ASUS Eee PC 1000H BK007X Netbook, Windows XP Preloaded, 1GB RAM, 80GB HD (Black)

I am a design student and wanted a laptop to surf the net, check emails, use office applications and edit photos. The Eee 1000H does all this perfectly.

Good points:
- Exactly 5 Hrs battery life with wifi on
- Super Hybrid Engine. This is a fancy name for the program that lets you instantly change the processor speed and screen illumination. It works well and allows you to either save battery, overclock the processor for high performance, or a compromise between the two.
- Snappy processor for its specs, just remember not to clutter it up with stacks of programs at startup!
- 1GB RAM. It might not sound much by today's standards but this isn't a powerhouse so I really think the amount of memory is ample for the processor and OS.
- Decent HDD. 80GB on a netbook is great
- Keyboard is compact but very usable
- Superb screen. It's bright, clear and looks good at all angles. It's also a usable size, although you'll be scrolling down webpages a bit more than usual
- 3 USB ports. 1 on the left, 2 on the right.
- SD card reader. I use SD cards a lot so this is brilliant and lets you add a bit of extra storage if you like
- Good 1.3 MP webcam and stereo mics
- Quick launch buttons (might not be their official title). One turns the screen off, one alters the screen aspect ratio and the third and fourth are user definable. These are set to alter the super hybrid engine and launch skype by default, but are easy to change.
- XP!!! Sorry but I don't like Vista. I'm more familiar with XP, it does everything I need it to and takes up less memory. I also need to use google sketchup so linux isn't an option.
- Looks very stylish. Although the case is shiny and attracts fingerprints like a CSI script its screen is matt and puts up with a fair bit of pawing
- Comes with a slip case and polishing cloth. It's a nice touch that just lets you look after your Eee if you haven't already bought a case for it

Bad Points:
- The main one is the funny clicky mouse buttons. They are made of stainless steel so they won't wear away like my old laptop did, however, they are a bit stiff. I've had the Eee for a couple of weeks now and the left button has softened a bit, plus I've got used to it!
- No optical drive. It's hard to really hold this against it but it's worth pointing out. I bought an LG external dvd drive and it works fine. It's just extra baggage though
- It's surprisingly noisy. I think being small I expected it to be quieter but it sounds like a normal laptop. Again not a major point, it just caught me out at first.
- No firewire port. I'm not bothered, I don't use it!
- The office applications. It comes with MS Works and Star Office. Ok fair enough, they included something but Works is really the barrel scrapings. Star Office is good but it's almost identical to Open office. Why not leave them out and shave a few quid off the price? I've installed Office 2007 because I need 100% compatibility with other MS Office users. It runs fine

So in conlusion this is an excellent netbook/notebook with fabulous battery life. I haven't experienced any issues with poor wireless connectivity which some other people have mentioned. It picks up my neighbour's router through 2 walls and across 30 yards of garden!

Just bear in mind that it's only a tiddler so it won't play the latest games or display a vast spreadsheet onscreen. Minesweeper anyone?

I brought this to fit in my handbag as I am a writer. The keypad is fine, and have no problem touch typing. I take it everywhere with me and have almost stopped using my desktop even when at home as this starts up so fast. I downloaded Office and took of the star programme - hasn't made anydifference to speed or memory. I'm not hugely IT literate, but this machine is brilliant easy to use and I love it. Just about to purchase an external cd rom to make life even simpler rather than keep using memory stick.

After looking around almost every computer shop and website in the Midlands, I finally decided on the 1000H and ruled out the acer aspire one, the advent 4211 and this new dell supposedly being released soon. The features and build quality are fantastic with a good 1.3mp webcam, large 80gb hard drive (compared to other netbooks), great keyboard that is big enough for me to be able to almost touch type and a great clear and bright 10 inch screen. The battery life compared to my inspiron is very impressive, after a full charge with the bluetooth turned off and wifi on all the time I got 4.5 hours without any need to take the small charger with me. In glossy black the netbook looks stylish and in my view better than the acer aspire (also glossy). I was going to purchase the eee pc 901 but i am so glad i paid the extra £40 for the latest 1000h version as the size or weight difference isnt that noticeable, but the hardrive and bigger keyboard is! Tips with this netbook I would suggest are uninstall works and load office 2007 (works seemlessly) and I know that vista (with a few driver updates) can work fine but to be honest the xp takes up less memory and is exactly what you need. If there are only two negatives about this netbook, they are that the sound without headphones isnt that great (but then just listen on headphones!) and the mousepad/ clicks get a while to get used to as they are stiff at first, but then i have experienced this while testing other netbooks as well. I am happy that I have this eee pc and would recommend it without doubt