ASUS EeePC 1000HE From A Traveller's Perspective

A laptop can be a traveler's best friend and worst enemy, all at the same time. After all, how better to stay in touch, record your memories, and perform impromptu travel research than to use a laptop? But all these benefits come at a price, whether it's more weight on your back or less available space in your bag. But, with the advent of smaller, lighter laptops, in the form of netbooks, travelers can now have their proverbial computing cake, and eat it too. We haven't been immune to the lure of the netbook. With it's small footprint, light weight, and long battery life, the Asus EeePC 1000HE looked like it would be a perfect netbook for a traveler. We picked one up recently and have been putting it through the rounds. Below, you'll find our thoughts on whether it lived up to the hype.

General Thoughts
Portability
When you've got a computer as small as the 1000HE, you can take it almost anywhere. We've toted it around, writing blog posts at home, doing restaurant "research" in the car, and web browsing in coffee shops. It's so small and light that you can toss it in a purse and almost forget it's there. It's truly light enough that it shouldn't make your shoulder sore after a day of exploring.

Battery Life
My biggest question about the 1000HE was whether the battery would live up to it's advertised 9 hour life. It may not reach quite 9 hours , but it can easily last 7+ hours of use, provided that you leave it in its battery saving mode (even with wifi on.) I've forgotten to plug it in after a day of use and not woken up to a dead computer. That's progess.

General Usability
At first, I was concerned that I was going to be frustrated with using a smaller computer. But after a few weeks with the 1000HE, many of my concerns proved to be unnecessary. The keyboard is exceptionally usable, enough so that you can forget you're using a laptop. The trackpad is one of my bigger complaints, however, as its placement and extreme sensitivity can be quite frustrating. I can't tell you how many times I've inadvertently moved something, opened a program, or navigated away from a blog post I was writing. Only by divine intervention (or a smart browser) was I able to save my work. The screen, while only 10 inches wide, is bright, clear, and readable. Using it has never been an issue, which for a screen that small, is an achievement.

For the General Traveler

Communication
The 1000HE is a good computer for keeping in touch while you're on the road. Want to hear your loved ones without having to carry a cell phone? You'll be fine, as it comes with a built-in camera on its screen, and comes with Skype pre-installed. It's also got 2 built-in microphones in it's screen and does a good job at picking up your voice when you're chatting. It's not as good as our iMac for voice quality or video clarity, but for a portable device, both are more than adequate for the traveler who needs to keep in touch.
Before you can make your first internet call, send your first email, or sign onto twitter, you've got to have an internet connection. Whether you're plugged in via ethernet or going wireless, 1000HE will do a fine job. It does an awesome job at picking up wifi signals: on a recent road trip, we were able to grab a usable wifi signal from a coffee shop across a parking lot. This strength means that for more mundane tasks, you can count on being connected.

Entertainment
What could be better for a long plane ride than a device that allows you to watch movies, shows, and podcasts...the entire time? The 1000HE is up for some long-term movie watching, as long as you don't try to watch HD video. This doesn't mean you can't watch video in HD, you just need to put the computer in "Performance" mode. Keep in mind that this performance comes with reduced battery life.

A word of warning, however, if you plan on watching video or listening to music: bring headphones, as the audio volume leaves a lot to be desired. Its built-in speakers are so quiet that we tried watching video at home and were unable to hear well enough to enjoy it. If you try it in a noisier environment, you're sure to be disappointed.

For the Roving Blogger
If you're a roving blogger, worker on the go, or anyone else who needs to use a computer on the road, the 1000HE would be an excellent companion. It's suitable for most "normal" tasks, like writing, web browsing, and even basic photo editing.

Blogging & Writing
One of my biggest problems with netbooks in general has been the cramped, hard-to-use keyboards. This computer, luckily, doesn't suffer from that problem. Its keyboard wide enough to almost be full-sized, which is great for my manly hands. One nit-pick we've got with the keyboard, is that the right shift key is precariously close to the page-up key, resulting in many errant scrolls. Other than that one complaint, I've been happy. After all, I've been able to write blog posts with such ease, that I often forget that I'm on a smaller machine. Writers, take note of this little computer.

Photo Editing & Storage
One of the first questions I had when I was thinking about getting a netbook was "Can I edit photos on such a small screen?" The surprising answer was yes. Both Photoshop and GIMP run quite well on the 1000HE, even without a memory upgrade. Cropping, resizing, and color correction are fairly snappy, which means that getting your photos ready for posting is a relatively easy process. Granted, it's not as easy as using a desktop, but since you're on the road, some concessions have to be made. My one gripe? I have yet to find a RAW image editor for Windows. This means that when I'm on the road, I'm relegated to editing the JPG files that my camera produces, which are good, but not great. Otherwise, this computer is a fine solution for anyone who needs to publish their photos while on the go.

Why else is this computer good for photographers on the road? It comes with a built-in memory card reader (although it lacks a compactflash-sized slot) so many people will be leave their separate card readers at home. Plus, the built-in 160GB hard drive allows lots of space for photo storage, without having to resort to an external drive. For any photographer who carries their gear on their back, this weight-saving feature is a huge bonus.

Video Uploading/Editing
When we go on the road, we carry our Kodak Zi-6 video camera with us. It takes great, HD video. But, when the 1000HE gets ahold of our wonderful, HD video, it chokes. Badly. When you try to play a video, the audio gets out of sync and drops frames. This lack of performance means we can't edit video while we're traveling, which means that our options are limited to uploading raw, unedited video. Because of its video performance limitations, if you need to be handling video on the road, this is NOT the computer for you.

Audio
For our upcoming trip to Italy, we picked up a nifty audio recorder, the H2 Zoom. Can the 1000HE do audio? Yes, absolutely. As long as you have some headphones and Audacity (or similar audio-editing software,) you'll be editing audio like you were sitting at home.

Summary:
The Asus EeePC 1000HE is a great travel laptop, hands down. It's tiny, light, easy to use, very capable, and has an astounding battery life. What else could you ask for in a small computer? (A Mac, perhaps??) The only people who might want to steer clear are gamers and videographers.

Pros:

• Small footprint & lightweight make it infinitely packable.
• Bright screen is readable, despite its small size.
• Battery life almost lives up to advertising hype. (8 vs. 9, who can compain?)
• Keyboard is almost perfect, just figure out the right shift key.
• Wifi is fast and has great range, making it easy to swipe free internet on the road.

Cons:

• Choppy HD Video performance leaves a lot to be desired.
• Mouse is very sensitive, making it too easy to mistakenly drag things.
• Sound output is anemic, even with headphones.