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Asus Eee PC 1000HE Review

Author	Andy Vandervell
Published	12th Feb 2009
Manufacturer	Asus
Price	£313.03 (Exc VAT)
as reviewed	£359.99 (Inc VAT)
Latest Price

Design
Features
Performance
Value
Overall

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Being a slightly tweaked Eee PC 1000H, the 1000HE shares a great deal of features. For connectivity, there remain three USB ports, an Ethernet port, headphone and microphone jacks, an SD, SDHC and MMC memory card reader and a VGA output. There's also a 1.3-megapixel webcam above the screen with two microphones placed underneath the screen, which is better than the single mic seen on some competing models.

Inside the glossy black exterior there's the aforementioned 1.67GHz Intel Atom N280, 1GB 667MHz RAM, a 160GB 5,400rpm hard drive, Bluetooth 2.0 and Draft-N Wi-Fi, while the 10in screen has the usual 1,024 x 600 resolution seen on all netbooks of this type. This is, of course, an LED backlit affair, has an anti-glare finish and is sharp and bright, making it easily viewable in bright light.

Another continuing strength of the Eee PC range is its audio. We're still to find a netbook with better integrated speakers and the 1000HE is no exception, reaching high volumes without distortion and with impressive clarity for such a small machine. You also get Dolby Home Theatre audio and its excellent headphone surround sound virtualisation, which adds a nice level of immersion when watching films and other videos using headphones.

Of course, this is the kind of activity that you're likely to enjoy when travelling and here the 1000HE continues the Eee PC tradition of epic battery life. In fact, where the Eee PC 1000H set the standard with its 6,600mAh six-cell battery, the 1000HE only raises this bar higher with its 8,700mAh unit.

Even for an ordinary notebook this would be a very high capacity, so for a low-power netbook it's positively gargantuan. What's more, the 1000HE is no heavier than the 1000H, though it isn't all that light at 1.45kg, We have also been assured that this is the battery that will ship with the machine when it goes on sale, so there's no nefarious upgrading going on here.

As a result of this high capacity battery, Asus is quoting a potential battery life of 9.5 hours. This is nothing short of astounding and though you'd have to be fairly frugal to reach such heights, we comfortably achieved in excess of seven and a half hours and one could easily get more than this, too. This means you can happily sit down and use the 1000HE on most long-haul flights without running out of battery, or go out for the day and leave your charger at home.