I used my 53rd birthday and the approaching Christmas holiday to gift myself a netbook, and after much research, it was the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X 10.1-Inch Netbook that I chose. Buying this netbook through Amazon - with its fabulous pricing, reliable shipping, super customer service, and community of intelligent verified reviewers was a no-brainer. Even still, I was concerned about making this purchase after reading so many complaints about power adapter problems. Turns out I needn't have worried my middle-aged head: Amazon and Asus are now shipping out this model with a proven and new power adapter - not the model that was causing all of those complaints. Bottom line: nothing to fear here.
As for the performance of this little computer, I've gotta tell ya: it beats out my old reliable Toshiba laptop that set me back more than $800 two years ago.
The netbook hooked up to the family's wireless in seconds. At the office, it quickly found an Optimum Online "free" hotspot that wasn't so much as detectable on my colleague's netbooks. And the battery life? Ridiculously long, a fact that makes me smile with glee. I've been using this netbook on and off for two days on the same charge. Now into my 8th hour of wireless/Itunes/wordprocessing/Internet activity, it's still going strong. PS: A co-worker gets about 2.5 hours on his brand-new HP. Seriously, I felt extravagant and almost guilty when he noted the 10 hour battery life on my Asus.
Though I did upgrade to 2GB RAM (and it was an absolute cinch to do!), I could have left well enough alone at 1GB. Fact is, the machine works beautifully straight out of the box. Having the extra RAM simply means that I can run tons of programs simultaneously. Given that I'd been running Open Office and Itunes, and had multiple browser windows open with no problem at 1GB, I don't think anyone needs to worry about rushing off to plug in extra RAM right away. This netbook is truly fantabulous as delivered. I'm figuring that with the 2GB now installed, it might well do my ironing.
What else? Well, I'm a touch typist and very particular about my keyboard. In researching this purchase, I visited Best Buy, Staples, Office Max and anywhere else I could plant my hands on the competition's offerings. Here's the deal: I LIKE this keyboard A LOT. It boasts nice large keys, is fast, responsive and comfortable. The only comparable keyboards I found were those on much larger laptops.
The screen? It's glossy, yes...and probably like you, I'd read a number of complaints about glare, but here's the deal: the screen is STUNNING, and if you've got a bright light shining down on it, you've got a choice: you can either move the screen to eliminate the glare, or move the lamp. I mean come on...it's a netbook, for crying out loud. It's not like it's such an inconvenience to shift yourself over a few inches to alleviate glare. I'd far rather have this beautifully crisp screen and make the occasional adjustment for glare, than deal with a matte screen 24/7.
One of the other complaints I'd come across is how for some, the screen doesn't tilt back far enough. Know what? It tilts plenty far. Don't kid yourself. Sure, if you're intent on standing up and towering over the netbook, as it sits some several feet below your typing hands, well then...yeah, you'd probably want the screen to tilt far enough back to lay flat. But who does this? And if you can't wait to twist yourself into some contortion in bed where you need the screen to go back further than reasonable, you can always invest in one of those $20 lap desks - you know, the kind with the beanbag bottom, so that you can shift the desk into whatever ridiculous position will suit your fancy. Seriously, there's no tilt problem for anyone other than the obsessively compulsive.
As for the operating system, I happen to like Microsoft XP, and since I wasn't into lining Mr. Gates' pockets for a whittled down "Starter version" of yet another O.S. adventure, I passed jumping on the Windows7 bandwagon. Yeah, I know...I could have gotten more hard drive space...and I could have gotten a matte screen, but neither of those "features" impressed me. If down the road, Windows7 turns out to be the best thing since sliced bread, I'll upgrade my operating system to the full program, with confidence that most of the bugs have been worked out by that time.
I guess what I'm getting at is this: If you happen to be looking for the best netbook out there, look no further.
