This is a cool little netbook for a young kid. My son loves it and I have to make him put it down. I give it a high rating with the exception of the parental controls. Sinces its Windows XP and IE 7 the controls are limited so I am using a trial version of NetNanny.
Other than that I would highly recommend the product but parents need to be a little computer savvy to setup.
I have only had this for six weeks, but this little netbook is so fun! Worked perfectly right out of the box. Didn’t have to load anything to make it find my wireless network. I’m very pleased and at this point, have nothing negative to say. Of course, it has only been 6 weeks. The keyboard is tiny as you should expect but I can type on it just as well as my other laptop once I am using it for a minute and my fingers get used to it. It is so light and convenient. I love it!
I did a lot of research and waited a long time before buying this Netbook; I totally love the gorgeous look and finish, the ports are hidden under covers. Reasons I selected this model: the New Intel Atom N450, 2GB of memory (vs. 1 GB factory installed for most Netbooks), Win7 Home Prem. (vs. Starter Ed for other Netbooks), Wireless N, Bluetooth (I use a BT Wireless mouse), 1.3 MP webcam… Etc. Overall it is a very well equipped, very light and portable Netbook.
The screen is sharp and easy to read even outside (not under direct sun light).
The keyboard is really comfortable and easy to use.
Absolutely love the Express Gate, it is a stand-alone operating system from ASUS that boots up in seconds and provides the essential appz such as File Explorer, internet browser, photo viewer… in seconds I am connected to the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot and good to go.
The Cons are:
1) The most important thing for the Netbook is the battery life; on this one… it sucks! Better explain in numbers, Watching a movie from the Hard Drive with Bluetooth and Wireless both OFF and battery set on power saver: ~3 Hrs, Streaming video online with Wireless ON & BT OFF and battery set on balanced: ~2.5 Hrs, normal internet surfing (No Stream) with Wireless ON & BT OFF and battery set on power saver: ~4 Hrs, Video chat with Wireless ON & BT ON and battery set on balanced: ~2 Hrs, playing light games (like Luxor 3) full screen with BT and Wireless both OFF and battery set on power saver: ~2 Hrs. I haven’t yet tried to run it on High Performance battery setting for a long time!! The battery never lasted for 4.5 Hrs or more no matter what I turn off and on which settings the battery is; the 6 Hrs battery life is inaccurately advertised!
2) Surprisingly it is not very responsive, I was expecting way better than that! I understand that it is designed for web surfing and light applications and this is exactly what I’m using it for, if I stream a video on YouTube and I have 3 more tabs open in IE for email, news, blogs… the video breaks up really bad! Close a couple of tabs and it works fine! I mean for a 1.66 GHz dual core CPU and 2 Gigs of RAM you think it can do better. Now the performance significantly improve when it’s connected to AC power and set the battery to high performance but the Netbook should be a portable device, if I have to stay plugged to AC power, I would rather prefer to use my 17″ laptop!
3) The 1024×600 resolution is not compatible with a lot of websites and applications, seriously… the manufactures has to get out of this box, 1280×720 is totally doable in this screen size!
I got this little guy to carry to work and travel with. I am not a techie and know little about the inner workings of computer stuff.I just wanted something I could tote all my digital stuff around on so I did my research and read other reviews by people who were techie smart and decided on this netbook, as having the fastest new atom processor, the webcam and mic I wanted, and the right hard drive size as well as a matte screen. I am very very happy with this product. I have downloaded kindle for pc onto it, so I can carry my ebooks with me…what a great idea Amazon…thanks. I have networked several movies onto it as well as my music, so now I have a dozen movies which play fine with good color and no hesitations, half a dozen books, and loads of songs where ever I want to take them, plus I can surf the web and type a letter, even work on my photoshop when I want. and it’s all in a tiny space. it sure seems sturdy enough, well made,not cheap feeling, the keyboard is easy to use and almost regular size, the keys aren’t too small or mushy feeling… I LOVE the matte finish on the outside and the matte screen is perfect. I get at least 9 hours of battery life, and that is reading while having a movie playing at the same time (split screen)you can have kindle open on one side and real player going on the other. Plus it recharges really quickly with the little cord that comes with it. Maybe 2 hours at most and it’s ready to go again. It is really intuitive and found my home network immediately with no headaches and finds the wifi in places that have it with the click of a button. Although the owners manual is seriously lame, you basically just insert the battery, charge it and go. Even I could figure it out and that is saying something about just how easy it is.
what I would change…how it opens, it has just a tiny tiny spot to lift with, and you basically have to use 2 hands and pull from the sides like a clam. and it’s heavy in the back. not a deal breaker, but if you are holding it while reading (like in bed or in the car) it can be a bit awkward. the sound…it comes from the very front somehow and is low and kind of tinny. But, sounds just fine with earphones, which I use most of the time anyway.
I would recommend this to any body looking for a portable multi-media toy.
10.1-inch/1024×600 (WSVGA)/Intel ATOM N280 CPU/2 GB DDR2/Intel UMA/250 GB HDD/No ODD/Windows XP Pro preloaded with Win 7 Pro upgrade disc in the box/802.11 bgn/BT/0.3M Pixel/63W/h (Up to 10.5* Hrs)/Included: Inner Sleeve Case, +500GB Internet Storage/1 Year Global Warranty, (6 months for battery, 30 days ZBD Guaranteed)/Soft-touch Black.
I decided to purchase this one because it met and exceeded my requirements for a NETBOOK. The specs on this baby match up better than most. Great keyboard and mouse, keys feel great, wireless n, fast boot, upgradeable from 1GB to 2GB, user friendly ASUS Bios updater interface, Microsoft works, lightweight. You must understand first the context of my statement. I wanted a NETbook. Not a Laptop. I didnt want an “ultimate” or Professional” version of ANYTHING running on this NETbook. I wanted it to be lean and mean. I wanted a small, powerful, convenient AND FAST NETbook for casual surfing and email. If you wanted more, your in the wrong market. I didnt buy this to play games, edit, video, watch TV or DVD’s, etc. Like I said I didn’t want a Laptop. Windows Starter 32 bit is an excellent match for a NETbook. Think of Windows 7 Starter as just that, the place to start. I figured, if I NEED an “anytime upgrade” Ill get it. At this point, having had used it for a week, I’m not changing a thing. Less is more with a NETbook. Ill save upgrades for my LAPtop and DESKtop. From when I push the power button to my first opening click of Firefox = less than one minute. I removed some preloaded crapware, i.e. ASUS whistles and bells and some preloaded games. Added Norton Internet Security Netbook Edition, and bingo, the perfect NETbook.
After doing quite a bit of research, I decided to purchase this Netbook. This is even after highly considering the PU17 which as mentioned earlier comes with a recovery disk but not the nice matte soft touch exterior. The reason this specific model does not come with a recovery disk is because there is one-touch recovery built in which will restore the PC to its original state from files which are located on the hard drive. From my understanding, people better start getting used to this since it seems to be where every manufacturer is going. I also chose to install Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit instead of sticking with the Starter Edition (see ya later bloatware!!!) which runs very very well on only 1GB of RAM. I have the 2GB upgrade coming this week (just make sure you get a RAM with CL=5). The reason I didn’t install 64-bit is because you can’t use more than 2GB of memory and also because I didn’t want to have any driver issues. In the end, it makes very little difference. So far it seems that Win7 Ultimate even runs better and smoother than the Starter version, mostly due to the removal of all the crapware that comes pre-installed.
On-the-go multitasking is a snap with this netbook’s high-speed wireless LAN for surfing the Web and built-in 1.3MP webcam for video chatting and conferencing. Compose e-mails with ease using the 92% full-size keyboard.
This small light netbook exceeds my expectations. I did not imagine it would have such a user friendly keyboard; I use it for word processing of short items such as this review. This product is so easy to lift, manipulate and carry. Battery life seems to be as advertised. I thought pink would be distracting; it isn’t. This has quickly become my favorite computer. It’s my first ASUS, and it has sold me on the company. As always, kudos to Amazon for sensible packaging and speed of delivery.
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