Dell Inspiron Mini 12 reviews

Dell's latest netbook is the Mini 12, which was previously called the Inspiron 1210. It's the biggest netbook yet, with a 12.1in screen, the same size as those used on many fully fledged ultra-portable laptops.

The standard version comes with Windows XP Home installed on its small 80GB hard disk. It has an Intel Atom processor running at 1.6GHz, but only 1GB of RAM. There's no option to increase the amount of memory in the Mini 12. Because of this, you should try to avoid loading lots of applications at once. Its larger display makes it more suitable for creative work than other netbooks, but the Mini 12's hardware struggled with both image and video editing. However, for web browsing and email, it's more than capable.

Dell's Inspiron Mini 9 might have turned up fashionably late to the netbook party, but that's not to say it was unwelcome. While other manufacturers had all but abandoned the netbook's original tiny footprint in favour of 10 inch screens and keyboards you could touch-type on, Dell's little wonder reminded us why we liked netbooks in the first place. Compact, light, portable and almost comfortable to use; Dell did a very good job with its first attempt.

It's a success that Dell would no doubt like to replicate with its latest addition to the Mini range - the Inspiron Mini 12 battery. Leaving a convenient, 10 inch sized gap in Dell's netbook line-up, soon to be filled by the recently-announced Mini 10, the 12's most significant novelty is its screen size. Where other netbooks make do with native resolutions of just 1,024 x 600, the Mini 12 stretches a comparatively generous 1,280 x 800 pixels across a bright, 12.1 inch display.

Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Specifications :

Processor : Intel Atom Z5301,6GHz (Cache L2 512KB, FSB 533MHz, Hypertrading Support)
Memory : SODIMM 1GB (maximum)
Chipset : Intel Poulsbo
Graphic Card : Intel GM 500
Harddisk : Samsung 1,8” HS092HB Ulta-ATA 100 3600rpm 80GB
Optical drive : Not Available
Features : LAN, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/g, Bluetooth, 3-in1 card reader, 3 USB, kamera Web 1,3MP, port VGA, port Ethernet 10/100, jack mic, jack headphone
Screen : 12,1" WXGA 1280x800 pixel
Sound Card : Intel Poulsbo High Definition Audio Controller
Operating System : Windows Vista Basic SP1
Battery : Li-Ion 3-cell 26WHr
Dimension : 29,9x22,9x (2,2 - 2,4) cm
Weight : 1,268kg

There is one problem with the Dell Mini 12, and the way in which you use a netbook should dictate whether this is the model for you. For a laptop (noun: lap top), it has a very strange centre of gravity, which sits somewhere on the hinge line — both the CPU and screen weigh about the same. For tabletop use this isn't a problem — it sits fine on a flat surface — but put this on your lap and you'll find it can tumble off.

Apart from this usability issue, it otherwise works in a similar way to the Dell 9, albeit with Windows Vista Home Basic instead of XP. Which leads us to another point — the combination of Vista, a meagre 1GB of RAM and the Atom processor leads to a sometimes sluggish experience. Windows don't always open when you ask them to, and boot-up seemingly took forever at one minute nine seconds before the desktop appeared.

Dell hasn't made the same compromises as Sony in order to cram everything into a slender form factor – instead, the company has opted for the bigger 12-inch form factor with dimensions of 299mm x 229mm (width x depth). The decision to go down the Silverthorne route has enabled Dell to create a mightily thin netbook though, as it measures just 28mm at its thickest point – that's quite a bit thinner than the NC10’s thickest point at 31mm, for example, and the NC10 hasn’t ever been referred to as a fat heffer. The Mini 12 also weighs less than the NC10 too – it’s just 1.25kg with the three-cell Dell Inspiron Mini 12 battery attached, while the NC10 is about 1.3kg on the scales with the default six-cell battery.

On the plus side, the touchpad is much larger than on other netbooks and even many ultraportables, and its pebbled surface makes mousing comfortable and accurate. The Mini 12’s port selection is typical for a netbook, which is to say, basic: three USB ports, Ethernet, VGA, headphone, and mic. Dell has also included a three-format memory card reader and a Webcam, but—as with other netbooks—no fingerprint reader, optical drive, or PC Card/ExpressCard reader. You do get a 60GB hard drive (which is about 100GB less than its smaller competitors, and there is no solid state drive option), as well as 802.11g and Bluetooth wireless.

The Dell performed a little better in PCMark05 with an understandably low 891 marks, but tests on its integrated graphics demonstrated that this isn't a gaming device. 3DMark06 ran, but the textures were so corrupted, and it ran so slowly, that gaming would be impossible. The program rewarded it with 76 3DMarks in the end — every child wins a prize.

Despite having a bright, high-quality screen, this isn't a multimedia device. Not only are there no dedicated controls — apart from volume — but the on-board speakers are also unimpressive. But these are netbooks, after all.

Starting at under $600, those who have dreamed of owning a seriously thin laptop will be tempted by the Dell Inspiron Mini 12. We don’t expect this netbook to perform like a MacBook Air (especially now with its upgrade to NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics), but we do expect it to be able to handle e-mail, Web browsing, video calling, music, and browsing photos just as well as the number of other Intel Atom netbooks we have tested. The Dell Mini 12 battery will fit in a manila envelope and run you at least $500 less than any high-end ultraportable on the market.

Mini 12 and Mini 9 are fighting for their debut. It may be worthwhile for the Dell team to push away the mini 9 plan and get going with the apparently better mini 12. This might turn out to be a better business idea.

HP ProBook 4510s Review

HP's latest business focussed notebooks have a new name and a new look. With plenty of power and a good price, are these the best machines for your business?

With a new naming convention and a new aesthetic HP for its notebooks, HP is clearly trying to reinvent itself for the business market and judging by this first look at a final production sample ProBook 4510s, it’s not doing a bad job.

As far as looks are concerned the ProBook is a certainly a success. It's finished in glossy black plastic, and the keys are the "Scrabble-tile" arrangement (HP calls it a "chiclet" keyboard) by now familiar on Apple and Sony's notebooks. The keys have a decent amount of travel and the base feels solid: it's easy to get a full head of steam when touch-typing. It's also pleasing to see HP using the whole width of the notebook's base, with the right hand side given to a full number pad, which makes spreadsheets easier to work on. The only downside to the glossy lid is that fingerprints stick all too easily.

HP ProBook 4510s battery has simple design. Actually someone would even say that it has “vintage” design somewhat similar to old IBM notebooks. Chassis is made of black plastic and has flat surfaces and “sharp” edges. Rigidness is average which doesn’t come as surprise since this is, after all, “s” model that cannot be compared to, much pricier, “b” and “p” series. Cover is made out of black piano finish plastics that will collect all traces of fingers that ever touched it. Display frame and area close to keyboard are made out of same plastic. Luckily, palmrest is made out of matte plastic so reaching for maintenance cloth will not be that frequent job. Another color variant called “Merlot Red” (dark red) is announced, and judging by the pictures it will be much more attractive than this, black one.

Keyboard is better segment of this notebook. It follows, these days very popular, MacBook design characterized by large gap between keys. Alpha numeric part of keyboard is good and without significant bending although num pad does suffer from significant bending especially along right edge. HP is noticed about this problem, and we got information that in final retail version it will be corrected. Cursor keys are nicely distinct so finding them will not be a problem. This is nice feature since a lot of newer notebooks that we reviewed had cursor keys that are “blended” with num pad. Touch pad is moved to the left side, centered with “space” key, which is good position. Touch pad keys are separated and operate similar to piano keys: only bottom part reacts at pressure. We also liked the fact that touch pad keys are almost silent, as they should be on an business notebook.

The ProBook 4510s is configured as follows:

Intel Core 2 Duo T6570 Processor (2.1GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB)
Microsoft Genuine Windows Vista Business (with option for Windows XP downgrade)
15.6-inch LED-backlit anti-glare HD display (1366 x 768)
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
2GB DDR2 800MHz RAM
250GB 5400RPM HDD
LightScribe DVD+/-RW Optical Drive
WiFi (802.11a/b/g/draft-n), Ethernet, Modem, and Bluetooth Connectivity
8-Cell 63WHr Battery
Limited 1-year standard parts and labor warranty
Dimensions: 1.25" x 14.6" x 9.83"
Weight: 5.8lbs

With the enterprise EliteBooks and the small-business Compaqs commanding HP's business laptop line, you'd think two brands would be enough to hold down the fort. HP, however, is out to prove that its new ProBooks will be a worthy third segment to what already seems like a crowded family. The HP ProBook 4510s ($700 direct) is one of three desktop replacements in this new line, which should give IT managers some fashionable yet affordable solutions to choose from. The 15.6-inch (16:9 aspect ratio) widescreen, glossy finish, and new-look keyboard are what you'd find on a consumer laptop or one geared toward style-minded businesses.

One thing that all model variants of the HP ProBook 4510s and 4515s have in common is the 16:9 HD resolution of 1366x768 pixels. However, you have a choice when it comes to display surface. According to HP a glossy variant (BrightView) as well as a matte display (anti-glare) are available. To our dissatisfaction our test sample unfortunately has the reflective display variant, which isn't recommendable for planned use of the laptop as a device for work due to ergonomic reasons.

Indeed the maximum brightness of the display (CMO1571) turned out surprisingly high throughout the course of our measurements. The panel reached a maximum of 282 cd/m² in the central area – very good. Also the average brightness at around 250 cd/m² is completely in order.

Even though the illumination at just 78.4% turns out to be below average, looking at the display subjectively there are no shadowing effects to be seen, because the minimum measured brightness of 221 cd/m² is too high.

Below the metal grille we have an isolation-style keyboard, which like Apple, HP refers to as 'chicklet'. Keys are somewhat smaller than we're used to seeing on HP laptops, but as usual it's still very comfortable and the new design allows for plenty of key separation. A slightly narrower than normal left-Ctrl key is the only compromise in the layout, but it's a small inconvenience given you also benefit from a full number pad. Fundamentally, then, this is a very good keyboard and it delivers excellent tactile feedback, too.

Below the excellent keyboard is a raised wrist rest coated in soft-touch plastic; an effect continued on the touchpad and its buttons. Unfortunately this finish really shows off grease so it's almost as bad as the lid, which is hardly ideal in a business laptop that might be shared among different people. It looks and feels nice, but it's not necessarily practical.

As expected, the integrated graphics are enough to handle the Aero effects of Windows Vista Business, but you won’t be playing any intense shoot ’em ups on this laptop. The ProBook 4510s battery delivered a score of 841 on 3DMark06 (at 1,024x768), which is in line with other low-cost notebooks. To put that in real-world perspective, the machine mustered only 16 frames per second (fps) when playing F.E.A.R. and 6.7fps on Company of Heroes. While the ProBook's graphics scores are a little lower than those of the ThinkPad SL500, neither system can handle modern gaming.

The lower-priced ProBook 4510s models come with a six-cell battery, but our SKU included an eight-cell power pack that delivered exactly 3 hours of runtime on our harsh DVD-rundown test, which should equate to 5 to 6 hours under more judicious use. (Again, compare that with Lenovo’s 2 hours and 12 minutes on the ThinkPad SL500.) Opting for the six-cell battery instead would save you $50, but you'd also forgo the laptop's Bluetooth connectivity; the lesser battery lasted 2 hours and 11 minutes.

The HP ProBook 4510s is a stylish notebook featuring a 15.6-inch screen along with a sleek design that offers function and style. Along with the large display the 4510s features a separate numeric keypad. At 5.7 pounds the 4510s is a bit heavy to be considered an ultra-portable, but it still weighs in far less than your average desktop replacement. The battery life, security software, and clean design make the ProBook 4510s an excellent small-business laptop.

HP backs the ProBook 4510s with a one-year warranty with 24/7 phone support. For small-business buyers on a budget, the model represents a compelling value. In our test configuration, you can get better performance and HP battery life with this system than with the Lenovo ThinkPad SL500. And for just a little more than $500 for the base model, you can still get a big screen and plenty of features.

Dell Studio XPS 1340 Review

The Dell Studio XPS 1340 is quite the mash up of power, portability, aesthetics, and features. This 1340” laptop is packed with a current generation Intel P8600 processor, NVIDIA hybrid SLI graphics, “edge-to-edge” slim LED screen, and finally a Dell keyboard finally worthy of being typed on. Summary in a sentence? All around power in a medium to small package that’s almost (literally) too hot to handle.

The Dell Studio XPS X1340 battery boasts a unique look, with its rounded hinges supporting the display and angled shape. The tapered chassis measures (with the lid closed) a rather thick 1.6 inches along the back edge and narrows to 1.2 inches in front. A silver stripe cuts across the lid, separating the piano-black cover from a strip of faux leather. The leather-like strip provides a comfortable grip when toting the laptop around, and, depending on your taste, it either enhances or detracts from the overall design.

Like the Toshiba Satellite E105, the X1340 features a backlit keyboard, which is incredibly useful in low-light situations. It's one of those features, like the two-finger scroll on MacBooks, that once you have it, you find it hard to live without. The keys themselves are quiet, flat, and roomy. The touch pad is smaller than average, running only 2.5 inches wide by 1.5 inches tall. The mouse buttons are quiet and feature an illuminated stripe when the keyboard backlighting is enabled. A row of touch-sensitive media controls sits above the keyboard, along with buttons for turning the Wi-Fi antenna off and on, and ejecting a disc from the slot-loading DVD burne.



Specs:

The specifications of the model reviewed are as follows:
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (3MB cache/2.4GHz/1066Mhz FSB)
nVidia GeForce MCP79MX chipset (9400M G graphics)
4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz (2 DIMMs)
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
6 Cell Primary Battery
Dell Wireless 1515 802.11a/g/n WLAN half Mini Card
13.3 inch HD WXGA Edge-to-Edge Laptop screen with 2.0 Megapixel Camera
320 GB Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Obsidian Black with Leather Accent
8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability

XPS houses an Intel Core 2 duo P8600 processor which you don’t find in most of the competition. P8600 brings about a major performance boost to the machine by providing a faster FSB and a larger CPU cache. It provides 1066Mhz Front Side Bus instead of 800Mhz found on most of the other laptops.(Note: A slow FSB will cause the CPU to spend significant amounts of time waiting for data to arrive from system memory) .The processor has a 3MB Cache which is larger than the 2MB cache found on most systems.(Note:Cache memory access is faster than the system memory.)

The XPS has Nvidia 9500M graphics card with hybrid SLI technology. The Nvidia GeForce 9500M is not a single graphics card, but two: an integrated GeForce 9400M G plus a GeForce 9200M GS with 256 MB of dedicated memory. Basically you can turn the dedicated graphics off if you want to save power and turn it on later for better performance. The hardware allows you to play most of the newer games with moderate to low settings.

Under the hood of the Studio XPS 1340 battery are the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670 graphics (with 512MB of video memory), and your choice of three hard drives (500GB at 5,400 rpm, 320GB at 7,200 rpm, or a 128GB SSD). Other highlights include HDMI and DisplayPort connectors, eSATA connectivity, and premium speakers with a built-in subwoofer, complete with 5.1 Dolby Digital output.

The Studio XPS 1340 looks like a good Windows alternative to the MacBook, at least on paper. In fact, this 4.9-pounder features the same Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics as Apple’s premium 13-incher, although discrete Nvidia GeForce 9500M graphics is available as an option. If you go this route Dell says you’ll be able to toggle the graphics cards on the fly—good for when you need to save battery power or get a little power boost.

In all-too-familiar fashion, Dell's new Studio XPS laptops have snuck onto the company's store with nary a press release to keep them company. The 1340 is obviously the Studio XPS 13 we saw last month, while the 1640 is naturally the 16-inch version of the leather accented system. Both machines are (oddly) hitting at the same $1,199 pricepoint, with Core 2 Duo processors and the typical smorgasbord of options. The base model of the 1340 includes a P8400 processor, Vista Home Premium, a 13.3-inch WXGA LCD, 2 megapixel webcam, 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, 320GB 7200rpm SATA drive, slot-loading DVD burner and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G graphics, while the 1640 is similar, but with ATI Mobility RADEON M86XT graphics.

The newly designed Studio XPS 1340 and 1640 include the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, up to 500GB of hard drive storage or a 128GB solid state drive, and a slot-load optical drive with Blu-ray option in the larger model. The 1340 comes with 4GB of DDR3 memory, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G or 9500M 256MB graphics and a screen resolution of 1280×800 pixels, while the 1640 includes up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, the new ATI Mobility Radeon M86XT (HD 3670) 512MB GPU, and a 1366×768 display.

An email to Michael Dell yielded a better response. After some bullshit haggling they finally agreed to build me a brand new battery for Dell Studio XPS 1340 replacement laptop. Not a refurb, but a NEW one. Awesome. The laptop is here a few weeks later, and I’m typing this post on it.

Not all is well in replacement-land, however. The media buttons still “freeze up” and become useless. The laptop runs a bit cooler, but you still can’t use it on your lap if you hope to reproduce someday. Even worse is that to a certain extent, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. I know it’s only a matter of time before the other problems set right back in again… the overheating, the freezing, and the gallons of frustration. The anticipation of failure is perhaps the most unique thing about this laptop. I just can’t trust it to be there for me. Betrayal of trust is the #1 sin that laptop manufacturers need to avoid if they hope to retain their customers. Though it hasn’t happened 100% yet, I know it’s coming. Until then, I know one thing is for sure… The Dell Studio XPS 1340 sucks balls.

Overall the Dell Studio XPS 1340 is an okay laptop, and I still use it today, but with an external monitor, having the laptop closed for better airflow. It has has very good performance when playing video games and doing image processing, and web browsing just keep an eye on the computers temperature.

Dell's Inspiron 11z Netbook: Superior Performance, Lousy Touchpad

The Dell Inspiron 11z is an attempt to rectify the biggest drawback of current netbooks--low processing power--by using Intel's ultralow-voltage Celeron and Pentium CPUs. The 11z--which starts at $379--is available with either the single-core Celeron 743 or, as with our test unit, the dual-core Pentium SU4100. Both CPUs run at 1.3GHz with an 800MHz bus. Besides two cores, the Pentium SU4100 has 64-bit support. Oh, and it adds $75 to the price.

Choosing 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium--which our test system came with--will cost you $30 more over the default Vista Home Basic operating system. And if you want any color other than "Obsidian Black," that will run you $40 more. Boost the RAM from 2GB to 4GB and choose a larger hard drive, and you can easily turn this under- $400 netbook into a nearly $700 companion device to your main system. In addition to the dual-core CPU, our test system had the 250GB drive upgrade but not the 4GB RAM option, a mix making for a fairly pricey netbook.

The Inspiron 11z battery earned 63 on WorldBench 6, a tie for the best netbook score we've seen yet. Nevertheless, the unit's limited RAM, lack of an optical drive, and small size will make it simply a light travel buddy or "companion PC" for most users. It's not all about the CPU power, after all. The screen resolution is 1366 by 768 with LED backlighting, which is a step up from many netbooks this size. It really helps alleviate that "can't see the whole drop-down menu" problem that so many of these devices have. Color and contrast are pretty good, though the lighting is a little bit uneven--it's noticeably darker along the top edge.

You can opt to upgrade the a/b/g Wi-Fi adapter to 802.11n for a nominal fee, or add 3G and GPS for a not-so-nominal fee. Dropping the Atom processor has also given Intel the ability to move to a superior GS45 chipset, which means better GMA4500 graphics. It's still no barn-burner in the 3D department and I wouldn't recommend playing 3D games on this system, but the video decoding is an improvement over what you find on many netbooks and might make that HDMI output worth having.

The 11z's performance comes at a price, of course. Yes, Intel's new ultralow-voltage CPUs employ a very small amount of power compared with its general laptop and desktop processors, but battery life still suffers compared with good Atom-based netbooks. A really good netbook will last for perhaps 5 hours on a standard-size battery, and 8 hours or more with the extended battery. Our video playback test killed the extended six-cell battery in less than 6 hours, and you'd be lucky to get 3 hours of uptime using Wi-Fi with the regular Dell Inspiron 11z battery. The Inspiron 11z may be superior to the typical netbook in performance, but it's certainly inferior in its time away from the plug.

The netbook's design is simple, with nothing on the system's face but a power button, a keyboard, and a touchpad. You get three USB ports, HDMI, gigabit ethernet, headphone and microphone jacks, and a multicard reader. The large keyboard is easy to type on and has a nice springy feel with a fair amount of key travel. After a small period of adjustment, you'll probably be able to type quite comfortably on it. Not every netbook has a full-size backspace key, so it's nice to see one here. Overall, its design is not going to win any awards, but it's certainly not hard on the eyes.


So far, so good--right? It sounds like just the thing for customers who think Atom-based netbooks are a little underpowered for them. As long as you don't go overboard on extra features, making the system cost as much as a full-sized notebook, the batery for Dell Inspiron 11z sounds like just what the doctor ordered. Then you use it, and discover that the touchpad is practically worthless. It's mushy and unresponsive, with left and right "soft buttons" at the bottom that cause all sorts of problems; did you mean to move your hand down to the lower-right corner, or are you just resting your finger there to click the button? We experienced all sorts of false registers for the zoom and rotate gesture commands and eventually had to turn them off. Even with these disabled, we struggled to get the mouse pointer to go where we wanted it and to click when we wanted it to. You could always plug in a USB mouse, but that sort of defeats the "portability" angle that makes netbooks so enticing.

Sometimes, a product that receives an average score is an average product. Other times, it's a product with great strengths and terrible weaknesses, where the two average each other out. The Inspiron 11z is one of the latter. Dell's use of ULV processors and the GS45 platform offers superior performance to most netbooks, but dell battery life suffers, and the horrible touchpad makes for the kind of hair-pulling frustration most people buy a new PC to get away from.

Asus Eee PC 1000H Review

It has been almost exactly one year since we saw the Asus Eee line of notebooks hit store shelves and it has been quite a year for this little side project from Asus. The original Asus Eee PC lineup, even with its flaws, turned out to be a massive surprise hit, as Asus hit a price and form factor that the market was finally ready to adopt for an ultra-mobile notebook. The Eee PC, while not truly the first of its kind, cemented the "netbook' product category, which has encouraged potential buyers to accept this genre of products. Since its release, we've seen nearly every major OEM produce a similar product to compete with the Eee, although Asus's six month lead in this arena has helped them flesh out their product lineup even before their competitors got their first notebooks out.
The draft-n wireless introduced in the 901 is present here too, but it’s in hard disk capacity that the 1000H makes the biggest leap forward. Gone are the 12GB and 20GB SSD storage options; instead we now get an 80GB hard disk with the XP version, although 160GB models will be available soon. If you opt for Linux you can get an additional 1GB of RAM over the XP version, bringing it to 2GB total.

The rest of the specification remains the same: three USB ports, 10/100 ethernet, Bluetooth and a card reader for SD, MMC and SDHC formats. The combination of 1GB of RAM and a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor propelled the Asus to the expected score of 0.31 in our benchmarks – matching all its main rivals – and the battery returned an impressive six hours of light use before running dry.

The Asus Eee PC 1000H battery has much in common with the Eee PC 901. It's got the same shiny, metallic hinges and a curvy-edged lid. Currently, it's available in only one colour--glossy black--but we'd be surprised if Asus doesn't release a white version and other subsequent hues in the near future.

The Eee PC 1000H is the largest mini laptop we've come across. Its 225 x 170 x 20mm chassis is a few millimeters wider and deeper than an MSI Wind, but we don't have too much of an issue with this; it's still very portable. What we do have a problem with is the Eee PC 1000H's weight--1.45kg with the standard 6,600mAh battery. Even without the battery, it tips the scales at nearly 1.1kg, which is what the MSI Wind weighs with its standard 2,200mAh power cell. To say Asus has screwed up in this area would be an understatement.

The large and fast drive also makes the 1000H an ideal portable multimedia unit, as you can store almost as many movies and music files on it as you can on a high-end iPod. And that's very much a key aspect of this Eee PC; it's more than a tool for getting online and creating documents, it's also a vehicle for being entertained. Its size still makes it the perfect gizmo for travellers who want a small laptop on which to record their adventures and dump their photos, and students will appreciate it for its storage capacity, low price and relatively comfortable keyboard (compared to the other Eee PC models, that is).

Eee PC 1000H is Taiwan’s version of the latest Eee PC launched by ASUS late in 2007. Since then, like a wildfire the Eee PC revolution has burned asunder all competition before it. There is literally no other genré of PC like it. However, that being said, I have to say the look and feel of the model we are looking at today is a lot different from the first Eee PC we originally exposed in all her innocence a while ago.

Netbook Eee PC 1000H battery offers even more options to users for unique user experiences. Featuring up to 7.5 hours of battery life, built in high speed 802.11n connectivity and exclusive 20GB file-encrypted Eee Storage with 5 GB worth of downloads per day for easy accessibility makes it the ideal traveling companion for outdoor activities. The large 10" display provides comfortable viewing, and a large keyboard makes for easier typing and relaxing usage. Large storage space. Content includes Eee PC, battery, AC Adapter, Sleeve Case, Manual and Recovery CD.

There's very little difference between the EeePC 1000 and the rest of its Atom-equipped rivals in terms of performance. The 1000 clocked up 1,512 in PCMark 2005, which is a very respectable score for a machine of this type. During our time with it, it felt very responsive and never gave us the impression it wasn't up for a particular task.

3D gaming isn't the 1000's forte. It only hit 602 in 3DMark 2006, which is pretty pathetic. Remember, the machine clearly isn't designed to move polygons around, so if you stick to things like browsing the Web, showing presentations, playing movies, you won't be disappointed.

Battery life was pretty impressive in the EeePC 1000. We weren't expecting it to be as long as the EeePC 901's, due to its larger screen, but it fared surprisingly well. It lasted 3 hours 56 minutes while watching a DivX movie, which is good compared to the 901's 4.5 hours.

The prime competitors to the 1000H though are from outside Asus, namely the MSI Wind, Acer Aspire One, and the upcoming products from Dell and Lenovo. Almost all of these start off for less than the Asus, but features do vary so everyone will have to buy based on their needs. It is worth taking into consideration that Asus has been at the netbook game a bit longer than the others, but the competitors have done a great job of catching up. Prospective buyers should take note of the battery size–Asus packed this model with a 6-cell where some others start off with a 3-cell. Asus also tends to have better included software (for computer controls and such) than the other companies, so this might be important to you.

If you take a step back and forget about the competitors and the price wars and so on, the battery for Asus Eee PC 1000H turns out to be a very solid 10-inch netbook. It offers a good typing experience, a usable display, and a full set of features, making just what people need from a netbook. Where the Eee PC 701 was OK as a secondary notebook, the 1000H could be a primary notebook (but not, for most people, your primary computer). This may seem like a fine distinction, but it represents a big jump in usefulness and productivity. Once you factor in the price and competition, things get a lot more complex–Asus has still put out a very good product but the tough competition in this segment means that, for many people, it is not as desirable a system as some of the alternatives.