ASUS Eee PC 1005 HA Review

memebag · #1 07-20-2009, 05:24 PM

I've had it for 5 days now, and I love it. I upgraded the RAM to 2GB, removed the bloatware, installed Firefox, OpenOffice and Media Player Classic. It plays 720p video flawlessly over my wireless G network. It can bluetooth to my phone. The keyboard is smallish, but my fingers are getting used to it. The track pad is great. The advanced settings let you customize all kinds of things, like sensitivity, speed, momentum, virtual scroll wheels, tap-to-drag, etc. It's big enough to type on and read, but small enough that I can easily carry it around with me. The battery life is fantastic. It just goes and goes.

Amazon dropped the price by $12 a few days after mine arrived. I sent them an email asking about their price protection policy. I got an immediate response, saying they don't provide price protection, but for me, they'd make an exception.

xan_user · #2 07-20-2009, 05:40 PM

Just curious, did you try and get the free accidental warranty yet? Some models qualify/some dont.
ASUS Accidental Damage Warranty
Also what did you do for antivirus? I usually use avg, but it really seemd to slow down my eee.

memebag · #3 07-20-2009, 06:14 PM

I didn't know about the accidental warranty. Thanks for the link.

Right now, I'm using common sense to guard against viruses. At some point I might sweep it with Comodo, but for now I have nothing installed.

mrpacs · #4 07-20-2009, 08:14 PM

How are you streaming your 720p over your wireless if I may inquire? Slingplayer?

memebag · #5 07-20-2009, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrpacs

How are you streaming your 720p over your wireless if I may inquire? Slingplayer?

I'm just playing it. The videos are on my networks storage. I play them on the netbook with Media Player Classic, but any media player will do. Slingplayer is something for Slingbox, right? I've never understood why people wanted Slingbox. That's like, live TV, right?

memebag · #6 07-24-2009, 01:01 AM

I just installed eeebuntu. So far, it pretty much sucks. It couldn't talk to my wifi hardware without some "backporting", whatever that is. Installing Firefox 3.5 is a major pain in the ass. And everything looks goofy. Even goofier than XP.

**DAB** · #7 07-25-2009, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by memebag

I just installed eeebuntu. So far, it pretty much sucks. It couldn't talk to my wifi hardware without some "backporting", whatever that is. Installing Firefox 3.5 is a major pain in the ass. And everything looks goofy. Even goofier than XP.

I've never gotten into that, but there are those that think it is all that and a bag of chips. I am enjoying my Mac right now which is also all new to me. It almost seems strange the way it works till you get use to it.

memebag · #8 07-25-2009, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DAB

I've never gotten into that, but there are those that think it is all that and a bag of chips. I am enjoying my Mac right now which is also all new to me. It almost seems strange the way it works till you get use to it.

I've used many different flavors of Unix, going back to genuine AT&T System V in the mid 80s, so I'm familiar with the underlying technical stuff. Eeeeeeeeebuntu hid those details too well, so I never figured out why it would refuse to connect to network drives sometimes, or refuse to let me enable wireless networking other times, or refuse to upgrade Firefox. So last night I got rid of it. I also hosed my MBR and almost bricked my 1005, but eventually figured out how to restore it to factory settings and clean up the mess.

Now I get to go through all of the customization I did over the last week. Joy. I guess it isn't really yours until you break it.

**DAB** · #9 07-25-2009, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by memebag

I got rid of it. I also hosed my MBR and almost bricked my 1005, but eventually figured out how to restore it to factory settings and clean up the mess.

Now I get to go through all of the customization I did over the last week. Joy. I guess it isn't really yours until you break it.

It is truly hard to totally brick a drive, but it has been done! One thing for sure you have totally broken your ASUS in and now you know it ultimately! LOL

Thanks for the updated post, I am always interested in reading about experiences such as this. There are so many on the internet that do stuff that causes them heartache and pain, but ultimate we all benefit from it.

**Casual Fan** · #10 07-27-2009, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by memebag

I've used many different flavors of Unix, going back to genuine AT&T System V in the mid 80s, so I'm familiar with the underlying technical stuff. Eeeeeeeeebuntu hid those details too well, so I never figured out why it would refuse to connect to network drives sometimes, or refuse to let me enable wireless networking other times, or refuse to upgrade Firefox. So last night I got rid of it. I also hosed my MBR and almost bricked my 1005, but eventually figured out how to restore it to factory settings and clean up the mess.

Now I get to go through all of the customization I did over the last week. Joy. I guess it isn't really yours until you break it.

Thanks to Linux, I've "bought" both of my machines many times over. I had to give up relying on a Linux box for production work. Which sucks, because philosophically I like Linux and especially Ubuntu variants.