Guide: Which EEE is right for me?

To help the general community (and E.B.E.) understand what each model number represents for all the EEE units and the major differences of each one this is a small write up.

First and foremost the best piece of information I ever found was this:
http://event.asus.com/eeepc/comparison/eeepc_comparison.htm

Asus is doing a pretty good job of keeping it updated with the newer models.


Understanding The Naming System

The numbers represent the screen size and for the most part the screen size determines the size of the unit.

1000 = 10"
900 = 9"
700 = 7"

The very old 4G, and 2G models are also a part of the smallest 7" size.

The lettering system only has one consistency I can find the letter "H" if you see "H" on the end of the name that means Harddrive

So 1000H = 10" model with hard drive
9000H = 9" model with hard drive

It is my personal choice and recommendation to get a "H" model, the hard drive models are cheaper, offer more storage space, and believe it or not the mechanical hard drives are FASTER than the SSD models.

These are ultra low budget netbooks and so they do not use the super expensive (and thus quality) SSD's.

Unless you have a very specific reason for wanting a SSD I would get one with a hard drive, and you can easily upgrade the hard drive to a larger one, or one with great shock protection.


New Models?

So the EEE family must have been in mating season because it just got a lot bigger and fast! A bunch of new models with there own unique name codes just came out and its causing a lot of people confusion on what is what.

Lets start with the BASE models:

1000 & 1000H - Same unit has the 92% full size keyboard so they are my favorite, good size screen, and still very portable. Comes with the 6 cell battery that last about 6-7 hours if you try to max the life.

Fully loaded with bluetooth, wireless b/g/n, the difference between these two base units is the "H" and thus the 1000 is a SSD unit and the 1000H is the one with a hard drive. They are NOT exactly the same the SSD unit is ever so slightly smaller so it can not be upgraded to a HDD, nor can it be easily upgraded with another SSD, it has one small faster part directly connected to the motherboard, and then the larger slow part that can be removed mainly for storage.

The 1000H went through one small change, it used to be a 80gb 4200rpm HDD and it was upgraded recently to a 160gb 5400rpm drive. I would definitly get the 160gb drive unless you want to upgrade the HDD yourself like I did for the 80gb model.

My detailed 1000H Review: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=310888

From the 1000H was born

The 1000HA - Same model as the 1000H except they gutted out the bluetooth and downgraded the wireless card to remove the wireless N function. A move by Asus to hit a secondary market segment, the mainstream person who does not use bluetooth items and does not use wireless N. A good choice for you if you want to save some $$$ and do not need those things. The HA comes in Black Color & White Color while the 1000H is only out in Black.

The 1000HD - This variation also has the chopped down wirless card so no wireless N. But it does have bluetooth. The major problem here is they changed the CPU. This model does not have the N270 Atom but instead the Celeron M 353. I would avoid it like the plague. The Atom is the core of these netbooks giving them a pretty decent amount of processing power while keeping the heat and power use down very low.


The EEE 900 - The 900 as an earlier unit, not quite on par with any of the new ones. Its like the "downgraded" newer 1000 models. It did not have the Atom it has the Celeron M 353, there is no bluetooth, and it only had B/G wifi. I would not personally use the 900 series as its just to small to touch type on easily, I would sacrifice the small amount of space for the much better keyboard on the 1000's

From the 900 was born..

The 900A - Basically the CPU was upgraded to the Atom, and looks like they made the web cam worse in the process. If you want the base cheap 900 this is it.

The 900HA - Identical to the 1000HA, only B/G wireles, no blueooth, uses a hard drive. Just its the smaller 9" formfactor and only has a 4 cell battery like all the 9" units. Note that it does have the N70 Atom cpu unlike the original EEE 900. You can alternatively look at it as the HDD version of the 900A

The 900HD - Similar to the 1000HD suffers the same cpu downgrade to the Celeron M 353, so avoid this unit, but unlike the 1000HD this unit does not even have bluetooth. I would avoid this unit even if you want one of the 900 series.

The 901 - This is the 9" equal to the 1000. Has the Atom, the SSD, Bluetooth, & Wireless B/G/N. Think of the 901 as the "upgrade" from the 900 because the 900 was originally without the Atom it had the Celeron M 353, no bluetooth, and the B/G wifi only. The 900 is not equal to the 1000 in that way. The 901 = 1000


The 904 's - These are not REAL 900's they use the EEE 1000/1000H body! So its the 10" size but with the 9" screen. So in reality these are EEE 1000H's with a smaller screen so it can be cheaper. Since the screen resolution is the same you dont lose anything other than screen size, and they look kind of funny.

The same HD & HA rules apply still.

The 904HA - N270 Atom, NO BT, only B/G wireless, and ONLY 4 Cell Battery? Not going to be on my list of favorites. Id rather get a real 1000 unit with a 6 cell battery. So 904HA = 1000HA with a smaller screen and smaller capacity battery.

The 904HD - Celeron M 353, NO BT, only B/G wireless, but it DOES have the full fledged 6 cell that the 1000 units use for the battery. So 904HD = 1000HD except no bluetooth and smaller screen.

In my opinion the 904's are like mutant offspring that have no home. I cant think of any good reason to get one when the 1000 units they try to mimic are nicer and only a tad bit more money.


The 2G, 4g, 701 - These are falling off the chart, the original models not worth having other than for novelty. I would just consult the chart at the top if you really want to know about them.


The New Kids on the Block

The S101 - New name new model what is it??
It is pretty much a EEE 1000 that went on a diet. It has a bigger (and hopefully faster) SSD unit, all the same features as the EEE 1000 (B/G/N, BT, Atom) but its now very thin (think macbook air) a new color (brown) and they cut the battery from 6 cell to 4 cell.

I cant say I really recomend this unit too highly, its the more expensive "fancy" version of the EEE 1000 and your paying extra for its low profile. Not much information on the unit yet as far as user reviews or hands on feedback.


The 1002HA - Its not on the chart because its not even out yet. This unit show some promise though. Its like how the 1000 became the S101 well this is the 1000H --> S101 sort of.

Its much thinner, super nice looking, and has a battery size cut. Since its not out yet no word on bluetooth or wireless modes. Its best to think of it as the S101 with a HDD and better looks. It only has a 2 CELL battery! However its a ultra high capacity 2 cell (4400MaH) wich is on par with the other units 4 cell batteries. So that means less size/weight but the same battery life as the other 4 cells.

Hope that helps you guys out some, I will update this thread when time permits with pictures or any details I need to add.

 

Thank you Vicious! It really was getting confusing.

I also will fully agree about your choice of 10" models for only one reason. I tried the 9" and 10" keyboards out in the store, and there is a world of difference. I guess I could adapt to the 9" for short periods of time, but the 10" is vastly easier to use. Screens? almost the same.

 

This is very helpful. I knew most of it but they do sorta confuse me. I think that there are some reviews on either this page or laptopmag.com about the S101. I think it's "odd" that Asus's flahship is named S10(+)1 when a couple months earlier tha S10 came out from Lenovo...

Which eee do you have? I have an Acer Aspire One

 

I have Two 1000H units, I got one for me and one for the wife.

I upraded them both to 250gb HDD's before I even booted them for the first time and I upgraded mine to 2gb of ram also.

I run XP on both of them but may try out Vista or OSX at some point.

I really like the 1002HA but the 1000H just seems so perfect as is that I cant see any reason to upgrade (or downgrade) the touchpad is wonderfull, and so is the keyboard. Its not big or heavy. Its just perfect to me.

I will add in a sub section here when I get the time "Why EEE instead of XXXX" to compare the pros/cons of the EEE units against the competing netbooks. I think that will be very handy too.

Also I should add the link to my user review here. It has a ton of detailed information on the 1000H

My 1000H Review:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=310888

 

Thanks! It's... all.... starting... to make sense... now

Looks like HD = no-no, 904 = no-no, and among the rest, according to personal preference. I'm still leaning towards the S101 or 1002 because they are just so nice. If the 1002 has roughly the same power efficiency as the 1000H, then it should get 3-3.5 hours out of the 4400mAh battery on max battery savings. Still, even in that case, they could also offer a (higher-capacity) 4-cell option which would make it beat 7 hours, maybe, which would be great.

Thanks again for the effort!

PS:

Do you mean 1000H->1002HA towards the end of the sentence?

 

Na its like an analogy the 1000 is to the S101 as the 1000H is to the 1002HA but the "transformation" prefactor if you consider the s101 a transformation it would be 1000 + transformation = S101 but 1000H + transformation = 1002HA and I was just using the S101 as the idea of a transformation process.

LOL if that makes sense.

Or better said if you made the 1000H into the s101 it would be called the 1002HA.

 

None whatsoever, at least to me.

 

Excellent guide thanks.

 

Agreed. Nice one, Vicious.

 

Don't mean to rush anyone, but I'm getting really impatient with waiting for the Samsung NC10. I'm pretty much looking for an easy way out, to convince myself that the 1000H is good enough so I can just go out to the nearest Canada Computers and buy it right away. With my limited computer knowledge, I just can't think of how it outperforms the Samsung though. All I know from reviews is that the Samsung has:
- a better keyboard (a HUGE plus for me: I have long fingers and the bigger the keyboard, the better)
- a significantly longer battery life
- lighter in weight
- unsure about price though

If anyone can convince me that 1000H is "good enough", I would be immensely grateful.

 

Thanks very much for the guide, I was getting very confused with all the models Asus is churning out.

 

While not knowing about the Samsung totally. I know this is the one that is supposed to have the "perfect keyboard" unless I am thinking of a different model. The Asus has the same perfect keyboard almost just with the right shift key placment... it sucks.

However there are software programs you can use to fix that. I personally use a program called autohotkey and when I press windows+z at the same time it toggles the up arrow key thats where the right shift key should normally fall into shift mode so that I can use it as shift.

If I open up something that I need arrow keys for I just toggle it back.


Battery Life? I doubt it, all these netbooks are based on the same parts so I do not see a way for them to magically get more battery life.

Lighter? Its possible but probably not by any noticeable amount. Take out the battery and its almost weightless. If there is any substantial weight change you can bet its because the competing unit has a smaller battery. If thats the case going back to battery life you can bet that it will be much shorter on the competing unit.

 

Added to Info Booth --- under category "Important Threads", since the netbooks are so en vogue currently.

Thanks for the effort!

 

After doing some reading on these EEE models, from my perspective the situation stands as follows. This is all hypothetical of course, since I have doubts I will be spending close to 500 EUR on a machine that I don't really need...

The 1000H/HA are great machines: decent computing performance and a lot of storage, and not very expensive; from a performance standpoint, this would serve the needs of the average user (browsing, document editing) just fine. Of course, to do "serious work" you would need both an external screen and a keyboard -- but once you have those, notebooks have virtually no advantage the 1000H for typical desktop work --- web, mailing, and doc processing.

The only "problem" is its bland looks. This is actually no serious problem, and only appears when one compares it with the better-dressed siblings -- the S101 and the 1002HA. The 1000H/A looks quite decent, actually. I only dislike the fingerprint magnet nature of its palmrest and screen cover.

On to the S101. As one of the reviews says, it's "drop dead gorgeous". Great looking! Maybe even a bit too much "bling". The killer here is the fact that it only comes with SSD + SDHC, and the SSD is a small one, at that... In 2008, having about as much storage space on a netbook as in an MP3 player is not so good... Although there are many that would argue that a netbook should be only used for browsing, I'm sure all of us would like to carry a bit of our data, and 16+16GB just don't cut it. Additionally, the S101 is rather expensive, for a netbook.

Now, the upcoming 1002HA is the happy result of... ahem... merging the S101 and 1000H. It has the HDD of the 1000H and the looks of the S101. Apparently, it may also be reasonably priced (around 450EUR in EU,which is the same what the 1000H costs). But there is a catch: a smaller battery, a 2-cell. This is required to keep the slim S101 form factor (under 1 inch height) while also fitting a standard HDD inside the netbook. Fortunately, the battery is high-capacity, it holds 4200mAh (according to the source I read), which is only 700mAh less than the S101 (which, again according to the sources I read, is 4900mAh). The S101 seems to get reasonable battery life with that amount of charge. We'll need to wait for real-life tests to see how the 1002HA fares in terms of battery, but if it does fare reasonably, and if it is also reasonably priced, I think it's going to be a great buy. Definitely better than the S101, and depending on how much you are into good looks, quite possibly better than the 1000H.

 

Very nice guide. Rep+

 

And for the near future:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/21/asus-ceo-touchscreen-eee-pcs-and-windows-7-in-mid-2009-250-mo/

 

The future holds a lot, dual core atoms, touch screens, wi-max, and maybe a igp upgrade?

But how knows how much of it will come to market or be successful

 

Vicious, have you tried the 900HA? It's available on Ebay with the 25% back Live option for $330 before the cashback... cheaper than the Acer Aspire One with 3-cell battery, and the 900HA comes with a 4-cell. Any idea if they both have about the same keyboard sizing?

 

No its not the same. 92% is the 1000 series.

the 900 is in the 70's just like the other units (Dell Mini 9, Lenovo S10, Aspire One, ect) and that right away rules any of them out as usable units in my eyes since I want to be able to TYPE lol.

I browse the forums on my eye and can type entire entries just as good as my desktop. On a smaller keyboard I would have to peck and that would annoy me to no end. If I wanted to do that I would be on my cell phone.

I just got my EEE 1000H back from RMA today. They replaced it with a brand new unit. I have not powered it up yet but I typed on it and was happy that I have no keyboard flex/bounce and it looks in perfect condition.

Later I will swap the HDD & RAM on it, do my cooling mod to it, and then run it through the paces to see if it is as perfect as my old one was. FYI I broke my old one doing some really advanced (read stupid) BIOS mods to it, Asus was nice enough to replace it for me.

I have some other cool "mods" in mind this time around too...

 

Hmm... Looking at Wikipedia, it says the 900 series are 83%, Aspire One is 89%, and 1000H is 92%.

I think I'm once again leaning towards the AAO just because it has a slightly smaller but better laid out keyboard... and it's smaller and less chunky than the 1000HA.

 

Do what feels best for you. I am pretty sure its smaller than 89% thats a typo its the same size as the 900 series. I can point you to a few people that have moved from the AAO or S10 into the EEE 1000H or MSI Wind just due to keyboard issues.

I feel its very small & light but if its too big for you there is the S101 & soon the 1002HA with the same keyboard and less size/weight.

 

I just ordered the 1000H. I like the included Bluetooth and 'N' wireless. The Bluetooth can synch with my mobile phone and hopefully will be able to use it as a modem also. I have an 'N' router so it'll complement it nicely.

 

Very nice guide Vicious! I just started looking into these things.

 

People have done it so I know it works to use a bluetooth modem.

However it may depend on the phone software, and if anything upgrading the stock bluetooth drivers of the EEE to the ones I use would help a lot too. (Bluesoleil) they are much better than the broadcom drivers. Toshiba drivers work really well too.

The N I have not used, I do not have a N router. I am looking to upgrade my wireless card to one that works with a different OS though maybe.

 

Any word on when the 1002HA is to be released in the UK? and how much?

 

Or in the Netherlands, for that matter.

I've seen some info on the internet that it's going to be released in the US on the 1st of December. So maybe we can expect it some weeks after that (assuming it makes it here at all). But this is all just some info on the internet, not verified and not really reliable...

 

1002ha has appeared on the ASUS website, I'm not sure since when.

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24&l2=164&l3=0&l4=0&model=2659&modelmenu=1
Configuration:
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24&l2=164&l3=0&l4=0&model=2659&modelmenu=2

Looks like the battery is indeed 4200mAh. Now that's two juicy cells! My 8-cell V6J battery is 4800mAh. Given the EEE1000H excellent battery life, I expect the 1002HA will get rather close to ASUS' quoted battery lifetime of 5 hours.

(And yet, people still blabber around various articles and comments about how crappy this battery is, with its "only" two cells. Noone understands what that 4200 number is all about, even though it sometimes appears in the same sentence in which they bash the 2 cells!!!)

Also, there are other references that it will be sent to the US on the 1st of December. http://www.gearcrave.com/buyers-guide/gadgets/computers-gadgets/asus-1002ha-coming-december-1st/

Perhaps one of the resellers could confirm that?

Unsure how I could find out when it comes out in Europe... I'll do some google searches.

 

I also found on a few sites a release date of 1st December in America, hope it's out in Europe shortly after as I need one to take travelling on 28th December...

 

Is the Atom more desirable than a Celeron cpu - less heat less power used etc ?

EDIT _ OOOPs - re-read:

"The 1000HD - This variation also has the chopped down wirless card so no wireless N. But it does have bluetooth. The major problem here is they changed the CPU. This model does not have the N270 Atom but instead the Celeron M 353. I would avoid it like the plague. The Atom is the core of these netbooks giving them a pretty decent amount of processing power while keeping the heat and power use down very low."

 

I've been reading stuff on netbooks and was deciding which to go
either by acer one or asus eee pc.
I just plan to use it as basic internet surfing and some light word processing work.
so I purchased 900HA for $227 with 30% cashback on ebay.
Cant wait to get it XD

 

It's listed as available on two websites in Belgium, I believe (not sure how reliable that is, maybe they're just taking preorders). Nothing in the Netherlands, yet.

 

Do you have links for those sites?

 

http://www.sossonetvision.be/ASUS_EeePC_1002HA_noir__F_art_978.html

http://www.pixmania-pro.be/be/fr/671566/art/asus/eeepc-1002ha-noir.html

http://www.pixmania.be/be/nl/1831200/art/asus/eeepc-1002ha-noir.html

I'm not sure how pixmania works, I believe those links can refer to computers available in other countries as well (e.g., France). But this is what I found.

It seems it's quite widely available in France:
http://www.idealo.fr/prix/1228116/asus-eee-pc-1002ha-160go.html;jsessionid=coygJwiU9xr-

 

That's good news, hopefully it'll be over in the UK too soon. Prices seem quite reasonable as well.

 

I got a 904ha for $300 woohoo!

 

you can preorder the 1002HA on 1toppc for 489 thats a good price imma hop on this as soon as i sell my laptop. i originally wanted a laptop that will allow me to play games but i don't even play games all that much anymore but just to have a laptop with a good gfx so i can play games if im ever really bored but ill hold off that and get the 1002HA for now.

 

You can definitely trust Vicious, he's a Senior member in the Eeuser forum!

 

Good, I was worried he was lying to all of us, making us buy the worst EEE

 

Hi all, I'm new to this forum and i'm waiting for my 900HA to arrive. I purchased it for a backup for my HP laptop which is aways on the fritz. (never again HP). I guess i'm really dumb at this, but what is wireless N? Am i going to be able to use the asus anywhere? Also, i don't understand how you get games when there's no cd drive. Please don't laugh at me for these dumb questions, i'm an old lady!

 

Hi and welcome to the forums!
Wireless N is a relatively new technology which provides the fastest wireless connection to date. If you have a wireless router that supports N-draft technology, you will be able to take advantage of that increased speed. Almost every wireless card that supports N draft will be backwards compatible with B/G, so you'll be able to use your Asus pretty much anywhere with a wifi signal.

As for games, many people just download the games from the internet and install it directly from the netbook. You won't be able to play any fancy graphics intensive games, but games 5 years or older should be ok.

 

As for using it anywhere, I'm assuming you mean to have Internet access anywhere? That will depend on whether there is a wireless access point that is offering Internet access in the area you are in. Sometimes, you have to pay to have access in a coffee shop, sometimes not. It all depends.

 

maybe its time to update the chart with newer models? I'm only saying so because i see you hadn't updated since november 2008 has there been any new models?

 

Nothing new except the ones I said are soon to come are now out.

 

wow im shocked lol there was a new EEE like every month before guess they are cooking something up im highly interested in a N10J successor like an N12J or something(i wish)

 

Well Sony has the one with the higher res screen comming soon so I hope Asus comes up with a cheaper model that also has a higer res screen. That is the only downfall of a netbook is the low resolution screen.

Also I was at best buy today and they had a S10 out on display, so I got hands on with the S10 and I can confidently say I like the 1000H much better. Sure its not as "flat" but it was easier to type on and I think it looked better.

The 1002HA makes it no comparison its way better, and man the S10 has a super small track pad.

 

Have you seen the T91 and T101H announced at CES... basically 9" and 10" eee with multi-touch/tablet swivel screen. Pretty sweet. The 101 is going to have GPS/TV tuner apparently as options, but has a chicklet keyboard. The 91 has regular eee-900 type keys but no GPS (I dunno about TV tuner)

http://i.gizmodo.com/5124948/asus-t91-your-1+inch-thick-convertible-eee-pc

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/07/asus-eeepc-t101h-tablet-netbook-peeked-at-ces/

 

you're talking about the Vaio P right? Its weird people are saying $900 but people have shown that they have already found ones that are $450 - $600 though everyone swears its a typo.

Allur when i made the suggestion about upgrading the chart i was actually talking about those swiveling EEE

 

I really like the T91 but I don't like the SHIFT key placement. I like the layout of my N10J (Fn and Shift are the inverse placement from the eee 900), and the T101 has chicklet keys which I absolutely cannot stand. I owned an original Macbook for a while which has the chicklets and got used to the keys after long enough, but I hated the sound and the feel. Some people love the chicklets, personally I hate them with a passion.

The only bad thing in terms of hardware specs for the T91 and T101 is that they skimped out on the CPU, I guess because of the added manufacturing cost. It's not an N270 in those models, it's the Z520 which is a step down. In any event, multitouch and swivel screen is pretty pwnage. Certainly two new models to consider for any potential eee buyers out there. I think they said April-May timeframe.

 

it depends on if you need the swivel screen i can already see some new notebook segments being made out of this

like Swivelnetbook or Swivelbook i dont know lol

 

The T101 has either a N270 or Z530.