Asus Eee PC 1001P: Our Favorite Netbook
by Vivek Gowri on March 16, 2010 11:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
In May 2009, Asus took the wraps off its new Eee PC 1005HA, the latest and greatest netbook model from the company that pioneered the segment. The 1005HA was the mainstream implementation of the Seashell design that garnered much praise in the form of the gorgeous but ultimately flawed 1008HA. The 1005HA set out to correct those flaws, with more ports and a larger battery in a slightly thicker but similarly sleek and attractive package. It delivered on those fronts and ended up as a resounding success for Asus.
Naturally, when it came time for Asus to update the Diamondville-based 1005HA to the new Pine Trail platform, Asus didn't want to mess with success. Beyond the new processors, the 1005PE was very nearly identical to the 1005HA, except with some minor changes to the keyboard and mouse.
Now, why is any of this relevant to the 1001P? The newest member of the Seashell line has strong roots in the 1005, sharing the same basic chassis and internal components as the more expensive model. Gone is the reflective, glossy finish of the 1005, replaced by textured, matte plastic. The screen also has a matte finish, thankfully one of the few computers to forego the trend of featuring a glossy screen. In terms of hardware, the two share the same basic components, headlined by Intel's new Pineview Atom N450 processor and a large 6-cell battery.
As noted in previous coverage of the new Atom chips, Pine Trail consolidates the entire platform into a two-chip solution—the Pineview processor and the Tiger Point chipset controller. Pineview moves the 45nm GMA 3150 core and memory controller onto the same package as the Atom CPU, reducing the overall power consumption of the platform significantly while offering a slight performance increase.
| ASUS Eee PC 1001P Specifications | |
| Processor | Intel Atom N450 (1.66GHz + SMT, 45nm, 512KB L2, 533FSB, 5.5W) |
| Chipset | Intel NM10 |
| Memory | 1x1024MB DDR2-667 @ 4-4-4-12 Timings |
| Graphics | Integrated Intel GMA 3150 |
| Display | 10.1" LED Matte 16:9 WSVGA (1024x600) |
| Hard Drive | 2.5" 250GB 5400RPM 8MB (Seagate ST9250315AS) |
| Networking | Atheros AR8132 Fast Ethernet Atheros AR2427 802.11g WiFi |
| Audio | Realtek AL269 2-Channel HD Audio (2.0 Speakers with headphone/microphone jacks) |
| Battery | 6-Cell, 10.8V, 4400mAh, 48Wh |
| Front Side | None |
| Left Side | Heat Exhaust Kensington Lock 1 x USB 2.0 VGA AC Power Connection |
| Right Side | SD/MMC reader Microphone/Headphone Jacks 2 x USB 2.0 100Mb Fast Ethernet |
| Back Side | None |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Starter |
| Dimensions | 10.31" x 7.01" x 1.02"-1.44" (WxDxH) |
| Weight | 2.80 lbs (with 6-cell battery) |
| Extras | 1.3MP Webcam Super Hybrid Engine (software over/under clocking) Available in White, Black, Blue, and Pink |
| Warranty | 1-year standard ASUS warranty (USA) Extended warranties available |
| Price | White 1001p-PU17-WT starting at $327 |
Spec-wise, the Eee PC 1001P doesn't do much to differentiate itself from the rest of the netbook crowd. It follows the same tried-and-true netbook formula, with an LED-backlit 10.1" WSVGA screen, the now-obligatory 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor and GMA 3150 integrated graphics, a standard 1GB of DDR2 memory, and Windows 7 Starter edition to top it all off. To that, the 1001P adds a 250GB hard drive, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.1, a 0.3MP webcam, and a 4.4Ah (48Wh) six cell battery rated for 11 hours of battery life in a slim and sleek 2.80lb chassis.
If this all sounds familiar, that's because it is. The 1005PE shares nearly identical specs, only adding wireless-n and a larger 5.8Ah (63Wh) battery worth 14 hours of runtime. In all fairness, when constrained to the 10"/Atom/Windows specs, there's only so much hardware variation that can be created, which is why many netbooks have such similar components. And, when you make as many different netbooks as Asus, such overlaps are inevitable.
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Taft12 - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link
Has anyone made a netbook since the Dell Mini 9 (owned and loved by me) that has no moving parts?This should be a design decision netbook makers should strive for, but I don't even know if anyone has even managed this feat since Dell did 1.5 years ago.
tlbj6142 - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link
"Honestly, I would rather have XP on a netbook—any netbook. Win7 Starter is annoying and unsightly when compared to the "full" version of Win7 Home Premium and shouldn't exist in any corner of the market with its lack of Aero and the ridiculousness of a fixed desktop background."Why does this bother so many people? With a 10" screen do you ever even see your background? I know on my 15" laptop, I never do.
Areo has a couple of nice features (alt-tab layered look), but most are annoying. Especially the blurry "see through" window borders.
The real advantage Win7 has over XP is readyboost support. A $20 USB makes a world of difference in performance. Even on a 64-bit dual-core machine with 4G of ram.
straubs - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link
I find the very suggestion that "memory over USB" is somehow faster than extremely fast DDR3 memory connected directly to the motherboard to be completely preposterous.SunSamurai - Tuesday, March 23, 2010 - link
That is completely preposterous, so its a good thing no one in their right mind ever suggested that.Replace DDR3 with Hard Drive and thats what its for. It's suppose to supplement the hard drive to provide less thrashing the pagefile.
Its still crap, and all it is is a buzzword selling point for dbag sales people in the tech department to toss around at consumers. Its almost as bad at them adding dual-core Ghz speeds together to come up with 5Ghz when really selling a 2.5Ghz chip.
Toss these people in jail or fine them please!
nubie - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link
I think you completely misunderstood the point of readyboost.Flash ram has much lower latency than any physical medium (IE spinning disk)
Thus if you intelligently cache the OS and some apps to Flash you can mask HDD latency, and probably improve on hard disk caching by allowing flash cache.
Hard drive latencies have a large effect on lag issues in a low-ram computer.
strikeback03 - Friday, March 19, 2010 - link
Suppose that is a good point, has anyone tested Readyboost in Win7 to see if it is useful yet? I can't, I run Windows off an X25-M so I'm sure it is faster than a flash driveTaft12 - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link
What bothers people is the unnecessary crippling and step backwards from the "antiquated" Windows XP. We should be moving forward, not backwards.Also, Readyboost was shown to provide almost no benefit except in contrived benchmarks back in the Vista days and I doubt things have changed since.
mschira - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link
I am not giving away my eee 1000h,It has a nice factory build in button to overclock to 1.8Ghz - effectively the fastest Atom CPU around, and boy it needs every single Hz it can get.
Asus overclocks the CULV platform, why not Pineview?
2Ghz? where are you?
M.
synaesthetic - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link
Using ASRock's OCTuner utility, I've seen people overclock the HP Mini 311 (N270, nvidia ION) to 2.4GHz stable without a serious impact on battery life (lose one hour at most).I still haven't seen anything to make me want any other netbook more than the HP Mini 311, purely due to the presence of ION and the ability to increase clock speed by 50%.
QuietOC - Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - link
This sounds like the best current netbook. I can't understand why anyone puts up with the garbage LCDs. I didn't know how good my 1000HA was until I got a 11" CULV. I agree the Atom should be clocked at 2GHz--which works on the Eee PC 1000 series. Intel actually does offer one Atom model rated for that speed but it is not Pineview.