Asus Eee PC 1000 (black)

• Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 10 reviews Back to product review
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• 7 out of 7 people found this review helpful

  4.5 stars

  "SSD Laptop with Lots to offer"

  by ehp3189 on September 13, 2008

  Pros: great keyboard; excellent camera; excellent bootup speed; great surf/video machine; Xandros based Linux; 2 SSD drives built in; User upgradable 1G RAM; superb battery life; nice form factor; good software loaded;

  Cons: support can be challenging; RH shift key awkwardly postioned; ICEWM desktop a compromise;

  Summary: The ASUS EEE 1000 laptop is one of the nicest little machines I have owned. I previously had the Sony Picturebook C1-MV and the Sony TR3a. This machine is truly a step out in front of the pack. A clear advantage is their SSD drives, two of which are installed on their machines (1x8G + 1x32G). For the average user this will mean a quieter, longer lasting, lighter user experience. For those who have been waiting for these drives to come down in price, this is a chance to own at a reasonable price. Additionally, ASUS throws in 20G of online storage (5G/day download limit) for this model. An added advantage is a boot time of about 23 seconds, directly due to these drives.
  I also find the keyboard to be excellent (with the single exception of the RH shift key which is positioned outside the RH up arrow), it fits my large clunky hands well and has a nice crisp feel. Equally impressive is the 1.3M built in webcam, it delivers crisp images especially when doing video Skype calls.
  A quick word about the software loaded on this machine. I have the Linux version which runs a desktop called ICEWM. For people who aren't used to Linux, you will see large program icons categorized by tabs on the top. The tab named Internet holds a numbeer of useful apps, including the Firefox browser and Google Search. Work contains the open office tools plus File Manager. Play has not only a dvd playback (incase you hook up an external dvd player or download a dvd backup file) but also the versatile linux Mplayer (labeled here as Media player). I was able to download a 2 hour movie I had Tivo'ed (about 1.5G) but also extract a digital copy of Jumper (included on the dvd) both of which played flawlessly on a flight from the East Coast to CA.
  The only drawback that I have really detected so far,though not uncommon with new machines, is a lack of user forums and support. ASUS does try and has a free VIP site, but I have found that other linux magazine forums and articles to be more helpful in wringing more out of this machine. Linux Format (http://www.linuxformat.co.uk) has written a series of articles over the last few months giving all kinds of interesting things you can do to get more out of the EEE series of machines.
  In closing, I have found this machine to be one of the best laptops I have seen out of the box, and it has been worth the wait to get the 10 screen/keyboard combination. Thanks ASUS.

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• 2 replies to this review

• reply by: Ben2talk on January 2, 2009

  Check out Crunchbang Linux - there are new varieties to suit eeePC. I think Openbox would be nicer - Xandros wouldn't be my choice. With 1GB Ram, I would try out Xubuntu, and install a gnome desktop (use the lightweight desktop to save power and run more applications, or gnome for a more comfortable feature rich environment)

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• reply by: SHADuck on November 21, 2008

  very comprehensive and useful

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