Customer Reviews

ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005PE-MU17-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook (Up to 11 Hours of Battery Life)

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I tend to think of myself as very methodical when it comes to electronics purchases, and my netbook purchase was no exception. I wanted great construction, performance, battery life, and value. That's a lot to ask for anything. But here is why I picked the 1005PE-MU17. For reference, here are the other considerations that I had in mind before I settled on the 1005PE-MU17.

1) Asus 1005PE-PU17 ($372)
2) HP 5102 ($400+)
3) Toshiba NB305-410 ($400)

Construction:
I'll admit it, the HP 5102 and Toshiba NB305 are better constructed. The 1005PE-PU17 has the same construction as this one. However, that doesn't mean this netbook's construction is poor in any sense. It feels solid throughout, the screen isn't flimsy, and the keystrokes are crisp. I don't really have a problem typing on the keyboard, but the right shift key will take some time to get used to (not that I use it that often anyway). It is light, and the screen is beautiful for its size. At full power, the graphics on screen are very crisp, I always love gloss screens, because they play videos and so much better. A BIG part of the reason I went with the 1005PE-MU17 over the 1005PE-PU17 is the color choice. The 1005PE-PU17 has only gloss black and gloss blue finishes. I saw these netbooks with dirty fingerprints at the store, and it really takes a lot away from your netbook. By trying to get those fingerprints off, you get more on, and it's really just an endless uphill battle. You can't win. This was enough to warrant me from getting the 1005PE-PU17 series. Luckily, the 1005PE-MU17's 11 hour battery life (as opposed to the 14 hour battery life in the 1005PE-PU17) suits me, and I can live without the bluetooth that the PU17 series adds. The gloss white finish is beautiful, and you can't notice fingerprints on any of the white parts. It's also very attractive, giving off kind of an ipod-esque feel. Get the gloss white, you'll be happy you did.

Performance:
It's great. In all test reviews I read (a lot) the 1005PE series beats out the Toshiba and the HP series netbooks. All were equipped with the new N450 Atoms. While only very marginally, real performance gains are to be had. An attractive feature however, is the Asus ExpressGate. It boots up almost instantly into this mini OS and from there you can chat or surf the web. It's simple and easy. Mouse controls feel slightly different in this Expressgate configuration, but you get used to it. Also, reviews indicated that the HP 5102 tended to get a bit hot and the fan made audible noise in quiet rooms. This is great for libraries, and the fan goes, but you really can't hear it. I've found no hot spots either. So it performs better and runs cool? Yes it does, and extremely well.

Battery Life:
One of the biggest points of owning a netbook is battery life. You want a small computer you can use everywhere, but you shouldn't have to carry a charger everywhere you go. Can you imagine if you needed to carry around your battery charger everywhere you went with your cell phone? No, and it's great that for this netbook, you don't have to. A full charge, under reasonable conditions (not a fully lit screen or super high performance mode) should last you all day. No need to visit an outlet or hunt for one in a crowded coffee shop. Whether it's school or work or simply going to Starbucks for the day to read, you can stay connected without having to lug around the charger. That is one of the biggest benefits of the new N450 Atom processor. You can look forward to nearly 11 hours. I could have gotten the 1005PE-PU17 with the 14 hour battery, which is great in itself, but I knew the fingerprints would have driven me crazy. With the 1005PE-MU17 and its 11 hour battery life, it is nearly as good, but you don't have to be committed into an insane asylum after constantly fighting off the fingerprint smudges. And if anyone wants to know, the charger is tiny anyway, nothing near what my full size notebook needs. So even if you do have to carry it, you can throw it into your purse or backpack and its minimal anyway. Big plus!

Value:
At around $320-$330, this netbook is a steal for this value. While the other netbooks have slightly better construction materials, they don't really beat this one in performance (other than the 1005PE-PU17, but like I said....FINGERPRINTS). This is the core netbook that all netbooks on the market try to beat. And everyone knows it. Asus is still king of the netbook market bar none.

Final Thoughts:
I really wanted the 1005PE-PU17 because it had even better battery life and the extra bluetooth , but I couldn't find anything but that fingerprint attracting gloss black and gloss blue in the US. Those colors are not designed for function, they're designed for PR photos. It looks attractive and all when it's new and untouched, but in actual execution it's not so great. Go check any of the gloss options at retail stores, you'll see what I mean. I don't know who decides on the colors, but there needs to be more options other than that. I wish I wish I wish. But, the 1005PE-MU17 stepped it up with its beautiful gloss white finish, excellent performance, and great battery life. I know there's people out there who are in the same dilemma about the fingerprints, and this netbook is your answer. Get it and be merry.

Wow! This is day 4 of using the Asus eePC netbook and it far exceeds my expectations. The Windows 7 starter OS works so well with the computer. Recognized my local network and our local Barnes and Noble wireless network and it was a snap to setup. Vista and XP would have been a nightmare.

I will be using the computer on my travels in the US and Europe. It will function as my telephone via Skype, e-mail writer and reader, listening to books from Audible, reading books downloaded from Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Add to that my mp3 and video player via Windows Media Player. Oh yes, I just typed a letter on word and pulled down a spreadsheet for Windows Live.

Lets start from the top. The LED screen is 10 inches, clear, colorful and seems to be very battery friendly. The keyboard is good except for a very small right shift key. Not as good as my full size keyboard on my desktop but the whole computer weighs less than the keyboard! The speed of the wireless N network on my Asus is similar to my Sony Vaio Duo, fast. Handled my streaming video from Netflick's well. The battery; the 6 cell battery has lasted 10 hours + listening to mp3's while using Microsoft Office, watching video from Netflicks, and reading and listening to books. Didn't turn off the wireless either. Not bad. I haven't done any heavy duty computing like working on video or photo work. I have my quad core desktop for that stuff.

I am wondering how book readers and tablets(Apple?) will be able to compete with a netbook like this? It can do it all and compute as well. If the hardware continues to work as well as it did out of the box, it will will be an ideal road warrior and entertainer.

I looked at netbooks and small notebook computers for over a month, and I probably spent more time than is reasonable or sane on the entire project - simply because I wanted to be able to travel lighter than before, and have a computer that could still do most of what I need.

I looked at:

Lenovo U150
Lenovo S10
Acer Aspire One
Toshiba NB205
Dell Mini

I eventually bought the 1005PE because of it's battery life, the processor, and it's keyboard, and overlooked the mouse (which I have come to view as acceptable).

Things I Liked About the 1005PE:
=================================
1. The keyboard. It's much better than I expected. The keys bounce when I type, and I kind of like that. I wouldn't call it flex, and frankly I don't even understand what keyboard "flex" is anyway. I type fast and I write a great deal as part of my job, and if the keyboard were not comfortable, it would be the first reason to not buy the computer. They say the keyboard is 92% of a full size, and it feels that way or just a bit smaller. But it's easy to type on and I love that.

2. The processor. The computer has been able to do everything I wanted. I have watched videos, listened to music, plugged in an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and I've even run several programs at one time. I do a lot of spreadsheet work and I've not used it for any of that, but I am now confident that it could do that reasonably well as long as I didn't go crazy on the rows and columns.

One thing that surprised me is that I was told that I needed to be aware that I could not use the computer for more than one thing at a time, and that it couldn't be my main machine. But the fact is that I've been running two or three programs at once, and it is fine. I know it's not a business-class machine, but for my kind of business, it's doing great. I run trading software (Metatrader 4), gmail, music, and web browsers all at the same time.

I did add 1GB of RAM (for a total of 2GB) and that helps as well, I am sure.

3. The battery life. I love that the battery lasts as long as it does. It seems to be lasting 9+ hours for every charge.

What I didn't like so much
=============================
1. The mouse. The mouse pad has bumps on it and I didn't like that so much. I'd have preferred a little mouse nipple like I have on my Thinkpad X61. I hated that at first and got used to it. Don't get me wrong: the mouse on the 1005PE works fine, and I've gotten used to it. And it was worth getting over for all of the other features.

2. No built in 3G. I'd love to have been able to have a PCI Express card slot or a built in 3G modem. As it stands, I have a USB modem for Verizon's wireless broadband and it works great. It just adds one more piece of equipment that I have to carry around.

I looked at a ton of computers before I bought this one. I'm happy with what I got. I think it's fair to say that for most, they're going to want to have a separate computer if they do major work stuff, but I've found that I am able to do everything I need and I haven't sacrificed any major performance to get it.

I've had the Eee PC 1005PE-MU17 for a few days and so far so good. I chose this netbook primarily because of the battery life and the keyboard. So far I have not been disappointed, the keyboard is small but it is comfortable and the separation of the keys makes typing a lot easier than the Aspire One. The keys seem to be smaller on this unit but the layout much more "typist friendly". I'm not crazy about the touch pad, I much prefer the touch pad on some of the HP units. Where the buttons are on the side as opposed to the bottom. That would have given you more surface area to work with. The touchpad does have gesture support but it's not that great. The pinch and zoom is a real annoyance and I have turned it off. Also I think I would have liked a unit with separate buttons for left and right click. The single rocker is ok but it does not seem to be as responsive as some of the other netbooks on the market.

With the screen brightness set to a moderate level I was able to get about 8 hours of life out of the battery. That's plenty for my usage, I usually plug it in at night so I'm not sure how long it takes to reach a full charge. I suppose the "Eee Super Hybraid Engine" helps with that. I don't know but that's the claim. I have noticed that Hulu videos plan smoother when I turn the engine up to full power. H.264 videos plays excellent in Windows Media player and VLC.

If you are sensitive to glare you are going to hate this screen, it's very reflective. Personally it doesn't bother me because I prefer the glossy ones over the matte screens.

I know it sound like I'm pointing out a lot of negatives about this unit but I think it's things that you may want know before buying. I researched several netbooks over the past few weeks and I'm VERY happy with this one. I would definitely buy this one again.

This is my first time purchasing a netbook, and I made a great choice. After literally hours of research to find the perfect little thing to carry around with me on campus, I found the ASUS Eee PC 1005 Pe! I needed something light, extremely dependable to use during classes to type up notes, and cheap; I already have an HP laptop, but it was way too heavy and its battery is way too short to carry around university.

I'm not exactly the most informed on electronics, so I googled multiple times, went on laptopmag.com, cnet.com, et cetera, et cetera, and I made an informed decision. After all my probing, reading, and weighing my options, I decided to go with the Asus Eee PC 1005 Pe.

The netbook is so light; I can carry it around in my purse/tote and it doesn't bother me at all. The battery life, unfortunately, is a little bit less then expected (I think I screwed it up though because I did not fully charge the battery before first use...). At 100%, the battery life is around 8-6 hours, depending on how vigorously I use the netbook, brightness of the display, and other factors. The display is bright, and all the colors are true to life. The keyboard is not full-size, but very practical in terms of ratio; I barely make mistakes when typing. The touch pad area is pretty much the only downside of this netbook. It's quite tiny, and the touch functions are not very receptive. However, I use the Fn and arrow keys to scroll up/down, so it's no biggie.

To sum it up, the netbook has very attractive functions and capabilities, including price!

Tidbits:
I have been using the netbook for about a week now, and I'm currently a student on a budget.

I've only had this baby for a couple of days, but I want to share a few things while they are fresh in my mind. Questions that I had.

RAM- I purchased the following 2gb RAM (From Crucial). Crucial PN# CT1166735 Material #CT25664AC800.M16FE The material number is confusing because it almost matches what others have said did not work, but it does. Press the power button and immediately start pushing the F2 key. The BIOS directory will open. Right arrow over to "BOOT", Select it, and turn off the "BOOT BOOSTER", Exit out and let WIN 7 load. Shut it down, install your new RAM. Power back up and WIN 7 will have recognized the 2gb RAM. Shut down, go back into the BIOS directory and turn "BOOT BOOSTER" back on, exit BIOS and let WIN 7 load. Life is good.

It came with MS Office 2007 Trial- got rid of it. Trend Security Trial- Got rid of it (wasn't easy!). MS Works- Got rid of it. Adobe Reader 9, MS Office Power Point viewer, and a myriad of other stuff.

Installed MS Office Prof. 2003, Norton IS for netbooks 2010. VZ Access Manager for my aircard (no HS internet where I live). Firefox 3.6 (turned off IE 8). I'm debating on upgrading to Home Premium, but I'm going to play with Starter for a while.

It's recommended that you charge the battery for 8 hours before turning it on, but if you're like me...I only did 4 hours and it seems to be fine. I did leave it plugged in for the full 8 hours, and then drained it totally working on battery only.

I like the keyboard and I have big hands. The touch-pad buttons have what I would equate to a 9 lb trigger pull, but I like that too.

Movies play good, and I have no issue with the speed at all.

I'll update again in about a month after I brutalize it...

By the way, my nearest neighbor is about 1000' away and I picked up their WIFI with a good signal. My other laptop wouldn't even recognize it.

Peace

I bought this for my wife and spent a lot of time researching and shopping for the right netbook. I knew very little about them before now. We just got this one yesterday but had the same model (different color) for a about a week before I returned to Best Buy because my wife really wanted the white one. Only place I found to get the white one was on Amazon. The battery life is incredible and the netbook is very easy to use right out of the box. The setup was simple and it connected up to our wireless network without a hitch. The overall performance is impressive and I plan to upgrade to 2GB soon so expect it to be even better. I have to say that I expected to have to upgrade the ram immediately but I have not found that to be the case. Videos have performed well and internet surfing has been no issue at all. Overall we love this thing and now I want one... Great price too.

Best netbook to buy. No complaints. Beyond my expectations. Great battery 10+hours, fast, small, and looks very nice. The keyboard is great to type on, its easier than any other netbook i've tried. At first, I bought the walmart special "E-machines" for $228 plus tax, is was a nice little computer, but no special features and horrible battery. I really wanted this model though, so I ordered it and returned my emachines to walmart, I'm glad I did. Asus has my business in the netbook world. The 10' screen is bright and sharp. The webcam with added youcam is a blast to use. Lots of storage plus online storage. 3 USBS, RGB, Headphone/Mic Jacks, SD Card Reader and built in quality speakers. And people YES you CAN change the background on Asus netbooks, read your book before you complain. Using the eedock you CAN change your background and even use multiple background that change every 5,10,15mins etc. If you didn't know that check it out. I love this computer, and I have absolutely NO complaints. Some people dislike the textured track pad, I actually like it alot. I did a alot of research and comparing, and this is the one to get hands down. I demand that you buy one right now.

Update 3/2/10: I been using the netbook for a week now. I notice there are minor lagging with some of the task that doesn't use to lag. Also the battery life bar is very funky and inaccurate. It jumps up and down randomly. Today my battery was fully charged but the battery life only lasted around 8 hours. I kind of wish I bought a N150 now. I will keep you guys updated.

Update 2/28/10: This product contains a low z sound from the processor. I referred to two friends who also bought it, all three has a low clicking sound coming out of the processor. It's very quiet but kind of annoying. Other than that I would've to say this is the best Net-book for the price on the market today!

I got my netbook yesterday and my initial reaction was holy **** this netbook looks good! Charged for about *>12HOURS<* IT IS VERY IMPORTANT GUYS. The initial battery life actually started out with 12hours which is amazing. Key board take some time getting use to but it's decent and solid. Touch pad is way better than most of the brand's. Screen can adjust from very bright to deem. Just when I was amazed with tiny little thing... Then I notice something... A low tone clicking z sound coming out from inside the net-book, at this point I was like why!?!!? I really want to keep the net-book.

Called Asus they were nice about everything but after some long hold they told me I have to pay for ONE WAY SHIPPING in order to exchange it. WTHECK? I asked the person... You guys sell me a defect product and I have to pay to return it?? Anyways, I was about to send them to BBB, and that is when Amazon saved their ass.

Filled out one of those exchange fourms on Amazon. Then called Amazon's customer service. This is what I experience from Amazon:
Sir you'll receive the new one tomorrow.(I literally froze... U mean u are not going to ship it tomorrow but instead I am going to receive it tomorrow?) Yes sir. And just return the original with the prepaid UPS label the UPS man give you. Here is the local UPS #, you can schedule a pick up with them at your convenience. Amazing service from Amazon. I will never shop online at anywhere else. Thank you guys.

I'm sure you've already read a ton of reviews (as I did when I was researching netbooks) so I'll try to make this review valuable:

1. Upgrade to 2gb RAM right away. It's only $40, and I can't imagine what performance is like without it. I'm really satisfied with 2gb RAM speed.

2. Let it completely sleep or hibernate or shut down (wait for lights to go out) before closing the netbook. I was in a hurry before, and when I didn't let it complete it's shutdown ritual, I'd go into checkdisk upon restart/resume. This is not a complaint, just expect it.

3. I've only gotten one blue screen of death in 1 month of daily use. For a PC in its early years, I'll take it.

4. Windows 7 Starter is not as terrible as others write. You can do all the important things. Upgrade if you want to personalize your desktop wallpaper, theme, whatever.

5. Battery life is really good on these machines. My friends with normal PC laptops have to plug in at the coffee shop. I don't.

6. Expect small screen resolution and limited multitasking. Use Firefox or Chrome and this little guy flies. Give one a test drive at the store to see if it suits you.

7. I took it on a trip to NYC, and it was perfect because of its portability and effectiveness. I was able to check email, blog, post photos to flickr with ease. Netbooks are the ultimate traveling machine, and ASUS makes a very good one.