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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth it once you work past a few kinks, August 27, 2010
This review is from: ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005PE-MU27-PI 10.1-Inch Netbook with Kindle for PC (Pink) (Personal Computers)
I received my netbook on Wednesday but wanted to wait for a few days before voicing my opinion. I'm glad I did.
Like many, I changed the RAM to 2 GB, though I did this prior to turning the computer on for the first time. Following that, I pressed the wrong "power" button and found myself in Asus' Express Gate, which immediately frustrated me because I thought that that was it - I was stuck with those four programs, with no way of accessing the large hard drive, etc.. One short panic attack later, I did some Googling and realized that you're supposed to press the button on the right to access Windows 7. So I did.
I spent the next few hours attempting to customize, but installing an antivirus program, backing up the computer, dealing with the "your antivirus programs are off" flag and not realizing that the netbook was attempting to update its own antivirus program in the background made everything lock up. I was only able to do things once every few minutes, and I was worried that the problem was either with the memory or with the netbook or with Windows 7. In any case, not happy.
One day later, with a much cooler head, I played around a bit with it, adding in Asus' System Setting utility so that I could change the background. It turned out that once I stopped being an idiot trying to run too many installers at once, the 2GB memory was more than enough to keep everything running smoothly. Go figure ;)
There were a lot of complaints about Windows 7 Starter, but now that they've removed the three-app restriction, I find that it's really easy to work with. I installed Office 2007 and haven't had any issues as I work on my book or browse the internet. A lot of the upgrades in Windows 7 Ultimate had to do with movie playback/recording and DVDs, none of which are functions that I intend to use on this tiny little thing. I even tested it out and found that I can use a VGA cable and hook up my television as a monitor. I'm hoping that this translates into a projector-friendly function.
It does take a little while to get used to the keyboard, and I find that my hands rest with my palms on the wristrest and my arms on the table. My actual wrists are hovering in midair, which is annoying but not wholly uncomfortable. Just have to get used to it, I suppose.
If you read through this whole review, thanks. I think that the ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005PE-MU27-PI 10.1-Inch Pink Netbook with Kindle for PC (11 Hours of Battery Life) is a great purchase. I wouldn't use it for Photoshopping, but for a day-to-day alternative to the heavy-duty laptop, it does quite well. (Please note that it was a bit pinker than I expected. Must be a trick of the lighting.)
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dream come true for Victorian e-readers, October 8, 2010
This review is from: ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005PE-MU27-PI 10.1-Inch Netbook with Kindle for PC (Pink) (Personal Computers)
Ever heard of Petticoat Government by Fanny Trollope? My favorite pastime is reading old books, including obscure Victorian novels not available in reprint. Google Books has a huge collection of these books, ditto Internet Archive. Was using a Kindle to read these, but tired of the fussy steps needed to convert PDF books containing pictures. (Also tired of the unlit grey background.) Thought of getting an Ipad, but really craved a full service PC. This darling little pink netbook fills the bill. Weight feels about the same as reading a hardcover book - acceptable. It was easy to download Adobe Reader, and use google to find PF shortcuts. E.g. to get the book's page to fill the screen: Ctl/L (full screen), then Ctl/shift/+ (rotate clockwise), then Ctl/3 (fit visible). Screen resolution must be 1024x600. A great way to page up/down is to use the built-in mouse buttons (the metal bar in the wristpad area). So far the netbook has remained cool even after several hours reading. Since Adobe Reader does not have bookmarks, when I'm done reading I don't close the book's window, just minimize it using Windows/D. Likewise I hibernate instead of shutting down - thus the book is still at the page where I left off. Another method is to record the page number in Wordpad, and later go back to the page in Adobe Reader using Ctl/Shift/N (go to).
Lots of great features including the Fn hot key which lets you do a lot of common tasks easily from the desktop: brighten, darken, turn on/off net access, adjust or mute volume, change screen resolution, etc. Internet access is as fast as on my other PCs. I did notice one of my scanning programs ran noticeably slower, ditto some downloads, but overall the 1GB RAM is fine for my needs. MS Works comes with an old version of Word, nice. Btw each time the battery fully drains, and is recharged, more hours are available. I think 11 hours is realistic if one is doing a low-level task like reading. Usually don't need an external mouse, but when I do, I like the Eee corded one in matching pink. Kindle for PC came installed for reading current books and periodicals.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Cute but Buggy, September 12, 2010
This review is from: ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005PE-MU27-PI 10.1-Inch Netbook with Kindle for PC (Pink) (Personal Computers)
In general this is a nice little machine. It's a pretty netbook, shiny (but beware - it's a fingerprint magnet!) and sturdy. I've upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium and 2gb RAM and it now runs just as quickly as a standard-sized laptop. However, there are some issues that you should be aware of before you choose this machine:
Most of the problems I've encountered have been related to upgrading the RAM to 2gb. While the upgrade does improve speed immensely, in the past week I've already had problems with the following:
-If you plug the netbook into the AC adaptor while it is running,the system hangs and you get alarming patterns of screen corruption. From what I've read online, updating the BIOS can at least temporarily fix this problem.
-Controlling the screen brightness - the fn shortcuts for screen brightness and volume control only work sometimes, and the screen brightness actually jumps around randomly when you try to increase or decrease it.
-system won't sleep/shut down properly - sometimes Windows will shut down, but the fan will keep running and the power buttons remain lit. This requires a force shut down.
These three problems seem to be common. They can be remedied by sacrificing your need for speed and keeping a 1gb RAM module in your machine. There also seem to be quick fixes that other users have discovered. It's an annoyance, but in my opinion not a deal-breaker.
The only other problem I've encountered is a continual, annoying clicking noise. At first I was alarmed, thinking my hard drive was bad, but then I learned that this is the head parking itself. This saves power and prevents the head from crashing into the drive if it's dropped. I downloaded a small utility called quietHDD that stops the clicking. However, I would recommend only using it when you have minimal risk of dropping your netbook.
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