The Asus Eee PC 1008HA is one of the thinnest and lightest 10 inch netbooks available. It measures just 1 inch thick and weighs just 2.4 pounds. The netbook is a grand departure from early Asus netbooks including the Eee PC 1000HE which was one of the largest and heaviest 10 inch netbooks around.

Asus has been selling the Eee PC 1008HA since this summer, but the company recently launched an updated version loaded up with Windows 7. In addition to the updated operating system, the new model also has the latest Eee PC software from Asus as well as 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive. The original model had just 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive.

That’s pretty much it for the differences, so portions of this review will be copied and pasted from my earlier review of the Asus Eee PC 1008HA. But I’ve updated the software and performance sections as well as some other areas. After all, it’s been five months since I reviewed the Windows XP model, and the netbook space looks a bit different than it did at the time I first reviewed the Eee PC 1008HA.

One thing that immediately sets the updated Eee PC 1008HA apart from the crowd is the fact that it’s one of the only netbooks to ship with Windows 7 Home Premium. Most 10 inch netbooks come with the lower priced Windows 7 Starter Edition.

The model featured in this review has a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 CPU, a 10.2 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and Bluetooth. It’s available from Amazon for $411.

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Last week Chris Guthrie at netbook Reviews ran a battery test on two virtually identical netbooks: An Asus Eee PC 1008HA with Windows 7 and one with Windows XP. He found that the Windows 7 model ran for an hour longer than the Windows XP model, which made it look like the operating system actually helped improve battery life on that netbook. I was impressed and wrote up a summary of the experiment on Liliputing.

But then things stopped adding up. Asus sent me a Windows 7 Asus Eee PC 1008HA to review and I ran Battery Eater Pro on it. Not only did I get about half the run time that Chris got on his test… but I found that the laptop ran for about an hour less than the Eee PC 1008HA with Windows XP that I reviewed this summer. In both cases, we’re talking about virtually new demo units sent directly from Asus.

And then the plot continued to thicken. Kevin Tofel at jkOnTheRun has been using a Toshiba NB205 netbook for a little while. He purchased one with Windows XP but later installed Windows 7. When he ran the Battery Eater Pro test on his netbook he found that it ran for about 5:50 under Windows XP and only 5:15 under Windows 7.

Since I happen to have a Toshiba NB205 Windows 7 review unit handy, I ran the same test and got only 5 hours and 16 minutes. That’s not a bad score at all (since Battery Eater stresses the CPU pretty heavily, it means you’d probably get 6 to 8 hours of run time in real life). But it does show that for the Toshiba NB205, it seems that Windows 7 doesn’t improve battery life: it hurts it. And despite Chris Guthrie’s test results, it looks like the same is true on the Asus Eee PC 1008HA.

What’s interesting is that Windows 7 does give users far more control over their advanced power settings than Windows XP. But the operating system also incorporates more graphics and animations that could be taking a toll on battery life. But that doesn’t really explain very much either, since most netbooks, including the Toshiba NB205, ship with Windows 7 Starter Edition which disables many of those graphical effects. The Asus Eee PC 1008HA does come with the fuller-featured Windows 7 Home Premium, though.

What do you think? Do you have any experience testing devices with Windows XP and Windows 7? Have you noticed any change in battery performance?

Over the past few months, the low cost ultraportable notebook space has expanded to include a new class of device. While 10 inch and smaller netbooks are still playing an important role in the field, there’s been a new crop of devices with 11 to 12 inch displays selling for $600 or less. While these laptops including the Acer Aspire 1810T, Dell Inspiron 11z, and Asus UL20A are larger and generally more powerful than most netbooks, as well as more expensive, they’re still a lot cheaper than the ultraportables of yesteryear. And they tend to weigh less than 4 pounds, which is always a good thing.

But just to show you why I don’t expect to make a habit of covering 13 inch or larger laptops anytime soon, I’ve put together a little photo shoot that shows the difference between three laptops I happen to have at Liliputing HQ this week (yes, the photo shoot took place in our laundry room… you have a problem with that?): The 10 inch Asus Eee PC 1008HA, the 11.6 inch Acer Aspire 1410, and the 13.3 inch Asus UL30A.

While the Acer Aspire 1410 is just a little bit larger than the Asus Eee PC 1008HA, the Asus UL30A is clearly in a completely different class. Sure, it weighs just 3.9 pounds, but it’s a heck of a lot bigger and bulkier. And while that makes it a better choice for anyone looking for a larger machine that won’t cause eye strain, it’s not quite as portable as the other two laptops.

You can check out more photos of the three laptops after the break. While I think it should be pretty clear which computer is which, for the sake of reference, the Asus Eee PC 1008HA is black, the Acer Aspire 1410 has a blue lid, and the Asus UL30A has a silver/gray lid.

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Update: It looks like these results may have been inaccurate, or at least misleading. I’ve run several other tests that seem to indicate that Windows 7 actually hurts battery life on at least two netbook models, including the Eee PC 1008HA.

One nice feature in Windows 7 is that it gives users a bit more control over their power settings. But in some cases, even without tweaking your PC to adjust the CPU clock speed, shut down the hard drive, display, or other tweak other features Windows 7 may still help you squeeze more life out of some batteries — either that, or Asus decided to throw a higher capacity in the Windows 7 version of the Eee PC 1008HA. Either way, Chris Guthrie at Netbook Reviews decided to compare battery performance on a Windows XP version of the Eee PC 1008HA and a new model running Windows 7.

The result? The Windows 7 model ran for more than an hour longer. With the brightness set to full, WiFi and Bluetooth on, and the processor set to run at 1.75GHz, the computer ran for 6:07:30. The Windows XP version ran for just 5:03:18 under the same conditions.

Chris used Battery Eater Pro for his test. I’ve stopped using that particular test, since it taxes the CPU non-stop until the battery dies which doesn’t really provide a good picture of real world usage. In other words, it’s quite likely that you may be able to get another hour or two of battery life out of the new Eee PC 1008HA. I haven’t had time to test the battery on my review unit, but you can be sure I’ll be paying close attention to battery performance in light of Chris’s findings.

Update: I checked in with the folks at Asus, and they assure me that the battery hasn’t changed. So while it is possible that the results are due to the Windows XP model’s battery having run down a bit, Windows 7 may also be playing a significant role. I’ll test the battery on my demo unit this weekend and that should tell us a bit more since the Windows XP model I reviewed a few months back was also a barely used demo unit.

It looks like the PC vendors (and Microsoft) have spoken, and the vast majority of Intel Atom powered netbooks with 10 inch displays are going to ship with Windows 7 Starter Edition. But there is at least one model that stands out from the crowd. Asus will begin offering two versions of the Asus Eee PC 1008HA tomorrow: One with Windows 7 Starter and another with Windows 7 Home Premium.

The version with Windows 7 Home Premium will run about $480 and it packs 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, and the usual Eee PC 1008HA specs: 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 CPU, 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, and a non-removable battery.

Asus sent me a demo unit to review and you can check out two videos after the break. The first features the grand unboxing, while the second takes a first look at the software. Sorry if I seem a bit rambly, but I’m fighting a cold at the moment.

One thing I wanted to point out is that the Eee PC 1008HA gets a Windows performance score of 2.0. It’s dragged down a bit in the Windows Aero graphics department, where it scores a 2.0. Here are the rest of the scores:

• Processor: 2.3
• Memory: 4.5
• Graphics: 2.0
• Gaming graphics: 3.0
• Primary hard disk: 5.7

Now for the videos:

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With Windows 7 set to launch in just a week, we’re about to see a whole lot of netbooks, notebooks, and other computers get a spec bump. And the Asus Eee PC lineup is hardly exempt. At an event in Germany, Asus officials outlined some of the company’s plans for the next generation of the Asus Eee PC Seashell line, including the Eee PC 1005HA, 1008HA, and 1101HA.

For the most part, the info is in keeping with a leaked product roadmap from earlier this year. But here’s the interesting part. Most of the netbooks will ship with Windows 7 Starter Edition, while the Eee PC 1101HA with an 11.6 inch display, 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 260GB hard drive will ship with Windows 7 Home Premium.

The Asus Eee PC 1005HA will be available in two different versions. Both will have 1GB of RAM, 250G hard drives, and Intel Atom N270 processors. The 1005HA-H will have Bluetooth and a 10.5 hour battery, while the 1005HA-M will lack Bluetooth and include an 8.5 hour battery.

The Eee PC 1008HA will have 1GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, an Atom N280 processor and a 6 hour battery.

via NewGadgets.de

The Asus Eee PC 1008HA is a thin and light netbook that weighs just 2.4 pounds and measures just an inc thick. It was the first Asus netbook to be feature the new “Seashell” style design. And it’s currently only available with Windows XP, even though Asus was a pioneer in putting Linux on netbooks.

But this weekend Asus did something interesting. The company posted Linux source code for the Asus Eee PC 1008HA. In fact, there are 5 different downloads, ranging in size 299Mb to 488MB. I have no idea what the difference is between one and the other, and I’m not entirely sure what’s contained in the files yet. But if I had to guess, I’d say that Asus is preparing to launch a version of the Eee PC 1008HA that runs Moblin Linux.

Keep in mind, what’s on the Asus support site right now is source code. There aren’t any disc images available for download, which means you can’t download and install the software yet. But if you know more about Linux than I do, you might be able to compile a disc image using the source code. Any penguins out there want to give it a try or give the source code a closer look and let us know what you find in the comments?

Update: The source code isn’t 5 different files… it’s 1 big file broken up into 5 pieces. In other words, the whole thing is about 2.2GB.

Update 2: There’s a similarly huge set of source code downloads for the Asus Eee PC 1005HA as well.

fnac

Italian retailer fnac has started taking pre-orders for three Asus Eee PC models with Windows 7. The interesting thing is that while some of the models run the stripped-down Windows 7 Starter Edition, all three models get spec bumps. This is likely due to the fact that Microsoft has changed its hardware restrictions for cheap Windows licenses. To qualify for a low cost Windows XP license, netbooks need to have no more than 1GB of RAM and 160GB of storage. To qualify for Windows 7 Starter Edition, a netbook can have a hard drive with up to 250GB of storage.

Keep in mind, Asus often makes different configurations available in different parts of the globe, but here are the three models up for pre-order in Italy:

• Eee PC 1005HA: Windows 7 Starter Edition, 1GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive, 1.66GHz Atom N280, 10.1″ 1024 x 600 pixel screen for 299 Euros or $442 US
• Eee PC 1008HA: Windows 7 Starter Edition, 1GB of RAM, 250Gb hard drive, 1.66GHz Atom N280, 10.1″ 1024 x 600 pixel screen for 399 Euros or $590 US
• Eee PC 1101HA: Windows 7 Home Premium, 2Gb of RAM, 250GB hard drive, 1.33GHz Atom Z520, 11.6″ 1366 x 768 pixel screen for 399 Euros or $590 US

The US prices are converted from Euros. It’s likely that these computer will be cheaper when they hit the states.

Another interesting thing is that all three models come with 500GB of web-based storage. That’s 50x more than the 10GB Asus provides for online storage and backup now.

via Eee PC.it

The Asus Eee PC 1008HA is a thin and light 10 inch netbook that comes in wide selection of colors in the US, as long as you like black and white. The slightly thicker Eee PC 1005HA has a better battery, but comes in the same two colors in the US.

But in France, it looks like two new color options are starting to show up. La Fnac is taking orders for the 1008HA in red, and the 1005HA is available in pink. No word on if or when we’ll start to see these colors show up in the US and other parts of the globe.

via Blogeee

The Asus Eee PC 1000/1000H/1000HE all had support for multi-touch trackpad gestures. For instance, while most older touchpad let you scroll through web pages and other documents by moving your finger to the far right side of the pad, on these models you can scroll simply by placing 2 fingers on the touchpad and dragging up or down. For some reason, Asus decided to disable this feature on the newer Eee PC 1005HA and 1008HA models, while keeping other multi-touch gestures like pinching your fingers together or pushing them apart to zoom in some applications.

But a number of users have found ways to enable 2-finger scrolling on these new models. One method involves installing a third-party app, while the other method involves hacking a Synaptic touchpad driver. You can read more about these tricks in two posts at the EeeUser Forums: #1, #2.

via Blogeee and Eee PC.it