ASUS Eee PC 1005HA Seashell

Asus Eee Netbook 1005HA/HGO

Introduction

My husband works very long hours on his own- his work is very boring, sitting alone in an office all night long, going on patrols every hour, and so he is always looking for something to do when he is in work, whether it is reading books, playing on his PSP or doing puzzles.

Last year I put the internet on his mobile phone so he could use that when in work, but I was starting to get annoyed that everywhere we went he would sit on the internet- I was sitting waiting for hospital appointments which he has come with me to keep me company, and he would instead of talking to me, sit on his internet!!!! Also it was quite limited in what it could do, and even started to break his phone because he was using it a lot, it was burning the phone which was starting to get dangerous.

His 23rd birthday is coming up, and so I was looking for something to get him when I came across an offer with Orange (mobile phone network) for this laptop, with 3GB internet a month, for just £30, considering this laptop has an RRP of between £200 and £300 and we were going to get it for free on a 24 month contract, I thought the offer was brilliant. And so I put an order in, and 3 days later the laptop came to the door.

Appearance

The first thing we saw was of course how the little laptop looked. This mini computer is what is called a netbook, which is a small version of a laptop- it has a screen size of 10.1in, which is quite small! The netbook is black in colour, with a small keyboard and a touch pad as with a laptop.

It is very slim line and extremely light to hold, especially to someone used to a laptop which is much heavier in comparison!

The netbook comes with a small carry case- which is also black and a kind of “foam” type material, this is great to keep the shiny surface of the netbook from getting scratched. As these netbooks are meant for carrying around, this is a good idea, as it means you can pop it into your bag and not have to worry about it, the only problem I could see was that there was nowhere for the charger to fit, which is the same length and size as a laptop charger, so quite long and large- maybe the idea is you fully charge it before you take it out with you…

One thing to mention is because the netbook has a “gloss” effect to it, it does show up marks very easily, so watch those greasy fingers!!!!

The netbook is very good looking, and would amaze anybody who saw it, it has rounded edges so it looks modern and not “box” like at all.

On the looks front, the netbook definitely gets a 10 out of 10 and is the Supermodel of the netbook world!

Size & Comfort of use

As I mentioned above, the screen size is 10.1in- meaning this little netbook is about half the size, and weight of a laptop- and this is a small laptop too! So in a way this could be a good or bad thing, my dad had a netbook last year, it wasn’t this model, but was an older Asus model and he found it very difficult to use it as the screen was so small, he couldn’t see it properly! But my husband has no problems at all with the size! I must say, when I used the netbook I found it difficult to use because of it’s size, not so much the size of the screen, but the size of the keyboard. I have become accustomed to touch typing, and so I am used to a “normal” sized keyboard on a laptop or a PC, so the half sized keyboard on the netbook for me, is very difficult to get used to, I tended to type the wrong keys a lot, but I don’t think it would take me very long to get used to it- and my husband has no problem at all with it, as he doesn’t touch type, he doesn’t have the same issue as me with the keyboard!

The laptop is very comfortable to use because it is so small and light, it can be moved around easily, and can be simply popped on your knee and used like that, it doesn’t get overheated within 5 minutes like my laptop does, and so you don’t get very hot legs meaning you have to throw the laptop around from lap to table etc. It would be perfect for use on a train or even a bus, as it doesn’t take up any room and can be simply opened up, popped on and used!!!

=== Speed of Use ==

The netbook runs very quickly, and from turning the power button on, it is just 30-60 seconds until the netbook is up and running, which I think is great, especially if you are in a rush! Often I have turned off my own laptop, got my shoes coat and bag on, and then realised at the last second that I need to check my bank balance or had to send “that email” before I left, and it has seemed to take ages before it would load up for use, but this netbook very quickly loads up!

Of course the speed of your internet all depends on who your provider is, that doesn’t tend to be anything to do with the speed of the laptop itself! So I won’t comment too much of that, only that with Orange Mobile Broadband which my husbands netbooks provider is, the internet is very very quick in both our house, his work, and even in my parents caravan in the middle of the countryside where signal is very bad!

Everything loads up nice and quickly, and the netbook automatically connects to the wireless internet nearest to it (so long as it is not network secured), this takes a couple of minutes sometimes, and not always immediate.

The speed of the netbook though again is brilliant, my husband has had this netbook for around 2 months now, so he doesn’t have much saved on the netbook apart from simple word documents which will mean it isn’t slowed down by too much rubbish, so maybe with lots of photos, music and large documents it would be slowed down, but I cannot comment on that as of yet!

=== Battery Life ==

Well as with most new laptops and netbooks the battery life of this is excellent, my husband can charge the netbook for an hour, and it will be fully charged and will last around 5-6 hours! This is amazing! My own laptop needs charging constantly, otherwise within half an hour it will be beeping at me to charge it up…that is more to do with the battery needing replacing!!! But it has never had this amount of battery life from the word go!

The battery lasts an amazing amount of time!!!

Added Extras

I don’t want to start going into everything that this laptop has inside and out because I’ll be here for hours.

First thing I want to note, is that the laptop does not come with Microsoft Office (i.e. Word, Excel, Powerpoint), but it does come with Microsoft Works, which has all of the programmes from Office, but they are not actually “Word”, “Excel” etc! They are not compatible with Microsoft Office documents, so if you are sending a Works document to a computer without Works and only Office, I am afraid they won’t open on their computer! This is very very annoying, but this is nothing to do with the netbook, but Microsoft’s greed! Instead of giving it you free when you spend £300 on a netbook, they want you to spend and extra £100 on the software as well! They do give you 60 days trial, but this isn’t much good for long term use.

The netbook has an integrated webcam and microphone which is good for conference calls on the go, or even just chatting with friends or family on instant messenger!

There is NO CD drive! As with all netbooks this is the case, but many people do not realise this! You can buy external CD drives for around £15-£35 from Amazon.co.uk which plug into the USB port (of which this netbook has 3), so if you are desperate you can get an external kind!!!

There is however a Memory Card slot so you can put any documents onto a memory card or photos etc and pop that into the netbook to upload them! These are very handy for putting photos directly from your camera to the netbook without all the software hassle!

The netbook has inbuilt Bluetooth, so no annoying dongles hanging from the side!

Also, worth noting, if you are getting this netbook with mobile broadband, I comes with a SIM card holder, which comes with the mobile broadband, instead of a dongle, so you are not having to plug a dongle in for the internet usage, and it is always in the back (behind the battery, very easy to put in and take out if needed!), meaning you don’t have to worry about losing or breaking your dongle!

Using the netbook

Ok well I have told you all about the laptop and its bits and pieces, but how about how good it is to use!

It is very simple to use the netbook, as I said I find it a little difficult to use the keyboard but that is just because I am so used to using a big laptop with a full sized keyboard! And my husband has no problems whatsoever with it- in fact he prefers his “Fred” as he calls it, to my “Lazurus” (that’s the laptop!!!!!).

All of the extras like the Bluetooth and the memory card slot make it much easier to upload photos to AND from the computer!

I would recommend this netbook to anybody looking for a new computer, especially if it is going to be moved around a lot, making it perfect for students, business men, or just people like my husband who want to take it to work with him! It’s small and lightweight making it very easy and comfortable to carry around, and it doesn’t add a lot of weight to your bag! The extra little carry case means that there is limited scratches and mess to the outside of the netbook- but you may find you need to wipe down with laptop/computer wipes sometimes because of the glossy texture attracting dust and fingertip marks!

A huge 10 out of 10 for us, this netbook has been worth every penny!

Price

On Amazon.co.uk, this netbook costs £279 brand new from the Amazon shop, but you can also buy it from the “shops” on Amazon, for between £190 (used) to £348.99 (new).

As I said earlier, we got this with Orange, for a 24 month contract at £30 per month for 3GB internet usage (my husband uses this every night for a good few hours, and he still doesn’t go over 1GB!), and the netbook was FREE with that package! (Some of the lower packages which are only for 18 months you have to pay £49 for the netbook, but it all depends on what you’re looking at really and your own personal needs!)

I think the price is actually quite large, I could go to Tesco and buy a Toshiba laptop for £350-£400, so for a netbook without a DVD drive for places to sell it for £350 is quite extraordinary, but as I said, the netbook is brilliant, and it is a high spec netbook rather than a basic laptop which you would get for the same price!

But for £250 which is what Amazon are selling it for, that is a reasonable price, and a price I would be willing to pay for this netbook!!!

Specifications

Processor Intel Atom N280 Processor @ 1.66 GHz
Operating System: Windows 7
Internal Memory 1 GB DDR2 SO-DIMM
Display 10.1in LED Backlight WSVGA Screen
Video Card
Hybrid Storage 160GB HDD
Card Reader MMC/ SD(SDHC)
Webcam 1.3M Pixel.0.3M Pixel
Interface 2 x Audio Jack (Headphone / Mic In)
3 x USB 2.0
1 x VGA Port (D-Sub 15-Pin for external monitor)
1 x LAN RJ-45
WLAN 802.11 b/g/n @ 2.4 GHz
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Audio High Definition Audio CODEC
Stereo Speaker
Digital Array Mic
Battery 10.5 hrs, 6-cell 63Wh Li-ion Battery
8.5 hrs, 6-cell 48Wh Li-ion Battery
4 hrs, 3-cell 23Wh Li-ion Battery
Weight 1.27kg (2.7lbs) (with 6-cell battery)
1.1kg (2.4lbs) (with 3-cell battery)
Dimensions 262mm(W) x 178mm(D) x 25.9mm~ 36.5mm(H)
10.3"(W) x 7"(D) x 1"~ 1.4"(H)
Asus Warranty is 1 year, but you may get extended warranty depending on where you get the netbook from.