Got my Asus 1002HA about two weeks ago and thought I’d write a review about it. In order to avoid being redundant, I am going to review this in a somewhat different light. There are numerous written/video reviews of this unit so I’ll try not to repeat the basic information included in those. I am hoping to provide a review through the eyes of someone (me) who never thought they would purchase a puny, toylike netbook as a compliment to their core2duo powerhouse. I hope to provide information from the perspective of a doubter that is now very satisfied with his new netbook, which is possibly one of the few netbooks that could satisfy all of my wants.

First a little background. I already have a 15” core2duo laptop that is well equipped to handle almost anything thrown at it, and is very snappy at that. I was thinking of getting an additional computer to bring to and from work, as I don’t want to lug my 15” around and also don’t want to risk dropping or getting stolen my $1000+ laptop. So then enters my mind, “what about a netbook”, as I noticed prices were getting very enticing ($250-$400). But I still had doubts. Would the little atom processor be enough? Would the keyboard be large enough? Is the tiny screen going to drive me nuts? Are my co-workers going to laugh their asses off at me when they see my tiny, plastic netbook?

So first, most netbooks have similar hardware/processor specs, so that didn’t require much thought except to avoid the older models, as well as the dell mini’s that have the slower atom/Celeron processors. Since I wanted a larger keyboard (to accommodate my big hands) as well as the largest screen possible, I focused on the 10” models. I didn’t feel that this would compromise portability at all since even the biggest 10” models are still under 4lbs. So at this point I narrowed it down to all 10” netbooks with 1.6ghz atoms. I was still skeptical if this would be big or powerful enough. I’d seen 9”models in stores and they seemed ridiculously too small. I was hoping a bump to 10” would help but I wasn’t completely convinced.

Now to my last concern, the appearance of the machine. Call me vain, call me shallow…whatever. Also I’m sorry if I offend anyone, but the majority of netbooks I saw in person (mostly in Bestbuy and other electronics stores) looked terrible. Most stores only carried 9”models, and they were so small that it just looked silly with my 6foot frame squeezed behind it. Plus most of them looked “cheap”, with way too much plastic. Then I stumbled upon the asus 1002ha. This thing was gorgeous in pictures and had the same specs (minus a ginormous battery) as the asus 1000HA. I found a good deal on it and $330 later it was mine.
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So was it worth it? So far it’s a very strong yes. With regards to looks and size, it is spot on. It has to be the best looking netbook on the market (minus maybe the high end Asus s101). It has its share of plastic (what notebook doesn’t?) but its brushed aluminum lid and wrist area, and glossy black screen make this thing look classy. The first time I brought it to work resulted in a number of people looking at it in awe of its good looks and “cute” small size. I am highly impressed with the aesthetics of this machine, as well as it sleek, thin look. It definitely looks like it is worth more than 300-400 dollars.

So if looks were my number one concern, screen and keyboard size were next on the list. The overall size is surprisingly a lot larger than the 9” netbooks I saw previously, much to my relief. I wouldn’t think 1” would make much of a difference, but its enough to give it a little more “substance”. Yet this thing is still incredibly light, due in large part to the smaller high capacity battery (which can still get 3-4hrs on a full charge). The 10” screen is small, but is more than enough for most tasks. You’re not going to have multiple spreadsheets opened side by side, but for most things it is fine. For work, I actually extend my desktop to another external monitor. The keyboard is also more than adequate. I have big hands and it did not take much of an adjustment to get used to the slightly smaller keys. At work, I just have it hooked up to an external keyboard and mouse. So overall, the keyboard, touchpad and screen are more than fine for most tasks, but for extensive use, external components are probably preferred.

The majority of my concerns about netbooks were unfounded, in large part due to the specific design of the 1002ha. But what about performance? How does is compare to a core2duo machine? Can I use it as my main work machine? I was actually pleasantly surprised. Make no mistakes, you will notice the difference between this atom netbook, and a core2duo laptop. The majority of the work I do just entails word, excel and internet use. So nothing intense, and the atom should be more than enough for these tasks. And indeed it is, but again you can tell the difference between this machine and a c2d. Is this a problem? No! Instead of the instantaneous loading, etc. I see on my full sized notebook, Microsoft office or firefox might take a few seconds longer. If I click on My computer it might take a few extra seconds to show the contents of the hard-drive. But in all honesty, these few extra seconds do not bother me. I popped out the stock Seagate 5400.5 drive (which is ridiculously slow even for a 5400rpm drive) and popped in a spare Hitachi 7k200 drive. This seemed to make the machine a bit snappier. Also, I have not upgraded the ram yet, so I’m still running on 1gig of ram. All in all performance exceeded my expectations. I can do basic office tasks, and can also watch streaming videos at a decent quality (although HD is a no-no). I also have antivirus, a firewall and adaware running in the background, as well as objectdock and rainmeter. This machine is more than up to the task of running these small footprint apps in the background. XP bootup is also very fast (probably due to Asus’ bootbooster technology).

So as a once doubter, I now love my netbook. And I think this is one of a few, if not the only netbook that I would be happy with. Funny thing is, I’ve even started using this little guy around the house a lot more, even with my bigger, better machine not 2ft away from me. Its just easier to carry around if I want to take it to bed, or to the kitchen. My gf is even asking to use it even though she has her own computer. The other funny thing is it also makes you appreciate how fast your full fledged laptop is, as well as how big a 15” screen is, lol. But all in all, this netbook is awesome. Its powerful enough for the minimal tasks I do at work, light enough to not really notice it in my backpack, long enough battery life to be away from an outlet for a while, and did I mention this thing is sexy? I have not stressed this machine by running photoshop or any intensive apps, but will report back if I do. So again, as a doubter who never thought he could use anything but a full-sized notebook, this little netbook compares well. It can faithfully carry out the majority of tasks you do on your normal laptop (in large part because most tasks require minimal computing power), and the 10” 1002HA is big enough for extended use, and is sexy enough for anyone.