Customer Reviews

ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005PE-PU17-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook (Up to 14 Hours of Battery Life)

5 star:		(96)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I purchased this little computer about a week ago and so far it has been great. So far I have not found anything to complain about with the computer so I will list a few of the things I like:

- Even with the extended capacity battery, the computer is very light and portable
- The battery life is great! My daughter watched movies for almost 8 hours on our plane ride home without a hitch or stutter. After being in use for nearly the entire flight, it still had 35% of the battery remaining. Another note on the battery, in the earlier 1005 netbooks, the battery would stick out past the screen on the rear of the netbook. That is no longer the case, on the 1005PE it is flush with the rear of the netbook.
- The keyboard is nice and decent size. I almost bought a Toshiba solely because I did not like the keyboard on the 1005HA version of this machine. Asus changed the keyboard on this model to a chiclet keyboard which is much better. I saw one review that thought the keyboard was flimsy. As far as I can tell, the Asus has no more flexibility in the keyboard than the Acer or Toshiba netbooks I looked at.
- Windows 7 starter and Asus Utility. I saw a few reviews where people complained about Win7 Starter. Again, so far no problems with the OS, it does what it is intended to do. As far as the complaints about changing the background on the desktop, Asus was kind enough to provide a utility that makes changing the background very easy.
- WLAN - since I bought the netbook, it has been in 6 locations that have wireless internet and it has jumped on the network easily each time regardless on encryption.

A couple more thoughts on netbooks in general:
- Netbooks are not desktop replacements or miniture laptops. They are intended to provide basic computing and internet needs. If you are expecting it to fly through huge power point presentations or apps that require a lot of RAM and processing power you will be disappointed. If all you need is a computer that travels easily and will allow you to surf the web, play music and video and run office programs, netbooks can be a very good choice.
- I would recommend that anyone who buys a netbook remove as much of the installed software as they can. I was able to remove alot of pre-loaded junk and the netbook ran faster. Here are a few program that I think every netbook should have: Firefox or Google Chrome for internet, vlc (Videolan) for music and movie playback, Open Office 3 for word processing, spreadsheets, etc and Foxit Reader for opening .pdf files.
Also, I have seen several recommendations to replace the 1GB Ram with a 2GB stick. I have not done this yet and it still works great. At the moment I have a 4GB SD card installed to see if there are any performance gains using the Windows Reafyboost function. So far so good.

The bottom line is that this netbook has exceeded my expectations and is a solid little machine. I would recommend it to anyone in search of a good netbook.

Intel has been gearing up to release the Atom N450 or "Pinetrail" since late last year. The manufacturers had a whole slew of netbooks ready for release between January 4 (when the big electronics show CES opened) and January 11 of 2010 (when it's ok to sell all the new Atom N450 based netbooks). Information was very scarce last year due to a press release embargo and probably the desire to sell of old-stock Atom N270/N280 netbooks.

Here is an extremely useful, albeit technical, review of this particular Asus model AND of the Atom N450 on which it is based (if the link gets edited out by Amazon, go to anandtech and search for Asus 1005PE):

[...]

Please note that Amazon already has a less expensive Asus, the 1001P, listed on the website, in two versions as well, a more expensive Win 7 Starter edition with 250 gb hard drive and a less expensive Win XP edition [edit: they now both have Win7 Starter, and the 1001p is now an anandtech editors choice - their current netbook favorite!] with 160 gb harddrive:

ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1001P-PU17-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up to 11 Hours of Battery Life

ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1001P-MU17-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - Up to 11 Hours of Battery Life

The main difference is 3 extra hours of battery life, but there may be other feature differences such as wirless n and bluetooth support.

I am thinking about getting the Win XP version of the 1001p which is quite a bargain. While Win 7 Starter actually runs quite well on these netbooks, and has a few nice features, Win XP is still slightly faster and less of a resource hog. To get my current Win 7 netbooks to match Win XP, I have to do a lot of adjusting (turning off auto indexing, turning off auto disk defrag, choosing Windows Classic theme instead of Win 7) and Win XP is still slightly faster. My main hope in getting a new N450 netbook would be that elusive grail of netbook owners, decent Hulu and YouTube performance (believe it or not, I can watch DVD's and h.264 high rez content, but not the stinkin' Hulu and YouTube content except at low rez, not-full-screen mode).

Early reports are that the N450 has about a 10% performance increase over the last generation Atom netbooks, and a 20% battery life increase, but as always YMMV.

THERE ARE TWO IMPORTANT things you need to know:

1. It's very likely in the next two weeks, netbooks are going to come out with the Broadcom HD chip in them, for $30 extra, which will allow high def output, all the way up to Blue Ray quality, and also an HDMI port to allow easy hookup to your living room tv. This would mean high quality streaming video on an external display. This is probably the single biggest reason to wait.

2. Even if high def video isn't important to you, Intel is supposed to be releasing a 1.8 ghz version of the Atom in February or March, and given the cycle of aggressive product adoption and pricing, the extra performance might be worth waiting for.

Your budget for one of these, by the way, should be about three duckbills for a basic model like the 1001P and no more than four duckbills for an Atom based netbook with some bells and whistles.

And if your machine doesn't come with 2gb of system memory, while single applications run well under Win 7 and two applications run well simultaneously under Win XP, you should budget for an upgrade to the maximum permitted 2gb at some point.

Oh by the way, I rummaged around on the Intel website and also found out that the old N270/N280s only support 32 bit Windows but the new N450 supports 64 bit, which is really cool.

I wanted to wait to write this review until after the new iPad from Apple was released today to see how they compared. I'm glad I didn't wait to buy the 1005PE from Asus! So far I'm very happy with all of the same things the rest of the reviewers are happy with- and kinda bummed about the same things the others are bummed about. (Fingerprints)

This netbook is basically an upgrade to my 32GB iPod Touch that sits on my bedside table. I used to use the Touch for web surfing and media viewing, but now I have this awesome little netbook that does everything the iPod Touch did for me, plus it has a ton more storage (250GB compared to 32GB) 13-ish hour battery life (compared to 3-5 on the Touch) and it supports Adobe's flash standard! (Something even the new iPad from Apple doesn't seem to do...) All in all, I'm very pleased with the 1005PE and have zero regrets following the unveiling of the new iPad from Apple today. I'm sure the 1005PE isn't a perfect replacement for the iPad to ALL users, but for me, I couldn't be happier with my purchase.

One thing to note- as already reported- you want to get the 800 MHz RAM upgrade from Crucial, not the 667 MHz that Amazon lists on the 1005PE product page. I did the upgrade and noticed that things are even snappier- but the 1GB RAM module that came out of the 1005PE was 800 MHz memory- not 667 MHz...

For the person who gave this netbook one star because he couldn't get greater than 1024 x 768 external VGA output while mirroring the internal monitor, that's pretty weak in my opinion. Considering all of the other features that this netbook provides for such little cost- I think this netbook is a real winner! Thanks for reading my review!

My purchase consisted of the ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1005PE-PU17-BU 10.1-Inch Blue Netbook, an Asus USB 2.0 CD/DVD R/W drive (ASUS USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive SDRW-08D1S-U (Black)), 2 Crucial 2GB memory upgrades (1 667Mhz (Crucial 2GB 256Mx64PC2-5300 CT25664AC667 DDR2 200-Pin SODIMM Laptop Memory), and 1 800Mhz (Crucial Technology CT25664AC800 2GB 200-pin SODIMM DDR2 PC2-6400 Memory Module)...read on for explanation), 2 Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrades (Microsoft Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade [Starter to Home Premium], and Microsoft Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade [Home Premium to Professional]), and a CaseCrown Case (CaseCrown 10.2 Notebook Premium Double Memory Foam Pouch Case with Front Pocket (8.9 inch)).

First of all, explanation of the 2 memory upgrades: I did extensive research here and elsewhere on-line about how to correctly get this Netbook to 2GB RAM (Google is your friend...do your homework on this!), and like everyone else found conflicting information at this time. So, I chose to order both of the "apparently compatible" Crucial upgrades so that I had a couple of options in hand in case one or the other gave me problems (as opposed to having to either pay for overnite delivery of another one, or have to run out to Best Buy), with the intention of returning whichever one I didn't use. (I also pre-emptively called Amazon after I placed the order (but before receiving it) to give Amazon a heads-up about my intentions and have a note added to my order record about the conflicting info regarding this upgrade. The Amazon customer service rep confirmed the conflicting info and added a note to my record that it would be no problem to return one or both of the upgrades, even if opened, because of said conflicting info.)

On to the Netbook itself. After doing considerable research my two finalists were this Asus unit, and the Toshiba NB305. I found slightly better reviews on the Toshiba, and consistent comments that the Toshiba keyboard was better and that the unit wouldn't be as much of a fingerprint-magnet as the Asus. However, I went down to Best Buy multiple times to demo both units, and frankly for my big hands, the Toshiba keyboard was far worse for me. Several of the important keys (shift/caps/tab etc) were quite a bit smaller, and there were other subtle layout differences. Despite confirming that the Toshiba is indeed a little more aesthetically pleasing (the Asus is indeed the fingerprint magnet everyone says it is, and the Toshiba definitely is not), the inferior (for me) keyboard layout was a show-stopper, and I chose the Asus. Then, I elected to buy the 1005PE "P" package from Amazon instead of the Best Buy "B" package, for the superior battery and bluetooth support that the "P" includes.

Amazon order fulfillment and delivery were flawless as usual, and my order arrived as scheduled. The Asus was ready to go right out of the box. I powered it up, answered a few Win 7 introductory prompts, and then it correctly detected my wireless access point and I was on the 'Net. I then immediately got started in the Control Panel removing the bloatware I didn't want (I dumped the Trend Micro protecton suite because I have good experience with ESET's NOD32 anti-virus/anti-spam solution, and I dumped the MS Office trialware because I already own a ready-to-use legal copy of MS Office Pro 2003), and then proceeded with the memory upgrade. I followed various advice I got on-line and in the Asus documentation, turned off the Boot Booster feature in the BIOS, and installed the 800MHz 2GB memory upgrade. Upon restarting Win 7, the new memory was correctly detected right away.

However, I immediately set to testing the Shutdown issue described in the discussion threads here, and sure enough, I duplicated the problem where about 3 out of every 5 times under battery power, the machine doesn't fully shut down unless the power button is held down for several seconds. I implemented the workaround that others described in the discussion threads (change the Asus Super Hybrid Engine to "Super High Performance" mode, sacrificing some of the battery life), and this resolved the problem. I am not thrilled with this workaround (costs this review half-a-star), but it's not a show-stopper for me. I also learned from other info I've found on-line that there's yet another memory upgrade spec that MIGHT be more compatible with this unit and may resolve this issue without the workaround, but I'm not inclined to try to locate that specific memory at this time (couldn't find it right away at Amazon or elsewhere on-line...maybe I didn't look diligently enough?) and play trial-and-error with another memory upgrade that may or may not solve it. This memory DOES work, albeit with this issue/caveat.

I then proceeded with the Win 7 Anytime Upgrades. I was terribly disappointed during my pre-purchase research to find that while there WAS a less-expensive upgrade path to go directly from Starter to Professional (as opposed to the 2-step upgrade I ended up buying) sometime last year when Win 7 first came out, it is apparently no longer available, not even from the Microsoft store. At any rate, each of the 2 upgrades installed flawlessly (although they took a fair bit longer than expected due to having to auto-download a whole slew of Windows updates) and it was all-systems-Go with Win 7 Pro.

At this point I remembered my next annoying-but-not-showstopping feature of this Asus: It comes delivered with the disk partitioned as 2 x 125GB, instead of a single 250GB partition (the latter is my preference given the types of large data I may carry with me on this unit). I followed the advice of several posters on the discussion threads here and downloaded the free Partition Wizard tool, and then proceeded through various user-error-inflicted steps to make my machine no longer bootable from the primary boot partition (see my further description of what happened in the related discussion thread). Apparently I also de-activated the F9-accessible system recovery partition. Bottom line on this point is: Either know (better than me) all your steps to correctly re-partition your hard disk if you desire to do so, or leave it at 2 x 125GB.

However, at this point my annoyance with disabling my machine was tempered by the fact that I was then very pleased with myself that I pro-actively sprung for the extra $49 to order the external CD/DVD read/writer. I used the supplied-with-the-Netbook system recovery disk, re-partitioned my hard disk as I desired, and re-installed the factory-delivered configuration. I then proceeded with the Win 7 upgrades again, removed the bloatware I didn't want, installed my preferred ESET anti-virus/anti-spyware software and the legal copy of MS Office 2003 I had on hand, and was good to go. Cost me several hours of extra work to reach this point, but all's well that ends well. I STRONGLY recommend purchasing an external CD/DVD R/W drive at the time of your purchase.

I then made my last not-positive discovery about this Netbook. One of the primary reasons I wanted to use Win 7 Pro was the availability of Win XP Compatibility Mode on this edition of Win 7...I wanted this "just in case" any of my older software I might use might need it. Well, it turns out that in order to use Win 7 Compatibility Mode, your machine must have a processor capable of "hardware-assisted virtualization". Microsoft has a free tool to download that will determine this. I downloaded and ran it, and it turns out that this Asus/Intel Atom processor does not have this capability. Basically what this means is that XP compatibility on this machine will be a crapshoot for me going forward...will depend on the app. (Example in my case: For my networked HP LaserJet 2840 AIO MFP, the XP tools provide all my desired functionality, while the Win 7 driver for this MFP doesn't allow me to use the scanner via network...I will need to tether it via USB cable to be able to do that in Win 7.) I'm guessing that many/all Netbooks have this issue with XP Compatibiilty mode; perhaps this is the price we pay for such a small, inexpensive, "not-everything" machine like this. End result for me is that I may have wasted the extra $80+ dollars on the Home Premium to Professional upgrade; will have to see if I use some of those other additional features in Win 7 Pro. One thing I do know is that I still recommend the 2GB RAM upgrade and the Starter to Home Premium upgrade; Starter is pretty much worthless for anything other than basic web surfing and other basic operations. If that's all you want to do, consider a cheaper, less-capable Netbook than this one.

Bottom line for me: This is a nice little Netbook that I believe is going to serve me well for what it is: A more-portable machine than my big 15-inch professional laptop that I can more easily carry when I travel, or for other occasions when I might need quick 'Net access. I can configure this machine and other tools to be able to remotely access my primary computer for when I need more horsepower, or software I have on the primary machine but not on this Netbook. This Netbook has a very nice keyboard, screen, and ergonomics, and with 2GB RAM and Win 7 Home Premium or Pro added, sufficent horsepower to do a bit more than just "basics". This machine earns demerits from me for the RAM upgrade/shutdown issue/workaround, disk partitioning issue, Win 7 XP mode capability shortcoming, and the well-documented fingerprint-magnetism on the aesthetics. Having said all that, based on my research I don't think any competing Netbooks are going to be any better...this market space and price point are only going to offer "imperfect" solutions. This Asus is one of those imperfect solutions...and it's one of the better ones.

2/27/10 update:

I ordered mCover® CLEAR Hard Shell Sleeve Carrying Case for Asus Eee PC 1005 Series Netbook - Compatible with 1005HA / 1005PE to address the fingerprint-magnet problem. Like the Netbook itself, it's a nice but imperfect solution for that issue.

I can also report that after a week's use I continue to be pleased with this Netbook despite the issues I reported in this review. I've been using it around the house on my wireless; web surfing and webcam/Skype work well. The real test will come in a couple of weeks when I take it on the road with me for the first time instead of my main full-size laptop.

3/10/10 update:

OK, here's the update for my first time on the road (via air travel) with this unit:

As a computer much more portable than a full-size laptop, this unit gets the job done. Access to multiple wi-fi hotspots along the way (multiple airports/hotels) has been flawless, and with the additions I made to the computer as described above, I've been very productive. Skype vid-calls have also worked well. Having said that, I will strongly echo and amplify what other posters have commented: A netbook, ANY netbook, is only intended for mobile 'Net/Email access, web surfing, and LIGHT productivity.

I'm a technical software consultant, and I can report that while I've been able to be productive on the job this week, I've had to make several "compromises" on this machine that I don't normally have to make on my full-size laptop...most of which are related to the screen size (have to scroll up/down a fair bit depending on what I'm working on, and I also have to hunch over the machine and occasionally break out my reading glasses depending on what I have to see). And when I attempted to connect it to an external monitor in the office, I found that there were limitations as to how high I could configure the resolution because the netbook's video chip only has a certain amount of capability...basically it can only drive video up to the 1024x600 that it can use on its own display.

I do still LOVE how much more portable this unit is compared to my full-size laptop, but this is clearly not a one-for-one substitute for a bigger, more robust machine. Jury's still out on whether I will bring this netbook with me on my next business trip, or go back to my full-sizer. I WILL, however, continue to enjoy the fact that I have this netbook on hand to carry with me for other personal/casual usage...that is its purpose, and I can confirm that this unit gets that job done very well.

Also, as a side note: I played with the SHE settings again (hadn't done so since the first week), and when I reset it to Power Saving mode again just for testing, sure enough the Shutdown problem re-surfaced when shutting down while under battery power...it's still in play with the Crucial 2GB RAM stick I have installed. Problem does not occur in Super or High Performance modes.

Okay, since I am a college business major who doesn't know a great deal about computers, here's my 2 cents:

Pros:
1. Superb battery life: got 13 hours out of writing research papers on Word, generating excel reports, checking stocks, reading WSJ, managing portfolios, and etc.
2. Chiclet keyboard feels great to type on
3. Screen is bright enough
4. Sound quality is great comparing to other netbooks
5. Windows 7 runs pretty fast in my opinion
6. YOUTUBE & HULU VIDEOS RUN EXTREMELY SMOOTH! (not in HQ of course)

Cons:
1. Hate the glossy screen (there goes my eyesight)
2. Chiclet keyboard is a little loud comparing with the one on 1005HA
3. 6-cell battery can be somewhat heavy for the girls
4. Two-finger scrolling did not work for me, so I had to install an additional driver. URGH!

Bottom of the line, the Asus 1005PE is still the best on the market as of now.

Got this for the long battery life. It really does get most of the advertised 14 hours. Got about 11 hours with wireless access during most of that time, a fair amount of work on the machines, and there was still a tiny bit of battery life left. So I'd say the numbers (14 hours would reflect less work and less wireless use) are not too far off. The machine is very sleek, somewhat heavy for its size (the battery probably makes up a good deal of the weight gain), and the Windows 7 is usable. I'd say that it was a good package if battery life were near the top of your desire list.

Pro:
- Genuinely good battery life
- Works fine, hardware & software
- Looks good, especially the display

Cons:
- Slightly heavy for the size and definitely heavier than some other netbooks
- Windows 7 "Starter" edition, if that matters to you
- Probably would run faster with more memory standard

Great Netbook!

Careful with the memory upgrade. The 667 MHz 2GB module mentioned on this page is not suitable for the 1005PE - mine kept freezing. Instead, order the 800 MHz module, Amazon # (ASIN): B001342KM8

In Brief:
This netbook provides stellar battery life, admirable performance, and is priced very competitively.

Me as a user:
I'm a Technology & Management consultant, who is now attending grad school for a PhD. My classes are three-hours long a piece and my 17" laptop was going to be too heavy and cumbersome to lug around campus, not to mention having to plug in for every class.

I was looking for netbook primarily to take notes and do some light web-work (DreamWeaver and Expression Web).

Keyboard & Touchpad:
I have large hands so my biggest concern with a netbook was being able to type quickly and comfortably. The keyboard, despite smaller but more spaced out keys (compared to say the HP Minis), was easy to use and I was able to type with no adjustment to my usual habits. The keys also have a nice tactile feel, unlike the more floating feeling on, again, the HP Mini.

As is a complaint of big reviews like those on CNET, the rocker-bar mouse-buttons is a little stiff, but not the end of the world - I think it may ease up after some use.

Performance:
The initial startup, which involved Windows 7 initializing the installation, took around 10-15-minutes - so don't expect to turn it on and hit the desktop right away.

From power-on to the Windows desktop, takes about 25-30 seconds.

Overall responsiveness from the desktop and launching applications was quick. After installing Office 2007 Pro, Word took about 6-seconds to load the first time, and was about 2-3 seconds to load after that. Chrome is very quick to load; browsing and overall network performance is very good.

Media:
Steaming video, like Hulu, is a big test for a lot of netbooks - this model can play full screen videos with only an occasional stutter or slow-down - I tested an episode of The Daily Show. Local video files (played off a USB flash drive) played without issue.

The speaker volume is loud enough to hear in an open room with some background noise, but not in a crowded hall.

Other Thoughts:
I debated a lot between this model and the HP Mini 311 with nVidia ION for better performance at the cost of battery life. I can say that so far I feel that I made the right choice, since the HP Mini would have cost around 100.00 more for the configuration with matching N-Wifi, BlueTooth, and Windows 7 - which comes on this netbook.

I highly recommend the ASUS Eee PC 1005PE.

As a fair warning, I happen to be more biased towards Macs, and other Apple products. That said, after seeing the Apple iPad keynote January 27th, I was very unimpressed and somewhat angry with Apple's new "Netbook Killer". (Thanks for trying to sell us an over-sized iPod Touch, Steve Jobs!) Anyway, Two days later I decided to go with a Netbook. My reason for buying a Netbook was easy portability on the motorcycle, and to have a lightweight, full-fledged computer to take with me for simple tasks instead of lugging around my 17" MacBook Pro.



The first thing I noticed as I removed the ASUS Eee-PC 1005PE out the box for the first time was how easily the super glossy outer case left fingerprints and smudges all over. I can imagine over time and usage, this glossy case will become heavily scratched. A matte surface would have been a more suitable choice. The other annoying thing was all the stickers they put on the palm rest. The energy star sticker in particular left a damn mess which I had to remove with WD-40 on a polishing cloth. It was nice to see three USB ports on this Netbook. I didn't expect more than one or two, but ASUS was apparently feeling generous with the USB ports. I wasn't too exited about the built-in webcam image quality. The resolution is fairly poor, and low light usability is essentially nonexistent. Average indoor light conditions barely provide enough light for this webcam to function adequately.

...Materials & build quality grade: B-

Windows 7 was a welcoming update to XP and Vista for sure! Of course, the first thing many Windows users must do post setup is remove all the trialware/crapware that comes preinstalled. I'd recommend trashing the Trend Micro antivirus, and go with Microsoft security essentials or AVG antivirus. Both are free, and do an excellent job protecting your Windows computer. ASUS installs this little dock on top of the screen where you can access all their own software. it was nice, but had problems where the dock itself would disappear, only leaving a white square in it's place. After this happened a few times, I decided to uninstall the dock permanently.

A couple of times while browsing around on the web, my internet connection would time out and reset. It would usually last between 10-15 seconds. The same problem would also occur using different WiFi connections. I booted into the Ubuntu Linux OS using a USB thumb drive, and got the same kind of WiFi problems after a while. So it sounds like I may have a faulty WiFi adapter. But other than my WiFi woes, Windows did just fine on this computer.

...Windows 7 grade: A

Intel's 1.66 GHz Atom Processor used in most Netbooks isn't exactly a speed demon, but it runs Windows without too much huff-N-Puff. Programs do take longer to open as you might expect, but it's nothing to get upset about. Only three, or four programs can be open at a time before the available 1GB of RAM gets too low that it causes performance issues. Computer speed also depends on what kinds of programs you have running. As they say, your mileage may vary.

Battery life is perhaps the most amazing thing about this Netbook. This little ASUS ran most of the day on a single charge, and while in near constant use. The 14 hours claimed by ASUS is a bit ludicrous, but you can realistically expect 8 hours of runtime at minimum.

Video playback on the 1005PE is adequate, but nothing amazing. It can play most videos without stuttering or hiccups, but I'm sure that little Atom processor is giving it all she's got!

...Speed, power & stamina grade: B-

The screen on this computer is very bright and clear. Viewing angle is somewhat limited, but as a cheap computer I didn't expect much of the display. But in fact, it's actually better than what I had envisioned. The screen real estate at 1024x600 is enough to see most websites without any side-scrolling, but vertical resolution leaves you wishing for more. As a tip, you'd better get used to full screen web browsing if you want to get the most out of the limited screen size. I have a feeling the resolution won't be around for too much longer. I've been reading of other Netbook manufacturers beginning to sell 10" screens with a more comfortable 1366x768 resolution.

...Screen grade: A-

How about the keyboard you ask? Well, I can actually type fairly fast on this keyboard. My lazy fingers don't have to move as far to hit a key I guess. Key depressions have an audible clicky-clacky sound especially when typing fast. The keyboard as a whole had a "flimsy" feeling compared not only to my MacBook, but other laptops I've owned and used in the past.

I was at my local BestBuy today and happened to check out the ASUS 1005HA's keyboard. I've gotta say, I liked using that keyboard much more. The 1005HA didn't have the ridged key edges like the 1005PE has, thus, there was a little more surface area for your fingers to type on. The 1005HA's keyboard also had a more solid feel to it. Other Netbook keyboards I liked were Dell's Mini 10, and the HP Mini 2140.

...Keyboard grade: D

Using the track pad on the 1005PE was much like using the MacBook's track pad, except smaller, and with braille-like dots on the surface. ASUS made use of multi-touch gestures which makes things more manageable when no mouse is available. You have the ability to scroll in 360 degrees, pinch to zoom in or out, and swipe forward or back with three fingers. For whatever reason, certain windows that should scroll didn't always work well with the track pad. You'd see the little scroll curser when using the two finger scrolling gesture, but nothing would happen. The pinch to zoom in the web browser usually worked ok, but it can be very slow to resize the text. Swiping back and fourth with three fingers did work pretty well.

...Track pad grade: B-

As I write this review, I'm almost certainly going to send this Netbook back. Between the somewhat unreliable WiFi, not so great keyboard, and HIGHLY smudge-prone outer case, I don't think this is the Netbook for me. It's a shame too. I really wanted to like it.

We purchased this unit for travel purposes. For the first 3 weeks it ran great. We recommended it to others and they also purchased it. Then it stopped working. Asus customer service has not been very helpful. They want us to pay for return shipping and wait for 5 to 7 business days for their tech to look at it. What good is a warranty?