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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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 hersthere 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