Customer Reviews

ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-VU1X-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - 8.5 Hour Battery Life

5 star:		(127)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

First day with it but I love it. At first I was going to install my own XP so I didnt have to deal with all the extra's Asus put in XP. But if I did that I would loose the original XP that came with it since they do not give you a full version XP CD but just a recover CD. So I just typed msconfig under START/RUN, went to startup, unchecked all the marks. Then uninstalled all the programs I did not want in the control panel. Wow does it haul now. Zero lag. Feels like I'm using my desktop and I havent even installed the 2GB's of RAM yet. The fit and finish is A+. I LOVE the white as there is NO finger prints. Oh and the recover CD and/or the F9 key does work perfectly as I have tested it. It puts it back as if you just took it out of the box. So you really do not need the external CD drive. Battery life is great. I've been working on the netbook all night with full brightness on and its still at 3 hours left. AMAZING! The keyboard/mouse works great also. I see why this new ASUS model and the one above it is getting high marks. Theres none better.. I've had others.. this is it. I would also like to add and this is a HUGE plus over the glossy screen of the 1005HA-PU1X-BK model, this model has a MATTE screen.. which means no glare!! Others are buying the 1005HA-PU1X-BK but I just cant stand the glossy screen along with the glossy black finger print hungry finish. I will take the lesser option one because just the little things make a huge difference. What good is a laptop if you cant ever go outside in the light because the screen has so much glare. Stick with this one.. its FAST and still does what the other models do.

Wow where do I start. I ordered this net book yesterday after much deliberation from Amazon and paid for the next day shipping as it was only 24.00 dollars.The unit arrived promptly at 2:30 the next day and I live in the boonies so kudos to Amazon. I waited for six months until they worked out the kinks with the net books before I finally pulled the trigger and I'm glad I did.

I narrowed my choices down to This one (the ASUS 1005 HA-V), The Acer Asper, The Sanyo, HP, And several others. I spent two days reading all the reviews on Amazon and I finally landed on this one. The Acer scared me because the screens were breaking and the others just seem a few months behind.

The first thing I did was charge it before turning it on. There were a few scary reviews about the screen of death and not working because of shipping issues so I turned it on with baited breath. It started up and went through the setup process. I had read were XP was over bloated with useless software so I anticipated removing much of which was preloaded. To my surprise I deleted nothing. I added AVAST Anti Virus Software and Firefox. I ran the system scan and did the windows update. After I restarted I expected delays but was shocked at how fast this thing turns on. I surfed the internet (which by the way was picked up in seconds by the unit. If it is encrypted, as mine is you, can do it after your initial setup.)with lightning fast speed. I was contemplating buying the 2GB of RAM but truly there is no need for it as I can see.

This unit is the perfect size and after reading about the Glossy display on other units I am glad I chose this one. There were complaints about the thin pin from the power cord breaking and I can see that happening if you are careless but I plan on charging the unit at night as the battery life will suffice for the entire day the way I use it.

I will be buying another unit for my wife within the next few days so I guess you can say I am extremely pleased.

Ok It is September 09 2009 and I am updating my review. I am typing this on my EEE HA-V so it is still working. After a few months not much has cahnged from my initial review. I am purchasing the 2gb memory as some websites take a little longer than I would like such as Yahoo, Facebook and even Amazon. Other than that it is Awesome. No Problems. I just got back from six flags and I took the laptop with me. It picked the internet up in the Hotel, and I never even need the battery charger.

Still Pleased.

A week after my sister-in-law saw my Asus Eee Pc 900, she decided she wanted one. That was about the time I decided I wanted this one. Being a touch typist for umpteen years, I found it very difficult to do anything productive on the other's itty bitty keyboard. I sold her my 900 one day and bought this one the next. NOW this is more like it! The size of the screen is nice. The keyboard is large enough for me to type with ease. It is a sharp looking computer, and I get asked about it everywhere I go. "Is that one of the netbooks? How do you like it?" It is, and I love it!

I think quite honestly if I were recommending a netbook for ease of use, comfort, size and weight, I would without reservations recommend this netbook to anyone, anytime, anywhere. You simply cannot go wrong! Reasonable screen size, comfortable keyboard size, best track pad I've ever used (and you can even turn it off when you use a mouse), LONG battery life, large hard drive, full-size right shift key... What's not to love! You will hardly even notice the half-size up and down keys. These people honestly got the keyboard right, condensed all the right keys, and kept all the needed ones large. The screen is bright, and the computer looks sleek and sharp!

The one and only concern I have is the size of the pin on the power supply. It is tiny, and I could potentially see that would be the one thing I might break. But at a true six-hour battery life, you can surf off and on all day and never need another charge until you plug it in at night.

Don't wait another day to get yourself this notebook, I mean netbook! You'll wish you'd done it sooner! At least, I wished I hadn't waited as long as I did!

(April 19, 2010) I have had this netbook for 8 months now, and I still love it as much as the first days I used it. The keyboard is the right size for typing; the battery life is amazingly long, and I have no problems whatsoever getting hooked up at wi-fi locations. The boot up time is short, so I'm off and running on my applications very quickly. I can't say enough good things about this netbook. It isn't meant to be a person's primary computer, but it could function as one if you needed it only for internet, email, and word-processing applications. Still to this day, its best feature is that is will easily fit in a briefcase or large handbag. You can get the convenience and portability of a small computer with the capability of doing most things a large computer can do. It's still one of my favorite toys and still a great investment! No regrets here!

I've had my eee for about a week, and although there are a few things that irk me, I still think it's a great purchase. I also purchased the 2GB memory and installed it as soon as the eee arrived.

Here's my two cents:
Pros:
-The matte screen is great outdoors. Very easy to see even on a sunny day.
-The mouse is easy to use. I love that it has left click, right click, and scroll built in. It's pretty cool that it blends right in, too.
-The keyboard is a great size. I've worked with a 10 inch acer aspire,which might have the same size keyboard, but I found the eee to have a better feel.

Cons:
-The first thing I noticed (I'm a bit of a nut with the "look" of my purchases) was the space bar wasn't even with the rest of the keyboard. Although this isn't a big deal, it was a little annoying that my brand new netbook had a slight defect.
-The 8.5 hour battery isn't really 8.5 hours when using the internet. I did some research before I bought the 1005HA-V, and I saw that the 10.5 hour 1005 HA-V's reviews said the same thing about its battery. Expect about 7- 7 1/2 hours when using the internet with the HA-V.
-The battery also makes the netbook a little heavier than I had hoped. It's not bad though, but when buying a netbook with a better battery life, I suppose you'll have some extra weight.

All in all, I'd buy the HA-V again. It is great for word processing and net surfing, which is exactly what I was looking for in a netbook.

If you're reading this, you're either at the beginning of a long, review-ridden journey to find the perfect netbook, or you've already read hundreds of reviews. I spent two weeks poring over reviews and spec sheets, looking for the right balance of cost and performance. And this is it.

The Asus 1005HA-VU1X is everything it claims to be: a sleek little netbook with solid (not premium) features, exceptional battery life, and a very simple out-of-the-box setup. The HDD read times are fast, as are the network components. The keyboard is surprisingly comfortable, even for a hard-line touch typist. Included software is decent (though I did end up uninstalling MS Office, Works, and IE in favor of OpenOffice and Firefox), and there really isn't too much bloatware. The screen is perfect for everyday use, and I frequently use it to stream Netflix movies. The design is very handsome, and the whole package is very light. Finally, the battery: I've gotten seven hours out of every charge since this little guy arrived. Seven hours!!!

I have made some mods that improve performance, though none of them is so drastic that they should be considered necessary. To begin with, I uninstalled much of the included software (for personal preference reasons). I used the second partition (the 160GB drive is split into two 80GB partitions upon delivery) for Linux Mint 7. On the Windows side, I installed VirtuaWin (virtual desktops), xplorer2 (file management), and VLC (media player). As a devout Mac user, I can be very picky; these small tweaks left me very happy with the look and performance of the XP Home-based 1005HA.

There were a few concerns that kept me from giving this guy a five-star rating, but not from loving it. The first was Bluetooth: apparently there are a few different configurations sold under the same part number, and some don't include Bluetooth. The model I got had no BT, which was confusing; however, since I don't care for that technology at all, I wasn't the least bit upset. The second was the included online storage: this little feature was the victim of the same poor planning as Bluetooth. Again, I just don't care that much.

The bottom line on the Asus 1005HA-VU1X: a fast, power-friendly, and attractive little netbook that's perfect for moderate use (read homework, email, word/document processing), as well as light multimedia functions. The netbook is extremely portable, and I can tether to my iPhone for on-the-go internet access in under a minute. This is a GREAT product!

The Asus 1000HA Netbook is a cute little device that provides all the essential tasks I need as a college student.
- I needed something light
- Something I could bring to lectures and type up notes
- Something that wouldn't put a damper on my wallet (one of the main reasons I purchased this one)
- And something that would make transfers to my desktop as easy as possible
The Asus did all these things

Everything is pretty easy to use (still getting the hang of the extra Eee features the netbook came with).
The keyboard is nice and big compared to most netbooks and the zoom feature on the touchpad is pretty niffty.

I have had a few 'issues' with the netbook though...
I was kind of irked about the fact that the battery life is more like 6 hours than the advertised 8.. I also had to reinstall the Synaptics Mouse driver because after installing my AT&T AirCard the touch pad just crapped out and refused to work. I also had to reinstall The APCI driver (works the keyboard) because the function keys stopped working. Both were easy to fix though.. just went to the Synaptics and the ASUS website and they had repair drivers there and easy to find.
Also, The webcam didn't come with any software? What's with that?

One thing I did really like though is the battery life-- I was going to purchase the same make and model from BestBuy for $299 but it came with 4 hours less of batter life- 4 HOURS! For $30 more and the sacrifice of a megapixel in the webcam I got this one. I'm still happy with my purchase, but we'll see what challenges this little PC will conjure up down the road.

I obsessed about purchasing a netbook for about three months looking at models from HP, Dell, ASUS, Acer and Toshiba, and of course in that three month period new choices emerged.

Last week I decided to choose between the Toshiba NB205 and the EEE PC 1005HA. I narrowed the 1005HA down from the PU-1X at $378 to the VU-1X at $329.99 for two reasons: The PU has a glossy screen and the VU has a matte screen - I use my laptops outside, so a glossy screen was not a possibility; also, at $50 less, I was willing to forego the 10.5 hour battery for the 8.5.

The Toshiba's keyboard was very very appealing, but the glossy screen, though described as not too glossy, was too risky for me. Also, I did not like several reviews that complained of very low volume speakers and non-intuitive first time internet access. I was concerned that the ASUS wouldn't be as stylish or solid as the Toshiba seems to be, but . . .

I received my 1005HA yesterday, in white, which I chose because I don't want a fingerprint magnet in black or blue. The first surprise was how sleek and solid it is. It does not look like a toy nor does it feel like one. Also, the keyboard is surprisingly comfortable. The touch pad is very nice to use which surprised me because a few reviewers complained that it was hard to control and that the click bar was undesirable. I see no problems in those areas. The screen is of course just 10 inches, but clarity and brightness are very good.

After just a day, I am a very happy camper. This little tyke booted up quickly and only took an hour and a half to fully charge the first time. Battery life so far appears to be very good, though I doubt I will get the 8.5 hour maximum as I do use the internet a fair bit. Still, I anticipate truly getting 6.5-7 hours, which is plenty for my needs. If this is a deal breaker for you, then the PU might be the way to go. But there are very easy to use power management features anyhow, and a button that quickly turns off and on the wireless connection for power conservation.

Volume is excellent, and sound quality is good. You tube videos play well but are not excellent. Internet access is consistent and fast. I can run an internet program and type a document without any loss of speed, and this little thing is very fast compared to my 4 year old Dell Inspiron 600 m.

In addition to a preinstalled Microsoft Office 60 day trial, ASUS has included Works, and I was able to save a document, e-mail it myself, and open it in Word 2003 on my Dell without a glitch. So, I will consider not bothering with Office unless I decide that I do want to use Powerpoint on the ASUS.

So, yes, it has only been 24 hours, but unless something goes horribly awry, I think this was a great choice. If you want a fast, light (per my scale it's 2.6 pounds with the battery in), sleek, ergonomic netbook for basic multiple computing needs, this won't disappoint.

I thought I did a good job of evaluating the ASUS netbook before buying it, but I missed a critical problem in my research. It seems a high number of people are experiencing failures in the AC adaptor that charges the battery. (Search for AC adaptor failure.) They overheat and stop working. Mine failed on Sunday and I am leaving the country on Thursday. I called ASUS to get a quick replacement and the only thing they could tell me is that they had none in stock and they had no idea when they would be getting any in. Because the 1005HA's plug is unique and the computer is relatively new, there are no after-market or third party providers. As a result, for the foreseeable future (no one can tell me for exactly how long) I have a very nice paperweight. For the same price, buy a Samsung.

This is a great computer. I have had it for a week. Small and lightweight with a 8 hour battery life. Very little waste heat so it is truely a 'laptop'. Great to take outside on a nice day, or to take on trips. Very fast and has a decent hard drive too. The matte screen seems to reduce glare when outside. A very excellent machine.

If you are in the market for a netbook, this is definitely one to get. It is stylish, and offers all the things that I was looking for; price, function, and portability. I opted for the white since the outside is glossy and I didn't want to be wiping my fingerprints off every ten seconds. I charged it for the recommended eight hours before using, to condition the battery and off I flew, testing the speed of the basic programs, apps, etc. They all ran brilliantly. Oh, I did update the BIOS (this is explained in the manual) and deleted all the extra programs that come installed that I didn't need. Considering that it's not meant for gaming/graphics, it handled movies played through Windows Media Player just fine (standard and high-definition). Flash movies (Youtube and Hulu) ran a bit choppy on the high-definition videos. You can opt to crank up the performance of the netbook which helps when viewing videos.

I, like some others did have the misfortune of getting a dud. In my case, the battery stopped charging and my the on-screen meter was stuck at 73%. With electronics, it happens. I am glad that I opted to purchase through Amazon and not some lesser-known site as they promptly sent me a replacement and paid for the return shipping. The replacement is perfect and I've had no problems whatsoever.

I highly recommend this as a travel or secondary computer in the home.
And if you are choosing between this one (VU1X) and the higher version (PU1X), the latter comes bluetooth ready with a 1.3 Megapix camera (instead of 0.3), 10.5 battery life (instead of 8.5), slightly faster processor, and a glossy screen for about $60 more usually.

And lastly, don't forget to get a sleeve or case! I had to find more things to buy to get the free shipping =)