I think this is just showing the evolution of the netbooks. A relatively recent device that now has everyone clamoring for one due to the size and portability of it. I think MSI is onto something especially with the option of the 9cell battery which can offer up to 10 hours of work time (from what i've read). Partner that with a low price tag with amazing specs then you have the new best friend of every student and businessman. Yea i think they all have their shortcomings such as the mouse track or the keyboard but like any good electronical device give it some time then it will meet consumers needs on almost every level.
A device like that would NEVER be worth more than 200 bucks to me, and I'd feel a little rotten about paying anything more than 100. Not to mention it's not really much more portable than a laptop. Laptops just need better battery life so we don't have to chug around with the ac adapter, If my laptop got 12 hours of battery life I'd take EVERYWHERE!!!
I can't see how anyone can recommend these pieces of crap. I've owned an Asus EeePC Seashell and I would never recommend these to anyone I know. I don't care about battery life, size, or weight. The pieces of crap run so freaking slow. On a straight up HTML page, it flies, but once you get into something that's heavy in java, php, etc is lags. It lags when you scroll, move to a new page, etc.
For simple websurfing, it fails. If all you plan on doing is typing up on notepad, ya. Go ahead. Have Office 2k7? Play with lag. It lags when I type.
FYI, I cleaned off the XP Home they had on there and installed a clean copy of XP Pro. I thought it would help with the lagging, but needless to say. It didn't.
stop making glossy bodied netbooks. They look like trash as soon as someone touches them. Also never make glossy screened netbooks. I want to see what I'm working on, not my reflection. WOn't buy any eee past the original 900 because of this.
Futisu and Sony both have 2 Ghz atoms overseas now in the P and the u820. It shouldn' be long before they make there way here. Also, it costs a little more but people always forget Asus own N10J mmodel with the gforce 9300m which makes it a pretty well rounded machine. A 2 Ghz N10 would be pretty remarkable I would think.
I'm waiting for the 2 Ghz U820 though as I travel by motorcycle whenever possible.
Hmmm.. 2Hhz? Like 5% more horsepower? Not feeling like waiting for it lol.
I think the netbook future will be pushing the limits to portable CPUs and GPUs. Nowdays netbook CPUs are useless except for bare computer needs. Right?
hey guys, i know the MSI Wind 123 already has an impressive battery life, but how would it perform with an Intel SSD and would there be any better battery life?
What is the appeal of a miniature laptop which is slow and underpowered? Better yet, just build a small nettop with a real processor. One thing I tend to wonder is why these Atom motherboards are so inexpensive, yet the via Mini-ITX motherboards are so expensive. Maybe it is just mass production fueled by the want of people for a smaller computer. Myself, I think you could just as easily hook it up to an external HD widescreen monitor. This would give such a device more appeal.
You could just make a phone that could plug into a monitor. Why carry around a big nettop? I think it is just as possible.
My brother bought an EEE specifically to run some DJing software on it, so he didn't have to lug around his Macbook. Unfortunately it couldn't handle it. He then couldn't sell it on Ebay, only scammers tried to buy it.
Not blaming the netbook, and he had the money to throw away, and still makes use of it. But something with a bit more horsepower than a slight processor clock speed increase would be very welcome.
Looks like we may have to wait a bit longer though.
When I saw this article I was hoping for a comparison to some of the low-end larger-screened notebooks available. I have been seeing Newegg deals on 14 and 15 inch notebooks for $350-400, I'd expect these to provide 3-4 times the performance of the tested netbooks but it would be a nice point of reference for those who are looking for a cheap system that doesn't need to be as portable. If you are buying for your 6th grader to do their homework, size and weight are less important than if you are flying cross-country.
Also, i wouldn't say BluRay playback and gaming are the only areas unsuited for netbooks. After all, a netbook with Ion would be able play BluRay files (off a hard drive at least), but nothing short of a much after processor is going to make tasks like photo editing or video transcoding tolerable on a netbook.
Just some general comments as I agree with the above post. This article did not really answer the question about whether or not a Netbook can replace a low end Notebook you can pickup on clearance at places like newegg or tigerdirect. I am just looking for an inexpensive second system to toss in the bag when I travel and maybe something the kids can use while I am at home. The size of these would be perfect as the company I work for has our notebooks so locked down that even windows media player is no longer active. I will be lugging two systems around so weight and size is very important.
I want to know how well it handles office applications, can it play movies/tv shows I transcoded for travel and how well does the wireless connection work. If I want to watch a TV show on Hulu does it offer decent enough playback quality via the wired or wireless connection. I watch most of my TV shows this way when traveling. How is battery playback when watching movies as those four hour flights showing the same movie over and over get boring.
Someone already mentioned this but do the webcams work and is skype video supported as I like to see my kids after getting back to the hotel room. How is the audio quality with a pair of headphones attached? I do not game so that is not important but it would be nice to know if Peggle or Disney Toon Town or other kids games play on it. At home I could probably trust a couple of seven year olds with the machine.
Most of the articles around here answer my questions and it is why I like visiting the website but this article left me with more questions than it answered.
So, the webcams work as intended with descent perfs. I tested a MSI U100 6 month back and webcam was great. The audio is also with standard quality and there is nothing to cry about. Most of 2D games will work on it. Even Counter Strike 1.6 works flawless with 800x600.
The image seems to show the 1000HE with an illuminated keyboard, yet no text in the article refers to this. I like this feature; shouldn't it have been at least briefly touched upon/ added to the comparisons?
After all, netbooks are ultra-portable and mat be in some very shady, or porrly-lit, locales.
(although it did lead me to a merry search involving stick-on keys, glow-paint, etc). Apparently this will be a feature in upcoming Asus models (unclear whether just notebooks or also netbooks)
"The N280 is essentially the same CPU as the N280"
You could have a much more thorough article if you didn't stop with just the N280 comparison... Why not compare all the CPU's to themselves?
The Core-i7 is essentially the same CPU as the Core-i7.
The Pentium 4 is essentially the same CPU as the Pentium 4.
The Phenom II is essentially the same CPU as the Phenom II.
"The N280 is essentially the same CPU as the N280"
You could have a much more thorough article if you didn't stop with just the N280 comparison... Why not compare all the CPU's to themselves?
The Core-i7 is essentially the same CPU as the Core-i7.
The Pentium 4 is essentially the same CPU as the Pentium 4.
The Phenom II is essentially the same CPU as the Phenom II.
Visual is right on the money with his comments. Based in Taiwan I watched first hand that Asus tested the market and it paid off. Now they try to bleed the distinctions between a regular notebook and a netbook by offering old chipsets , larger displays and inferior specs amd rake in the cash.
What is an atom CPU but a rebranded cpu from say five years ago.
Hav4e you ever tried to play a 3d game on a netbook, maybe upload video or make a DVD from a camcorder. It's a painful experience at best.
Atom CPU is ANYTHING BUT a re-branded older CPU. It is using a collection of older and newer Intel technologies in a combination to get the best performance vs. power consumption vs. price balance. They chose to go with an in-order architecture (which is a lot older than 5-years, you're talking Pentium II as the last Intel in-order CPU here) with hyper-threading (which is about 5 years old, but it's re-appearing in the latest Core i5 and i7 CPUs), with the latest or recent manufacturing process. It's a completely re-designed CPU for the specific marked to Netbooks and MIDs. The chipset could use updating though...
On AMD front, they are using the old Athlon XP designs with their "new" mobile CPUs, so you get proven performance from 8-10 years ago multiplied by manufacturing process advancements; which allow the CPUs to be clocked higher with lower power consumption.
Do research before you flame please.
And why would you even dream of playing a 3D game on a $350 netbook? They're not made for performance or gaming. They are essentially designed to run Internet Explorer or Firefox, nothing more. Come on...
Atom is actually sort of a failure really. I believe that it's actually meant to compete with the popular embedded CPUs, such as the Arm and MIPS archictectures. But it consumes too much power for those applications and it's not nearly as flexible (the Arm and MIPS chips are sorta cut and paste "what u want" designs.)
Atom is lucky that it found the netbook area, but it's definitely not exciting outside of its relatively low power envelope. Relative to other x86 chips that is.
Atom was born out of the Larabee project too actually. It's an offshoot of one of those cores if I recall correctly.
While I agree surfing the web is probably one of the most common things a netbook is used for, it isn't the only one. As the article admits, people also buy netbooks for those long plane or train rides. Considering internet access is not available on most commercial airlines, I think the battery testing should be a bit more broad.
In particular I would like to see testing for divx and h.264 playback, or even mp3 playback while web surfing.
I agree. I travel a lot and usually watch movies or TV shows on the plane, if not I am listening to music. I am tired of lugging around a rather heavy 15" notebook and want something easy to carry and use while traveling.
The majority of people I see on the plane or waiting in the airport are either doing work or watching video/listening to music, sometimes both. I would think doing a test with video playback would be a given as would using Office.
I am still bummed about the lack of wireless testing and was hoping for a reply today.
Just had an idea reading this article with respect to the battery power and performance tests.
Put both the battery life and "general" performance results for each netbook/laptop in a horizontal bar chart as you have in this review, then have a slider at the top that lets you specify in percentage of importance (to the reader) battery life vs performance. When you slide it to the left, for 100% battery life and 0% performance, it would order the horizontal bar chart in order of performance for battery life alone. Slide to the middle and you have 50-50 for battery/performance and the chart sorts accordingly.
Yes, people will argue about the relevance of the battery and performance tests to their specific needs, but they will do that regardless. At least this tool would help to find a balance that is important to the readers using the results provided.
This is just terrible. Don't post any more articles like this. You'll convince the manufacturers that they actually have a decent product, and then they will not bother improving it ;)
But seriously now, I am really disappointed by the slow rate of progress in the netbook area. They are all still using the same old crappy intel chipsets with terrible igp performance. Still on the crappy 1024x600 resolutions. Still no rotating screens and touchscreens. That is not evolution, that is milking the same old cow over and over.
I have the Gigabyte M912X tablet-convertible netbook, it is a model old as the world now, and yet it hasn't been surpassed by anyone yet. Even the fresh new tablets by Asus T91 and T101 are a step back, again with the lower resolution.
And here I was hoping we would even have multi-touch tablets by now. The initial misleading advertising of the Asus T91 as multitouch (which turned out to be about the touchpad and not the screen, damn Asus) had hyped my expectations way high.
Ion or at least the faster Intel GMA X4500, dual-core Atoms or Via Nano, are all getting old already without even appearing in a netbook product yet. If even existing tech takes so long to be adopted by the industry, how can I even hope for some future tech? At this rate I'll probably grow old and die before OLED displays, Moorestown, external/dock graphics, usb 3 or bluetooth 3 arrive.
agree agree... this is total bs. Netbooks run flash like crap too. I dont care who's fault it is. Try to play two or more youtube at once your screwed.
Also 400 for a netbook is about 200 to much. You can get 400 notebooks core 2 duo almost everyday now.
I remember this site a few years ago, every article was gold, it was interesting and seemed honest. What happen?
We mentioned in the article that the 1005HA was replacing the 1000HE, which might make the 1005HE a bigger bargain as it is closed out. We have received a 1005HA in the lab for testing.
Is there any reason why wireless tests were not run or performance not even mentioned. I have to depend on a wireless connection and without a DVD drive, it is really important to know how well the wireless setup works and if there are any compatibility problems hooking into a router.
Maybe it was on the hands on pages but my eyes hurt after looking at the background colors on the pics. It could just be me but red and pink just seems out of character around here.
Both units have what appears to be nice webcams and once again no mention on how well they work and the quality or if still pictures are a choice. Is the wireless connection or even the machine fast enough to handle skype video?
I know these units are not built for gaming but can you run WoW or Company of Heroes on them and how well do they run the multitude of flash games, especially the card games.
How good is the video quality on the VGA port and do the drivers offer support for widescreen formats or just 4:3. I guess I am frustrated as I am looking for a netbook and need more information than the asus, acer, hp, or msi websites provide.
The battery tests were really good but what happens if i buy a usb DVD drive and rip a movie to the hard drive. Will the msi have enough juice to play a couple of movies on a plane ride. Maybe I need to spend more and get a 14" notebook but i was hoping to save some money here.
We found no issues at all connecting any of the 5 netbooks tested by wireless for our battery tests. All found the connection to our wireless router and held onto to it for the 2 to 8.5 hours until the battery was depleted. Testing wireless was not the point of the battery test, but it is some evidence of wireless stability.
We do intend to add wireless connectivity testing to future netbook reviews. We are currently looking at several potential test methods.
I think hardware plays a big part in what defines a netbook. That said, I wouldn't pay more than $400 for a netbook.
It would be nice if they would release a netbook based around a dual core atom processor (the 330). I'd gladly sacrifice a couple hours of battery life on the MSI lappy for an extra core.
That is a very interesting suggestion. As I mentioned in the article we used an exterior monitor for the PCMark05 testing since a minimum 1024x768 was required to even run PCMark05. I was very surprised at how different the netbooks were in their output to the external monitor.
As you say some are very clean and some are quite ragged. We will try to find a way to include VGA port output in future netbook testing.
Have to concur about the MSI, the battery life is nice but my god! It has by far the WORSE TOUCHPAD to ever curse any netbook or laptop, and by a wide margin. I had to get rid of mine because i was sick of struggling to drag the cursor anywhere and have it land right, irregardless of settings.
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fuberwil - Tuesday, September 15, 2009 - link
I think this is just showing the evolution of the netbooks. A relatively recent device that now has everyone clamoring for one due to the size and portability of it. I think MSI is onto something especially with the option of the 9cell battery which can offer up to 10 hours of work time (from what i've read). Partner that with a low price tag with amazing specs then you have the new best friend of every student and businessman. Yea i think they all have their shortcomings such as the mouse track or the keyboard but like any good electronical device give it some time then it will meet consumers needs on almost every level.Hrel - Thursday, August 6, 2009 - link
A device like that would NEVER be worth more than 200 bucks to me, and I'd feel a little rotten about paying anything more than 100. Not to mention it's not really much more portable than a laptop. Laptops just need better battery life so we don't have to chug around with the ac adapter, If my laptop got 12 hours of battery life I'd take EVERYWHERE!!!afkrotch - Thursday, July 30, 2009 - link
I can't see how anyone can recommend these pieces of crap. I've owned an Asus EeePC Seashell and I would never recommend these to anyone I know. I don't care about battery life, size, or weight. The pieces of crap run so freaking slow. On a straight up HTML page, it flies, but once you get into something that's heavy in java, php, etc is lags. It lags when you scroll, move to a new page, etc.For simple websurfing, it fails. If all you plan on doing is typing up on notepad, ya. Go ahead. Have Office 2k7? Play with lag. It lags when I type.
FYI, I cleaned off the XP Home they had on there and installed a clean copy of XP Pro. I thought it would help with the lagging, but needless to say. It didn't.
MamiyaOtaru - Monday, July 20, 2009 - link
stop making glossy bodied netbooks. They look like trash as soon as someone touches them. Also never make glossy screened netbooks. I want to see what I'm working on, not my reflection. WOn't buy any eee past the original 900 because of this.kawatwo - Sunday, July 19, 2009 - link
Futisu and Sony both have 2 Ghz atoms overseas now in the P and the u820. It shouldn' be long before they make there way here. Also, it costs a little more but people always forget Asus own N10J mmodel with the gforce 9300m which makes it a pretty well rounded machine. A 2 Ghz N10 would be pretty remarkable I would think.I'm waiting for the 2 Ghz U820 though as I travel by motorcycle whenever possible.
AstroGuardian - Sunday, July 19, 2009 - link
Hmmm.. 2Hhz? Like 5% more horsepower? Not feeling like waiting for it lol.I think the netbook future will be pushing the limits to portable CPUs and GPUs. Nowdays netbook CPUs are useless except for bare computer needs. Right?
Wesleyrpg - Saturday, July 18, 2009 - link
hey guys, i know the MSI Wind 123 already has an impressive battery life, but how would it perform with an Intel SSD and would there be any better battery life?richwenzel - Saturday, July 18, 2009 - link
The lenovo s12 and the samsung nc20 both have the new via nano. I believe asus has a netbook and possibly dell as well with the nano.the nano supposedly can do blue ray. It would have been nice to see the differences between the two.
the nc20 is a bit pricier, at $500-$550 or so, but the lenovo can be had for around $400.
there is another company call top crown, www.tct.hk that looks they have some interesting developments with the nano
piasabird - Saturday, July 18, 2009 - link
What is the appeal of a miniature laptop which is slow and underpowered? Better yet, just build a small nettop with a real processor. One thing I tend to wonder is why these Atom motherboards are so inexpensive, yet the via Mini-ITX motherboards are so expensive. Maybe it is just mass production fueled by the want of people for a smaller computer. Myself, I think you could just as easily hook it up to an external HD widescreen monitor. This would give such a device more appeal.You could just make a phone that could plug into a monitor. Why carry around a big nettop? I think it is just as possible.
SilthDraeth - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
My brother bought an EEE specifically to run some DJing software on it, so he didn't have to lug around his Macbook. Unfortunately it couldn't handle it. He then couldn't sell it on Ebay, only scammers tried to buy it.Not blaming the netbook, and he had the money to throw away, and still makes use of it. But something with a bit more horsepower than a slight processor clock speed increase would be very welcome.
Looks like we may have to wait a bit longer though.
Ruark - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
I have an MSI notebook with buttons that seem to be much like those of the Wind.Many buttons (keyboard and touchpad) have to be pressed beyond the "click" in order for the press to register.
strikeback03 - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
When I saw this article I was hoping for a comparison to some of the low-end larger-screened notebooks available. I have been seeing Newegg deals on 14 and 15 inch notebooks for $350-400, I'd expect these to provide 3-4 times the performance of the tested netbooks but it would be a nice point of reference for those who are looking for a cheap system that doesn't need to be as portable. If you are buying for your 6th grader to do their homework, size and weight are less important than if you are flying cross-country.Also, i wouldn't say BluRay playback and gaming are the only areas unsuited for netbooks. After all, a netbook with Ion would be able play BluRay files (off a hard drive at least), but nothing short of a much after processor is going to make tasks like photo editing or video transcoding tolerable on a netbook.
KeypoX - Sunday, July 19, 2009 - link
I dont see the difference between 3 pounds and 6 pounds... Netbooks are cute but have no more functionality than a cell phone.I have seen people in school with them, they generally disappear and have a 15" laptop very soon.
jeff486 - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Just some general comments as I agree with the above post. This article did not really answer the question about whether or not a Netbook can replace a low end Notebook you can pickup on clearance at places like newegg or tigerdirect. I am just looking for an inexpensive second system to toss in the bag when I travel and maybe something the kids can use while I am at home. The size of these would be perfect as the company I work for has our notebooks so locked down that even windows media player is no longer active. I will be lugging two systems around so weight and size is very important.I want to know how well it handles office applications, can it play movies/tv shows I transcoded for travel and how well does the wireless connection work. If I want to watch a TV show on Hulu does it offer decent enough playback quality via the wired or wireless connection. I watch most of my TV shows this way when traveling. How is battery playback when watching movies as those four hour flights showing the same movie over and over get boring.
Someone already mentioned this but do the webcams work and is skype video supported as I like to see my kids after getting back to the hotel room. How is the audio quality with a pair of headphones attached? I do not game so that is not important but it would be nice to know if Peggle or Disney Toon Town or other kids games play on it. At home I could probably trust a couple of seven year olds with the machine.
Most of the articles around here answer my questions and it is why I like visiting the website but this article left me with more questions than it answered.
AstroGuardian - Sunday, July 19, 2009 - link
So, the webcams work as intended with descent perfs. I tested a MSI U100 6 month back and webcam was great. The audio is also with standard quality and there is nothing to cry about. Most of 2D games will work on it. Even Counter Strike 1.6 works flawless with 800x600.bgold2005 - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
The image seems to show the 1000HE with an illuminated keyboard, yet no text in the article refers to this. I like this feature; shouldn't it have been at least briefly touched upon/ added to the comparisons?After all, netbooks are ultra-portable and mat be in some very shady, or porrly-lit, locales.
(although it did lead me to a merry search involving stick-on keys, glow-paint, etc). Apparently this will be a feature in upcoming Asus models (unclear whether just notebooks or also netbooks)
JackPack - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
The keys on the 1000HE do not illuminate or glow.Bolas - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
I assume this is a typo?"The N280 is essentially the same CPU as the N280"
You could have a much more thorough article if you didn't stop with just the N280 comparison... Why not compare all the CPU's to themselves?
The Core-i7 is essentially the same CPU as the Core-i7.
The Pentium 4 is essentially the same CPU as the Pentium 4.
The Phenom II is essentially the same CPU as the Phenom II.
*grin*
Bolas - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
I assume this is a typo?"The N280 is essentially the same CPU as the N280"
You could have a much more thorough article if you didn't stop with just the N280 comparison... Why not compare all the CPU's to themselves?
The Core-i7 is essentially the same CPU as the Core-i7.
The Pentium 4 is essentially the same CPU as the Pentium 4.
The Phenom II is essentially the same CPU as the Phenom II.
*grin*
Wesley Fink - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Typo corrected. Thanks for letting us know.crimson117 - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Where can I get one of these with Linux pre-installed?rad999 - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Visual is right on the money with his comments. Based in Taiwan I watched first hand that Asus tested the market and it paid off. Now they try to bleed the distinctions between a regular notebook and a netbook by offering old chipsets , larger displays and inferior specs amd rake in the cash.What is an atom CPU but a rebranded cpu from say five years ago.
Hav4e you ever tried to play a 3d game on a netbook, maybe upload video or make a DVD from a camcorder. It's a painful experience at best.
rembo666 - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Atom CPU is ANYTHING BUT a re-branded older CPU. It is using a collection of older and newer Intel technologies in a combination to get the best performance vs. power consumption vs. price balance. They chose to go with an in-order architecture (which is a lot older than 5-years, you're talking Pentium II as the last Intel in-order CPU here) with hyper-threading (which is about 5 years old, but it's re-appearing in the latest Core i5 and i7 CPUs), with the latest or recent manufacturing process. It's a completely re-designed CPU for the specific marked to Netbooks and MIDs. The chipset could use updating though...On AMD front, they are using the old Athlon XP designs with their "new" mobile CPUs, so you get proven performance from 8-10 years ago multiplied by manufacturing process advancements; which allow the CPUs to be clocked higher with lower power consumption.
Do research before you flame please.
And why would you even dream of playing a 3D game on a $350 netbook? They're not made for performance or gaming. They are essentially designed to run Internet Explorer or Firefox, nothing more. Come on...
swaaye - Saturday, July 18, 2009 - link
Atom is actually sort of a failure really. I believe that it's actually meant to compete with the popular embedded CPUs, such as the Arm and MIPS archictectures. But it consumes too much power for those applications and it's not nearly as flexible (the Arm and MIPS chips are sorta cut and paste "what u want" designs.)Atom is lucky that it found the netbook area, but it's definitely not exciting outside of its relatively low power envelope. Relative to other x86 chips that is.
Atom was born out of the Larabee project too actually. It's an offshoot of one of those cores if I recall correctly.
agent2099 - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
While I agree surfing the web is probably one of the most common things a netbook is used for, it isn't the only one. As the article admits, people also buy netbooks for those long plane or train rides. Considering internet access is not available on most commercial airlines, I think the battery testing should be a bit more broad.In particular I would like to see testing for divx and h.264 playback, or even mp3 playback while web surfing.
goinginstyle - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
I agree. I travel a lot and usually watch movies or TV shows on the plane, if not I am listening to music. I am tired of lugging around a rather heavy 15" notebook and want something easy to carry and use while traveling.The majority of people I see on the plane or waiting in the airport are either doing work or watching video/listening to music, sometimes both. I would think doing a test with video playback would be a given as would using Office.
I am still bummed about the lack of wireless testing and was hoping for a reply today.
Lifted - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Just had an idea reading this article with respect to the battery power and performance tests.Put both the battery life and "general" performance results for each netbook/laptop in a horizontal bar chart as you have in this review, then have a slider at the top that lets you specify in percentage of importance (to the reader) battery life vs performance. When you slide it to the left, for 100% battery life and 0% performance, it would order the horizontal bar chart in order of performance for battery life alone. Slide to the middle and you have 50-50 for battery/performance and the chart sorts accordingly.
Yes, people will argue about the relevance of the battery and performance tests to their specific needs, but they will do that regardless. At least this tool would help to find a balance that is important to the readers using the results provided.
Visual - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
This is just terrible. Don't post any more articles like this. You'll convince the manufacturers that they actually have a decent product, and then they will not bother improving it ;)But seriously now, I am really disappointed by the slow rate of progress in the netbook area. They are all still using the same old crappy intel chipsets with terrible igp performance. Still on the crappy 1024x600 resolutions. Still no rotating screens and touchscreens. That is not evolution, that is milking the same old cow over and over.
I have the Gigabyte M912X tablet-convertible netbook, it is a model old as the world now, and yet it hasn't been surpassed by anyone yet. Even the fresh new tablets by Asus T91 and T101 are a step back, again with the lower resolution.
And here I was hoping we would even have multi-touch tablets by now. The initial misleading advertising of the Asus T91 as multitouch (which turned out to be about the touchpad and not the screen, damn Asus) had hyped my expectations way high.
Ion or at least the faster Intel GMA X4500, dual-core Atoms or Via Nano, are all getting old already without even appearing in a netbook product yet. If even existing tech takes so long to be adopted by the industry, how can I even hope for some future tech? At this rate I'll probably grow old and die before OLED displays, Moorestown, external/dock graphics, usb 3 or bluetooth 3 arrive.
AstroGuardian - Sunday, July 19, 2009 - link
I agree. Totally! I am waiting ages already to see OLEDs and Ions in a netbook. But things look boring at this time.KeypoX - Sunday, July 19, 2009 - link
agree agree... this is total bs. Netbooks run flash like crap too. I dont care who's fault it is. Try to play two or more youtube at once your screwed.Also 400 for a netbook is about 200 to much. You can get 400 notebooks core 2 duo almost everyday now.
I remember this site a few years ago, every article was gold, it was interesting and seemed honest. What happen?
JackPack - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Will AnandTech consider updating this article with the 1005HA Premium/Value?Honestly, this article feels a little outdated given the 1000HE is EOL.
Wesley Fink - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
We mentioned in the article that the 1005HA was replacing the 1000HE, which might make the 1005HE a bigger bargain as it is closed out. We have received a 1005HA in the lab for testing.Wesley Fink - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
I think I created a new Asus model in the reply. The model that may see close-out pricing is the 1000HE.goinginstyle - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Is there any reason why wireless tests were not run or performance not even mentioned. I have to depend on a wireless connection and without a DVD drive, it is really important to know how well the wireless setup works and if there are any compatibility problems hooking into a router.Maybe it was on the hands on pages but my eyes hurt after looking at the background colors on the pics. It could just be me but red and pink just seems out of character around here.
Both units have what appears to be nice webcams and once again no mention on how well they work and the quality or if still pictures are a choice. Is the wireless connection or even the machine fast enough to handle skype video?
I know these units are not built for gaming but can you run WoW or Company of Heroes on them and how well do they run the multitude of flash games, especially the card games.
How good is the video quality on the VGA port and do the drivers offer support for widescreen formats or just 4:3. I guess I am frustrated as I am looking for a netbook and need more information than the asus, acer, hp, or msi websites provide.
The battery tests were really good but what happens if i buy a usb DVD drive and rip a movie to the hard drive. Will the msi have enough juice to play a couple of movies on a plane ride. Maybe I need to spend more and get a 14" notebook but i was hoping to save some money here.
Wesley Fink - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
We found no issues at all connecting any of the 5 netbooks tested by wireless for our battery tests. All found the connection to our wireless router and held onto to it for the 2 to 8.5 hours until the battery was depleted. Testing wireless was not the point of the battery test, but it is some evidence of wireless stability.We do intend to add wireless connectivity testing to future netbook reviews. We are currently looking at several potential test methods.
TotalLamer - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
With netbooks getting larger, more capable, and more expensive... at what point does a netbook cease being a netbook, and simply becoming a notebook?nafhan - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
I think hardware plays a big part in what defines a netbook. That said, I wouldn't pay more than $400 for a netbook.It would be nice if they would release a netbook based around a dual core atom processor (the 330). I'd gladly sacrifice a couple hours of battery life on the MSI lappy for an extra core.
The0ne - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Definitely not over $400 as you could always find laptop deals for around the same price. For the same price the lack of CPU power is a huge drawback.Wesley Fink - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
That is a very interesting suggestion. As I mentioned in the article we used an exterior monitor for the PCMark05 testing since a minimum 1024x768 was required to even run PCMark05. I was very surprised at how different the netbooks were in their output to the external monitor.As you say some are very clean and some are quite ragged. We will try to find a way to include VGA port output in future netbook testing.
sprockkets - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Would like to see the HP mini 2140 though.Dainas - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Have to concur about the MSI, the battery life is nice but my god! It has by far the WORSE TOUCHPAD to ever curse any netbook or laptop, and by a wide margin. I had to get rid of mine because i was sick of struggling to drag the cursor anywhere and have it land right, irregardless of settings.Dany101 - Tuesday, April 8, 2014 - link
i can't turn on my wireless, i have a MSi u123. i try to press Fn+F11 nothing help pls