Vendors of small, light and allegedly underpowered netbooks promote them as network browsing tools, best suited for web browsing and email. Well, folks, they’re only partially right. Some of the netbooks available today are ready for business computing prime time. Their functionality, light weight and small size, combined with their low power consumption and cost make them prime candidates for small, medium and even large businesses.

One of the best business-appropriate netbooks is the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE, running Windows XP. I’ve been messing with ASUS Eees since the 701. I own and have been using a 1000HA that is functionally the equivalent of the 1000HE, except for a slightly faster processor, a better designed keyboard, and somewhat different case design. So, what I write below is not simply based on a my hands-on time with the 1000HE.
I can't be the only who feels this way after using a netbook with a 1024 x 600 screen.
Even the older 800x480 screens were passable to get the job done, although sometimes you'd have to scroll the screen. But with 1024x600, this is much less of a problem.
My problem with the eee 1000H was the looks more than anything. the 1000HE is a slight improvement but the 1002 would be better. However the N280 without the better chipset isn't worth the extra money so we wait for the new chipset. The battery life does make it a very nice deal for the price though.
The product isn't really a laptop and even though you can buy a nice 13 inch laptop for 600 bucks which I would recomend if needed more speed. The xp, atom, gma 950 does more than what need for the basics. It should be noted that most of the people who would read this would want more than the basics so take that into consideration before judging the product. I am hoping for some better designs and upgraded tech for the 12 inch ish market at about 400-500 but intels atom and windows xp restictions are causing some major problems with that.
Thanks for the review
There are a few reasons. I think mostly they want to keep the cost down, since that's one of the main concepts. Cheap, basic, portable, simple. The parts and engineering for an ultra slim like the mac air require more money to produce.
It probably can, but it might need 2 GB ram, instead of 1.
I've run halo and star craft on it. Halo runs decently. Just the big open levels lag a bit. I've heard people run WC3 on it pretty well.
One niggle I have is the touchpad: it works fantastically, with great features for scrolling and gliding, but because its surface feels so similar to the body and fits flush to the surface, I am forever sliding off the touchpad. It just needs to be recessed a little or have a slightly raised edge to make it perfect.
These Netbooks are no powerhouses and are best for Internet, email and chatting. Great for video Skype whilst away from home too. Business wise, they are OK for documents and small spreadsheets. I do dump my camera pictures onto it and it is fine for quick viewing, but I do all my photo editing on my desktop PC and view on my TV.
The Asus 1000H was on my shortlist, but the Samsung NC10 won for me because I prefer the keyboard. But note, I am talking about UK layout keyboards: as the US keyboards are always different, try before you buy.
YES YOU CAN - you VPN to it, then it's the same as logging on using XP Pro
Nice review, Barry: always a pleasure to see you keep your hand in the game.
--Ed--
i tried netBeans on ubuntu, it works flawlessly. But the resolution is unacceptable.
they can and they do, but as far as storage goes I'll take a 2.5" HDD over a puny 1.8" HDD or expensive SSD (though in time it will get cheaper and maybe surpass HDDs).