I recently received the following email:
I want to buy a netbook for $400 or less. Any advice?
—M.C.
The netbook category is changing so rapidly, it’s sometimes hard to keep up. But it seems that the best value for your money right now is probably the Asus Eee PC 1000HE. It’s an editor’s choice at PC Magazine and a favorite at Laptop Magazine, which called it “one of the best values in netbooks around.” It offers over seven hours of battery life (compared with less than five hours on average for netbooks), weighs 3.2 pounds, and sports a 92-percent keyboard that makes some crucial improvements over previous versions. (Notably, the shift key is now right under the enter key, a placement that’s more important than you might think.) The 1000HE is currently available at Amazon for $383.
Personally, I would avoid the Eee PC 1008HA, also known as the seashell, which is a little thinner and prettier than the HE but has 1.5 hours less battery life. Style is relative; even the best-looking netbooks look a bit like children’s toys. However, I know M. sometimes prefers style over substance, so I’ll leave that decision up to him. Another good choice is Samsung’s highly-regarded N110, which also has over 7 hours of battery life and a great keyboard; it costs roughly $410 at Amazon.
What if you want to go cheaper? Read the rest of my recommendations here. (The full post is on my professional blog, to which I give precedence.)
2 Comments
August 25, 2009 at 10:24 am
This is a great little netbook. It is very light, has a bright screen, and is speedy given the CPU and RAM. Only drawback I see is no upgradeable memory. Several people mentioned service centers for upgrade, but US center told me it’s not upgradeable.
September 26, 2009 at 4:40 am
Three words for this netbook: Stilysh, compact, slim. The covered ports are awesome and really makes this pc look expensive and original. Everyone in the office asks me about it because, compared to other netbooks, this one is really thin. Regarding the 2GB upgrade, you see when you run WinXP with customized desktops, antivirus & antispyware you’re pretty much about 416MB of ram. The other 584MB you can use for PPTs, (Internet Explorer, Itunes, and Outlook) and you’ll be fine. I have a friend who made the 2GB upgrade on this 1008HA and really, it doesn’t feel any faster (performance wise). Windows 7 Requires a minimum of 1GB of ram for a 32BIT, so when the final release comes out it will run perfect. I’d give 5 stars just because $385 bucks really makes it worth of the price being 1/4th of a macbook air. You won’t regret it.