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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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.aspxAnand 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