The computer’s overall performance is significantly better than any netbook. The processor in this variant is an Intel SU7300, which crushes netbook Atom CPUs and keeps pace with others in this segment. As usual, however, the integrated Intel GMA graphics chip is not a good performer.  It can decode HD video and handles 2D graphics efficiently, but it is too slow for any 3D games from the last few years.

Asus UL20A-A1 - Best Prices
	$575.99
	$585.99
	$599.99
	$675.01

This configuration of the Asus UL30A came with two gigabytes of RAM memory, which is good enough for most users and gives you the opportunity to run more than a few apps in parallel. If you only want to do something quickly, like checking your email or chatting on Skype, there is also a mini operating system called Express Gate installed that starts in a few seconds instead of Windows.

Specifications

• 1.3GHz Intel SU7300 Core 2 Duo Processor
• 2GB of DDR2 RAM, 2 Slots, 4GB Max
• 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM), No Optical Drive
• 12.1″ WXGA LED LCD Display, Wi-Fi 802.11 bgn, 0.3M Webcam
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
• 7.5 Hours of Battery Life

Asus’ UL20A is pleasantly quiet. A light sigh from fans is all that is heard. Not even long-term number crunching that puts full load on the CPU, graphics and hard drive causes excessive noise. That, in combination with the excellent battery life of over seven hours are this laptop’s greatest strengths.

Benchmarks

• PCMark Vantage Overall Score: 2535

If you want to use your computer to watch movies, you’ll be pleased by the display, which offers excellent blacks and accurate colors. Unfortunately the maximum brightness is a bit low, which may cause problems for ordinary office work in the bright environments or outdoors. Another good thing for the aforementioned movie is a set of unusually powerful speakers. In all, if you have been considering a netbook, also take a look at the UL20A for comparison. I’m sure you will find that it offers a considerable amount of added value even if it costs a little more (but not much).

Asus UL20A-A1 – Best Prices
	$575.99
	$585.99
	$599.99
	$675.01

Tablet PCs and netbooks with less than average horsepower in terms of processor speed have been given a boost with Windows 7, and several manufacturers (especially Asus) have started producing a whole slew of touchscreen options, of which the T91MT is one of the smallest and most versatile.

Asus Eee PC T91mt - Best Prices
		$399.99
		$409.99
		$411.99

Smallish Tablet PC

In the past, tablet PCs have left a lot to be desired when it comes to ergonomics, but the Eee PC T91MT manages to improve on the concept while also shrinking it to a highly portable format. This netbook is almost small enough to fit into your pocket at just over 2 pounds, even if it’s no Sony VAIO P. The touch technology used is the simple but reliable resistive kind and that works well with either a pen or your fingertips.

An 8.9-inch screen is just about the right size for its 1,024×600 resolution – a screen resolution that otherwise feels insufficient on larger screens nowadays. Its performance is the minimum for Windows 7; an Atom CPU, Intel GMA 500 graphics and 1GB of memory. This is not a fast laptop, and even if that’s not really the intention with this one, another GB of memory wouldn’t have hurt.

Features and Performance

A distinct advantage with the T91MT is the inclusion of a 3g modem; this is the kind of machine that should have net access constantly, not least because Asus’ choice of storage device – a 32GB solid state disk. The SSD helps improve on the laptop’s speed, but it isn’t all that roomy, which is why Asus throws in 500GB of web storage in the package.

The keyboard and trackpad combination is quite compact because of the small format, but still large enough to provide full functionality without any major issues. As a tablet netbook, the Asus Eee PC T91MT definitely has potential for professional users who require a highly portable tablet with full PC functionality, as opposed to a PDA or other handheld device.

Benchmarks:

PCMark 05 Score:

Total: 1097 (CPU: 1108, Graphics: 279, Hard Drive 7514)

Battery Life: 3-4 hours on load, 6 hours with maximum power savings.

Specifications:

Processor: Intel Atom Z520/1,33 GHz

Graphics: Intel GMA 500

RAM: 1GB DDR3

Storage: 32GB SSD

Connectivity: 2xUSB, VGA, LAN, headphone/mic

Wireless: 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1

Memory Card Reader: MMC, SD/SDHC

Screen: 8,9” LED-backlit, 1 024 x 600

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium

Weight: 2.04lbs, 0.94kg

Asus Eee PC T91mt – Best Prices
		$399.99
		$409.99
		$411.99

Both of those negatives have now been remedied by Asus, and without compromising on the good parts. The 1008P Asus Eee PC or Eee PC Seashell Karim Rashid Edition for less short, is both smarter and faster than its predecessor.

Groovy Surface

What first catches the eye on this particular model is the peculiar surface. Karim Rashid is an industrial designer known for his daring style and outlandish ideas, and when he takes on a computer chassis, no exception will be made. The entire computer is covered with a wavy grid pattern and a slightly glittering finish. It is sold in two different colors – copper brown and screaming hot pink.

If you want a computer that screams “Look at me!” a hundred yards away you should definitely go for the pink option. The brown one is a lot more subtle, but still highly original and would definitely look out of place in the board room. As a pure fashion accessory it clearly hits the jackpot, but is it also a decent worker underneath?

Improved Pinetrail Platform
Not bad as it turns out. Its new Atom N450 “Pinetrail” CPU and integrated graphics gives it a decent performance boost. While it’s clearly no performance laptop, the Windows 7 Starter operating system, which requires considerably more power than the old XP Home, works really well. Word processing, web browsing and other basic tasks all run perfectly, but running the latest games is of course out of the question.

In terms of design, Asus has corrected a few problems that its predecessor had. Ports that are hidden under the covers along the sides are a bit easier to reach, although some of larger USB sticks will still be hard to fit. On the downside, the fan noise in the Eee PC 1008P, although not really loud, is still clearly audible, and a rather noisy hard drive adds some additional sound. The mouse pad on the other hand, is great and offers multi-touch features like those found on Apple laptops.

Excellent battery life

The battery is now replaceable, and in addition you also get an extra battery to bring along and double your battery life. Not that it’s really needed – a single charged battery can run for five or six hours, or even seven with aggressive power savings. In other words: with the extra battery you’ll be safe for a full day’s work.

Just like most other new Asus laptops, the 1008P comes with some added fluff. That includes Asus Express Gate mini operating system and 500GB of web-based storage space. All in all, it’s a good netbook with a decent price tag, and if the unique design appeals to you, there’s not much to be said against it.

Amazon Marketplace product page for the Eee 1008P

Design and Build Quality

The overall design of the Eee 1008HA is very pleasant as it’s only about an inch thick and with slightly rounded corners. There’s no abundance of ports either – at least not visible ones. Besides a small power input, the rest of the ports are hidden behind plastic covers in the chassis. It doesn’t have a conventional VGA port, instead opting for a mini-connector and an external adapter.

For better or worse, the slim-line design calls for a built-in, non user-replaceable lithium hybrid battery. Unless you feel comfortable with dismantling the computer and doing it yourself, you’ll have to leave the battery with a qualified professional for replacement when the it reaches the end of its natural life. On the plus side you get excellent battery life with the 1008HA – more than six hours with power-saving features turned on.

Ergonomics: Screen and Keyboard

Upon lifting the lid you are greeted by a glossy widescreen display sporting the usual 1024×600 resolution and a flush mounted keyboard that provides a good typing experience. A couple of handy shortcut buttons have also been placed above the keyboard that allows for switching Wi-Fi on and off, or temporarily disabling the trackpad.

Performance and Features

The Asus Eee 1008HA can be considered a “premium” netbook thanks to its slightly more sophisticated design. However, it also offers a little extra in terms of performance, as it uses the marginally faster 1.66GHz Atom N280. We certainly didn’t expect any miracles from the faster CPU – after all, it’s only 6MHz faster than the more common N270 and at the end of the day it’s still a netbook. In PCMark 05, however, the unit produced a score of 1636 points, which is about one hundred points above average in this category. This is probably thanks to the also improved FSB (Front Side Bus) speeds on the newer N280 models.

In all,  it’s a well built netbook with some premium features and very nice-looking design elements. If you think it’s worth paying a little extra for good looks, then the Eee 1008HA is a good alternative. It’s available in white, black, blue and pink.
Quick Specs: CPU: 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Memory: 1GB  DDR2, Hard drive: 160GB, Graphics: Intel GMA 950, Operating System: Windows XP SP3, Dimensions (WD) 10.3 x 7.1 inches, Height 0.6- 1.0 inches, Screen size: 10.1″ (1024×600) , System weight 2.4lbs, Battery life: ~6 hours on “power saver” mode.

The 1005HA is almost identical to the 1008HA; it is a wee bit heavier and thicker, but in essence it’s not really perceptible to a regular user. Besides, that minor increase in weight and dimensions has allowed Asus to pack in some nice features compared to the 1008HA lineup. The Asus Eee PC 1005HA has enough space to include a VGA port and an all new, high-performance removable battery, which make it a grab of a deal at the $400 (approximate) price tag it is being marketed at.

With a 1.66 Ghz Atom N280 processor, 160 GB of disk space and a 6 cell battery, the Asus 1005HA does have something in it to prompt even the most stringent of Eee PC critics to rethink their stance. The notebook features 1 GB of RAM, which is the standard now in mini laptop computers and a 10.1 inch display (it would have been nice to see an 11-inch screen on this one, but Asus had to compromise somewhere in order to save on space and keep the price down).

Living up to the “seashell” design that Asus markets its new products with, the Asus Eee PC 1005HA is somewhat thicker at the back than in the front, especially when it’s closed. This design has few similarities to a seashell if you ask me, but it’s still easy on the eyes and that’s what counts. Being 1.4 inches thick at the thickest point, the notebook is still pretty convenient to house in smaller areas, such as an airplane seat. The overall dimensions of the netbook are 10.3×7x1.4, which is pretty decent for a system that is packed with better than average features.

The additional ounces that the Asus Eee PC 1005HA has put on, as compared to the 1008 series is used to house three features primarily- a new slot for upgrading RAM, Removable batteries and an all new VGA port, thus doing justice to the heftier size that the 1005HA now comes with.

The best feature in the notebook, undoubtedly, is its battery. Being a removable battery, you can purchase a spare battery and swap it whenever the original battery weakens and you are stuck up somewhere you can’t recharge it. It means that you will never have to be at the mercy of a charging port in order to get going, especially on the move. Although chances are you won’t need a spare, since this laptop will provide juice for at least a full 8-hour work day. Very impressive!

IMPORTANT: As of Nov. 2009 TigerDirect currently offers a fantastic deal on this model. Just $289, down from $399. Head over to TigerDirect and pick one up!

The 1002HA Eee looks a lot more professional and snazzy than its older relatives. It has a very nice-looking chassis in brushed aluminum and looks less like a toy and more like a professional’s tool. Even the touchpad has a brushed metal feel, and it weighs a half pound less than the Eee PC 1000H 160G, which is a lot in the ultraportable laptop segment. At the same time, Asus offers up a 10″ screen of the same LED backlit variety and a very ergonomic keyboard just like the other Eee PC’s.The battery life in the 1002HA is also much better – in spite of it using a small battery it lasts nearly 4 hours on a single charge with the display brightness turned down.

The touchpad with the forward-tilting buttons has however been replaced by one with a single button that functions as both left and right mouse button. Another nice new feature is the addition of multi-touch functionality similar to that on the new MacBooks. For example, you scroll through pages using two fingers anywhere on the trackpad instead of using just the edge of the pad.

Another interesting detail with the 1002HA Eee is that the bottom of the laptop has a different design – instead of protruding, the battery is flush with the chassis, giving the mini laptop a lower profile when you place it on a table. The VGA port has been relocated to the back of the computer, but it still has three USB ports and the same multi-funtional memory card reader as the older models.

For this mini laptop computer, Asus has used a matte display instead of the glossy variety the manufacturer is better known for. A matte screen is better suited for outdoor use and in rooms with proper lighting conditions, but does not have the vivid colors that you might get from a glossy screen. Which variant you prefer is mostly a matter of personal taste and your intended uses.

All in all, the 1002HA Eee is a much better-looking, lighter, and in almost every aspect a better laptop than Asus’ previous models, but all of this also comes at a not so insignificant price premium.

Compared to its predecessor, the Eee PC 1000H 160G, the 1000HE doesn’t bring a lot of new features to the proverbial table. At the time of writing, the increase in performance is not appropriately related to the increase on the price tag.

Sure, the newer model uses the ever so slightly faster Atom N280 CPU, which has a clock frequency of 1.66GHz versus the N270 which runs at 1.6GHz. Similarly, the FSB has been upped to 667MHz instead of 533MHz. In theory, this should make the Eee PC 1000HE run a bit faster, but as the remaining components remain the same, the difference is barely noticeable in real-world scenarios. Also just like its predecessor, the Eee 1000HE tips the scale to 2.8lbs, which is above average for a 10″ mini laptop computer.

At the same time, there’s not much to complain about with the Eee PC 1000HE, but neither are there any major improvements to justify a higher price. If you can settle for a mini laptop that runs marginally slower (but not noticeably so) the 1000H is the better alternative as long as it costs less.

The rest of the hardware components in the 1000HE are nearly identical – just like the 1000H it comes with Windows XP Home and a 160GB hard drive.

The Atom CPU clocking in at 1.6GHz is the very same that you’ll find in any mini laptop computer, and the entire chassis is built from a similar but slightly larger mold. With the introduction of the 1000-series Eee Asus quietly moved away from the use of small solid state drives and opted for conventional spinning-platter hard drives.

The Eee PC 1000H is available in black or white.

For all intents and purposes the hard drive is still superior to the netbook-style SSD.  Until mainstream SSDs come down in price and increase in capacity it’s hard to justify the poor performance and storage space delivered by a low-end solid state drive. The 5,400rpm hard drive in the 1000H 160G stores 160GB, which seems to have become the standard in mini laptops lately. While this isn’t a huge drive, it’s still a far cry from the 8-32GB (at best) offered in netbook SSDs.

Just like the rest of the Eee PC lineup, the 1000H 160G has a trackpad with the buttons placed underneath the pad and tilting downwards. Having the buttons below the pad is of course normal placement in most full-size laptops, but some mini laptop manufacturers have placed the buttons to the right and left hand sides of the trackpad. Having a slight tilt on the buttons saves space and is actually quite comfortable, as it’s where you probably rest your thumbs anyway. This might be an idea for other manufacturers to imitate

Great keyboard/trackpad combination

One of the less impressive aspects of the Eee PC 1000H is the weight – at 2.8lbs it’s a bit too heavy for a 10-inch mini laptop computer. This model comes with Windows XP, which is a much better choice than Vista, but for some of us geeks it’s sad to see that Asus – the company that pioneered by shipping all their early mini laptops with Linux – that the open-source operating system is getting increasingly marginalized.

Quite large and heavy

In all though, the Eee PC 1000H is well worth its price tag. It has a few flaws, primarily the weight issue mentioned previously, but makes up for it by offering plenty of ergonomically correct features – the great trackpad and keyboard combination for one.

Compared to its siblings, the Eee S101 is something of an all-out luxury model made of high-quality materials and with a much thinner profile. One might question the choice of color on the S101 though, as a glittery gold(ish) brown wouldn’t be my personal favorite color to cover my new laptop. Surprisingly it looks quite visually appealing in spite of the color, much thanks to the otherwise very eye-pleasing design of the slim chassis. The s101 battery is placed flush with the bottom of the computer instead of protruding, which is normally the case with the Eee PC series. The result is a much better looking mini laptop.

Under the hood you’ll mostly find the usual hardware, albeit with a few exceptions; it has the Intel Atom N270 ticking away at 1.6GHz and 1GB of RAM – more or less the standard equipment in any mini laptop computer. However, instead of a hard drive, this laptop is fitted with a 16GB solid state drive. This storage space is rather small, but can be expanded by putting an additional 16GB in the SD card slot. Keep in mind, however, that this isn’t one of the fast variety SSDs that ship with more expensive laptops, but a smaller and comparatively slow netbook variant.

TheLED backlit 10-inch screen on the Eee s101 has a 1024×600 resolution, and the graphics are handled by the tried and tested Intel GMA950. In terms of performance, this mini laptop computer ofers few surprises, but that’s not the point of the S101. It’s supposed to appeal to anyone looking for a more exclusive, and good-looking netbook, and that it does.