Asus EEE PC 1002HA Review

The EEE PC 1002HA is the latest iteration in the EEE PC netbook line up of Asus. Asus really hit the jackpot with the EEE PC 701 and created a new market – one for low cost ultraportables with decent specs and good performance. The later versions of the Asus EEE PC didn’t do as well, thanks to the many new competing entrants in the market – the MSI Wind, Acer Aspire One, Samsung NC10, Lenovo Ideapad S10, Dell Mini 9, the HP Mini 1000 and many more. Performance is no longer a major criteria when comparing netbooks as most of them have exactly the same hardware configurations. With this new iteration of the famous EEE PC, Asus hopes to regain a large chunk of the market share again. The new Asus EEE PC 1000HA is very similar to the older EEE PC 1000H when it comes to specs or performance but the looks, design and form factor resemble the stylish Asus EEE PC S101. It combines all the functionality of the EEE PC 1000H with the slim and stylish design of the EEE PC S101 and offers it at just about $500 which is much in line with other netbooks. Whether the slim and stylish design, the low pricing and the nice performance makes the Asus EEE PC 1002HA a nice deal or not is what we will see in this detailed review.

Asus EEE PC 1002 HA Specs:

• Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches
• Weight: 2.6 lbs
• Processor : 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270, 512 KB Cache
• RAM: 1 GB DDR2 RAM
• Hard Drive: 160 GB SATA HDD, 5400 RPM
• Display: 10 inch LCD Display, 1024 x 600 pixels,
• Chipset: Intel 945 GSE Express
• Graphics: Intel GMA 950 64 MB VRAM
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
• Operating System: MS Windows XP Home
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, Headphone, Microphone, VGA out, 4 in 1 card reader

Design and Build Quality:

The Asus EEE PC 1002HA sports a stylish and sleek design, nicely improved over the slightly bulky design of the Asus EEE PC 1000. It is much slimmer than the Asus EEE PC 1000H, just about 1.1 cm in thickness. At dimensions of 10.4 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches and a weight of just 2.6 lbs, it is more in line with the fashion conscious Asus EEE PC S101, than the consumer oriented EEE PC 1000H. It is amongst the slimmest and lightest in 10 inch netbooks and very portable. Coming back to the design, the EEE PC 1002HA sports a brushed aluminium lid and looks quite sleek. Composed mainly of aluminium and plastic, it has nice overall build quality and feels quite sturdy. It is one of the best looking netbooks in my opinion and sports a simple, non flashy, yet stylish look. The left side sports 2 USB ports, the right has one more USB port with the microphone and headphone jacks. The back of the notebook hosts the VGA out, Ethernet port and the 4 in 1 card reader.

Display and Speakers:

The Asus EEE PC 1002HA sports a 10.2 inch LCD display with a native resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. The display offers nice contrast and is adequately bright. The viewing angles are decent too, especially the vertical viewing angles. The color reproduction is nice and real. The display has a matte finish unlike the popular glossy displays. This improves the visibility under direct light a lot, which differentiates them from the glossy displays which act like semi mirrors.

The EEE PC 1002HA sports a pair of speakers located on the front. The sound quality while not as good as the EEE PC 1000H’s Dolby Certified speakers, is definitely good. The speakers are also adequately loud and can be heard easily in a small room. The display and speakers combined provide for a nice multimedia experience.

Just above the display is a 1.3 MP webcam which has average camera capture quality, it should be enough for casual chatting and video conferencing. The built in microphone has a nice range and detects voice from a decent 5-6 feet away.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The EEE PC 1002HA sports the same keyboard as the S101, just about the same size and layout. The key spacing and travel are perfect and the keyboard is suited for touch typing. The keyboard isn’t cramped at all like some netbook keyboards. It is spacious and has the normal keyboard layout, except for some keys. The keys have a nice feel and offer decent feedback. Overall, a great keyboard with some slight downs. There is minimum flex across the keyboard, again an indicator of nice build quality.

Just below the keyboard lies the touchpad. The touchpad is very responsive and has nice sensitivity. It has a nice textured surface which helps in navigation. Below the touchpad is a single bar instead of the two touchpad buttons. You can press it on either side for the corresponding click. It also offers nice feedback. The touchpad supports multitouch gestures like swiping, pinching etc which is an awesome addition. It improves the usability and the fun factor of the keyboard manifold.

Performance:

The Asus EEE PC 1002HA sports the same configuration that almost all the current netbooks do. It comes with a 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1 GB DDR2 RAM, Intel GMA 950 with 64 MB VRAM, a 160 GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD etc. It offers nice performance and can run the bundled Windows XP Home easily and also multitask a few dozen apps with no hiccups. The built in graphics are capable of some light gaming but are a strict no-no if you are looking to run newer high end games even at medium settings. The 160 GB SATA HDD at 5400 RPM has nice data transfer speeds. You can switch between various performance modes using Asus’s Super Hybrid Engine. The Wi-Fi reception and data speeds are also very nice.

Battery Life:

The Asus EEE PC 1002HA is powered by a relatively underpowered 2 cell Li Poly battery. It has an average endurance period of about 3 hrs and 45 mins with moderate usage, very less compared to the Samsung NC10′s mammoth 6 hrs plus. By using the Super Hybrid Engine, you can easily stretch it to more than 4 hrs 10 mins. A more powerful battery would have made the EEE PC 1002HA even more attractive.

Pros:

• Nice Touchpad
• Stylish Design
• Great Performance

Cons:

• Low battery life

Final Words:

The Asus EEE PC 1002HA is a very nice netbook with a nice stylish design, great performance and comes at a reasonable price of around $500. It is a good option but we would rather choose the Samsung NC10, mainly due to its superb battery life with same performance at the same price level.

Our Rating: 3.75 / 5.