ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005HA-MU17-PI 10.1-Inch Pink Netbook - 8.5 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005HA-MU17-PI 10.1-Inch Pink Netbook - 8.5 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)Asus nearly has the netbook PC perfected. The size and ergonomics of this keyboard are bar none the best among netbooks today. The wide touchpad has the right level of sensitivity as well. And Windows 7, even with the entry level Starter edition, offers much faster processing & bootup times than Windows XP does on the Intel Atom N270 processor.

Product Description

Go anywhere in style with the Eee PC 1005HA-MU17. Weighing less than 3lbs, the 1005HA-M is the perfect on-the-go companion. With built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, a 0.3MP webcam, and a Digital Array Mic, you can stay connected with friends wherever you go. A 250GB hard drive provides a wealth of storage and backup capacity. The 1005HA-M’s 92%-scaled ergonomic keyboard and Multi-Touch touchpad make it a breeze to type and navigate through content. And a brilliant 10.1 inch matte LCD display makes viewing documents and multimedia content more comfortable than ever. With its sleek curves and smooth lines, the Eee PC 1005HA-M offers superior style without sacrificing performance or mobility. However, the Asus Eee 1005HA has its achilles heel in mechanical design. The 250GB HDD has undamped vibrations that pass throughout the chassis and straight into your wrists. The fan also runs excessively. The combination creates high levels of noise and vibration compared to similar netbooks such as the Acer Aspire One D250. Also, even without Anti-Virus software running, Windows 7 and the preloaded software consume 40% of the available 1GB of memory.

Asus will undoubtedly be working out the kinks in this netbook, but many users will find the vibration and noise levels to be unacceptable, especially when other manufacturers offer netbooks without these concerns. Once Asus releases a thermally cool, vibrationless version with 2GB DDR2 memory, this netbook will be unstoppable.

Update: after exchanging for a second 1005HA, it has the exact same vibration issues. This endemic rather than a one-off dud.