash without ION or a Broadcom HD chip, and you can't really do much more than run a word processor and a browser simultaneously."

    I beg to differ - with the newest Accelerated GMA500 drivers from Intel HD video is definitely possible on netbooks that utilize this chipset. ;)
  • piroroadkill - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    The GMA500 is a poor, unloved chipset, way better than people think, hampered by godawful driver support.

    I'm glad to hear it's got better now
  • AnnonymousCoward - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    piroroadkill, I suggest you find out who God is, before throwing out "godawful", "goddamn", or whatever else. Don't forget that God created the physics that allows your computer to work, as well as wireless communication, and the incredible light sensors known as your eyes, and light in general.
  • afkrotch - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link

    And according to god, I'm allowed to beat my children when they misbehave. I'm also suppose to envision myself eating his flesh and drinking his blood in church.
  • funkyd99 - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Religion and tech websites don't mix... If someone offends you, ignoring that person is more effective than patronizing them.

    Yours truely,
    An agnostic who is sick of finding religious references in inappropriate places (and a hypocrite for responding to you)
  • legoman666 - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    I have a Dell Mini10 with the GMA500. Buying it was a mistake. Constant BSOD with Aero enabled in Win7, slow as crap, poor drivers. On the plus side, about 9 months after I got it, the drivers finally progressed enough to get HD decoding working somewhat. 720p works OK, 1080p works sometimes.

    I finally said screw it and installed Ubuntu netbook remix. Honestly, my Nokia N900 phone fills the gadget gap better than the Mini10. My next laptop will be bigger, CULV with a ~12" screen and more than 1gb ram.
  • AnnonymousCoward - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Why can't Microsoft make an OS that's better than XP for netbooks? And you can't even change the background--are you kidding?

    The matte screen is very welcome. Great review.
  • afkrotch - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link

    I reloaded my netbook with a clean install of WinXP Pro. Can change my desktop all the time.
  • MonkeyPaw - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Speaking of OSes, I wonder how well it hackintoshes?
  • numberoneoppa - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Nice review. The battery life would definitely be the selling point for me. 10 hours of web browsing or movie watching sounds mighty fine. Oh, and of course, the screen. I also cannot stand most notebook screens these days. The only company that seems to be able to do a glossy screen properly is Apple, and even still, I prefer matte (<3 Thinkpad).
  • piroroadkill - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Really? Have a Macbook here and the screen is like a goddamn mirror. I'd say NOBODY can do a glossy screen right
  • samspqr - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    glossy is bad, always
  • autoboy - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Agreed. Why can't I buy a laptop under $1000 without a glossy screen? Frankly, I find it ridiculous that 99% of computer enthusiasts don't want a glossy screen, and yet you can't find a matte screen in any notebook on the market. Keep up the fight Anand.
  • lemonadesoda - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link

    Anand, fighting against glossy visuals? I think not, see the new ANANDTECH logo: http://it.anandtech.com/default.aspx">http://it.anandtech.com/default.aspx

    Anand is as "glossy" as every other consumer bandwagon.
  • JarredWalton - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link

    Not even close; that's the IT section of the current AnandTech, and honestly a "glossy" logo isn't the same as a glossy LCD. This is such a silly comparison I don't even know how you can make it. A glossy LCD is a criticism of inherent hardware design; a "glossy" logo is a criticism of artistic design that can easily be changed (or avoided).
  • afkrotch - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link

    I personally prefer the glossy screen. Not cause it's glossy, just cause it seems to be a lot sturdier. The matte screens seem to just pick up scratches like it was nothing.

    I eat and I tend to eat near my netbook. Crap hits the screen, I wipe it down. After time, you'll notice the screen starts to scratch up from being wiped down often.

    On a non-mobile solution, I'm all for the matte screens, as I don't eat near my desktop. Only on my laptop/netbook, as I'm more prone to be using it in a restaurant or cafe.
  • Nomgle - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link

    Um...

    Was that a serious post ? You genuinely can't eat food without spilling it ?
  • afkrotch - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link

    I don't spill the food, it splatters. Like eat a piece of fried chicken, without a small drop of oil like fly off of it. Eat a bowl of curry udon, without it flying around. It's not like I'm eating and I smear the food onto my screen.

    Like take your keyboard and tap it upside down. See how much food particles come flying out of it.
  • AnnonymousCoward - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    What, you think manufacturers would actually make what we want? Things seem to be mostly driven by sales and marketing and what they think the masses are attracted to, which results in unoptimzed & inferior products. It's why 16:9 monitors are taking over, as well as glossy laptop screens.
  • erple2 - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link

    The 16x9 is taking over because they are cheaper to produce that 16x10 screens - you can fit more of the screens per giant wafer, which means the savings of 50 cents per screen means something to someone.
  • numberoneoppa - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link

    Oh, and one more thing: I bet it looks sexy without all of those stupid stickers on it.
  • tmgp - Thursday, April 1, 2010 - link

    you guys should try the samsung n210. with a 5900mAh battery and also a nice anti glare screen, it's one of the best netbooks out there in my opinion. it would make a good comparison
  • guilhermejrs - Wednesday, July 14, 2010 - link

    Comprei um netbook ASUS Eee PC 1001p, que veio com o Windows 7 Starter instalado. Tudo estava funcionando perfeitamente; isto é, ao ligar ele encontrava a minha rede Internet e então eu me conectava normalmente.
    Depois que instalei o Windows 7 Ultimate, não consigo mais me conectar na Internet, o wifi não está funcionando.
    Alguém poderia me ajudar?
  • Saltee - Thursday, July 22, 2010 - link

    I still run an ASUS 701. It's more than happy running Ubuntu 10.04 (with Compiz and full 3d cube). Mini Laptops (aka Netbooks) were never designed or originally sold to run Windows. Please stop saying they're slow.

    On the Windows front, both my lads have 1005ha's with Windows, and they're more than happy.

    One thing that has been missed in all of the above discussion (and I apologise if I never caught it), size. I have a full size laptop, it's just a pain to carry around - I have a two hour commute.

    Just brought the 1001p over the 1005pe on the back of this and other reading. I won't be running Windows however ...

    Mini laptops have a place - I don't want to lug a full size lappy around all day.
  • Cheiftan7778 - Saturday, June 18, 2011 - link

    I have a Asus Eee PC 1001p and I was really surprised how a small netbook's performance. I am using my 1001P to post this comment. If you're looking for a netbook I also recommend the 1001P. BTW I got Windows XP.

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