Upgrading original ASUS EEE 1000H?

I enjoy using my Asus EEEPC 1000H, one of the first models to hit the shores here in 2007, but I fear that the HDD may be on its last legs.

I understand that the netbook is easily upgradeable, thanks to an access port on the bottom, and that it uses a common 2.5" laptop HDD.

I have been thinking of making affordable upgrades, since the screen is fine and the keyboard and wifi are still working. Can anyone recommend a reliable SSD that is compatible with the 2.5" slot? I am looking for low cost rather than high capacity.

Will any old laptop DDR3 RAM fit, or do I need a special grade? The 1000H has 1 GB of DDR2, but I understand that the motherboard can accommodate 2 GB of RAM (at DDR2 speeds.)

(I know the 1000H is a netbook rather than a full-scale laptop, but I thought this might be the right forum to ask.)

Update: The prices for compatible RAM from Crucial and a 120 GB SSD are fairly low (esp. the RAM), so I am considering a bundle. I suppose I am looking for a compatible SSD for less than $100.

 

I realize that $$$ are important here, but I would really suggest to NOT upgrade this platform - at least not for the $100-$150 it may end up costing you. That is real money you should be putting towards a current system.

See:
PassMark - Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz - Price performance comparison



Compared to today's 'netbook', an Asus T100TA with 2GB DDR3 RAM, a usable processor and Win8.1 along with a 64GB SSD the performance difference is astounding, not to mention the excellent battery life.


See:
Asus Transformer Book T100TA, 64GB w/ Keyboard Dock at Memory Express


See:
PassMark - Intel Atom Z3740 @ 1.33GHz - Price performance comparison


Sure, an SSD will give your current system a little performance kick - but your cpu has performance of current wrist watch technology and will drag down the performance of any SSD you put into it.


Yeah; $450 is a lot - but you also get a lot too. And notice this is out of stock at this reseller - it's that good. But 64GB disk capacity is a too low for your 'everything' system. Of course, you can upgrade to anything else too at $400 or less - would a ~$279 chromebook work for your uses?

Curious how well the battery is holding up for you after so long? Is it still useable on battery power?

As for the RAM, it needs to be DDR2 - DDR3 will not fit/work at all.


Hope some of this helps.


Good luck.

 

Your points are very well taken, but I have given the matter serious (perhaps too serious) thought.

The EEE 1000H, for me, is a proven work computer. I am not always as productive with other devices, but the 1000H has a proven record.

I am used to the keyboard, and I enjoy the 'warm' LCD display (much nicer than many in production today).

The 1000H also uses a matte screen, which is enormously important for me.

Sadly, the battery is nearly depleted, and the aftermarket replacement I purchased in 2011 did not work.

I purchased an Asus 1015T as a replacement in 2011, but I use that computer strictly at work (and I hate the screen and keyboard - inferior to the 1000H.)

All I need the 1000H for is as a typewriter with a pleasant, matte screen and familiar keyboard. Horsepower is not a concern for me.

I have evaluated many of the new ultrabooks and quasi-tablets that have come out in recent years, and all it does is make me regret not picking up a 1000HE or Lenovo X120E a few years ago.

The T100TA is good value, but it uses a glossy screen, which makes it unworkable for me. Windows 8 doesn't help, either.

The 1000H is an old friend, I'd like to keep it going.

I think that spending $150 to make a 10" netbook working for a few more years is preferable to $450+ for a new netbook, and I can put the savings towards an X1 Carbon (if they go on sale following the introduction of the new model.)

But you could be right...I have not tried a T100 in person.

 

Kingston 60GB is a good SSD with agressive garbage collection and no TRIM support really needed which isn't really supported with XP. It's currently $53 on Amazon: Amazon.com: Kingston Digital 60GB SSDNow V300 SATA 3 2.5 (7mm height) with AdapterSolid State Drive SV300S37A/60G: Computers & Accessories

If you want lower power consumption, go for the Sandisk, it's $65 on Amazon: Amazon.com: SanDisk 64 GB Solid State Drive with Low Power Consumption SDSSDP-064G-G25: Computers & Accessories

Double check your RAM, if it's DDR2 then you'll need to get DDR2, which I believe those old Eee's are (I owned several of them ). I would buy name brand though because some of the no-name cheap ebay stuff (like komputerbay RAM) can cause issues. I would recommend something like this: Amazon.com : Crucial 2GB Single DDR2 667MHz (PC2-5300) CL5 SODIMM 200-Pin Notebook Memory Module CT25664AC667 : Computer Internal Memory : Electronics or this: Amazon.com : Hynix 2GB DDR2 RAM PC2-6400 200-Pin Laptop SODIMM Major/3rd : Computer Memory : Computers & Accessories for $25-$30. You will basically have to replace the 1GB chip in your machine with the 2GB chip.

So it shouldn't set you back more than $100.

I agree with tilleroftheearth though, that money could be better spent, but then again if $100 will get you another year or two out of it, it's not a bad investment. Obviously if you need more than the 64GB SSD, and can spend up to $150 then pick the 120GB or 128GB of those SSD's I suggested.

 

Thanks for the tips, HTWingNut. They will definitely save me money if I go the upgrade route.

Here in Canada, the parts you suggested will cost $130 shipped to my door.

It's a viable upgrade. I just have to make sure the rest of the system can go another 1-2 years. I noticed that the power connector is a little glitchy. If I rotate it into certain positions, it does not deliver power. But it still runs Morrowind (not that I use it for Morrowind) and the HD is allegedly working properly.

If the motherboard and power system can hold out, I don't see the problem with keeping it running for another 2 years for $130.

I will try to see if I can try a T100.

 

What's this? A matte screen protector for the T100?

http://www.amazon.ca/Evecase-Anti-G...TF8&qid=1389476752&sr=8-22&keywords=asus+t100

Maybe it isn't entirely out of the question...

 

You can buy a replacement power supply off eBay for probably $10-12 shipped.

T100 is a nice little tablet/laptop.

And just be cautious installing the screen protector. If the adhesive is silicon (most are) I find it best to soak the protector in a little bit of HOT soapy water (with only a DROP or two of dishsoap), and steam up the bathroom first by running the shower, to get all the dust out of the air, and apply the soapy wet protector in the bathroom to the screen. Bubbles will form behind the protector, just massage them out, and bubbles will continue to form over the next few days (over a week even), just keep massaging them out with a credit card every day. They will eventually go away completely and you won't even know there's a protector on the screen. It's a pain, but in the end the result is good.

 

Our thinking is along similar lines - especially in regards to the screen, the keyboard and the 'familiarity' aspect of owning/using a notebook computer for light/basic tasks.


The T100TA that I use much like most people use a 'smart' (dumb!) phone has been greatly enjoyed since I got it. With the matte screen option it may even replace my #1 digital 'notebook': my Asus U30Jc with 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD and Win8.1x64 Pro.

That is saying a lot when you consider the T100TA only has 64GB SSD, Win8.1x86 and 2GB RAM (and an SD card).

What is so great about it? Well, I went for almost 27 days without rebooting (rock solid stable!) and had to only recharge it about a dozen times during that period. It never turns off (sleeps) so waking up takes MUCH less time than me typing my password in. The screen is easy on the eyes - especially for the price (much nicer than the U30Jc which cost in 2010 ~$1K and I 'upgraded' another $1K into it - RAM & SSD & O/S).

The best part? I got this for ~$350 with the Holiday Sales.

If the small drive capacity doesn't stop you (remember: it can be expanded with an microSD card too) - this will easily replace the 1000H and do it in style. Along with a warranty, a copy of MS Office 2013 (H&S), great sounding speakers and a 'reading mode' I'm sure you'll enjoy (think 'warm').

If this system had 8-16GB RAM, a 1TB EVO mSATA drive and Win8.1x64 Pro - I (and probably all of my clients) would be using it as our digital 'notebook' for the next 20 years (and they know this and don't build it for us).

I have Adobe Reader, Office 2013 (full version, including Outlook), Streets & Trips 2013, Skydrive and DropBox installed (Asus also offers 1 year unlimited cloud storage too). With a great screen/keyboard/battery life and low weight - it is what I've always dreamed a phone could do (since around 1996...) but never has or ever will, even if I wait another 18 years for it to happen.


If you look at just the $$ - upgrading sounds good. If you can see a little into the future (with an T100TA) you may agree too that the extra $$ is money very well spent.


(I actually thought I was going to re-sell the T100TA when I bought it - but I couldn't give it up!).


Give one a good look and see if we really are as aligned as I seem to think we are.


Good luck.

 

Yeah I don't know why they don't offer one with 128GB and 256GB SSD and 4GB RAM. Atom Z3740 can accommodate up to 4GB in dual channel mode.

I'm tempted to go with the T100. I bought the Dell 8 inch Pro tablet for ~ $200 but now regret it. It was an impulse purchase. I have an Acer AMD 11.6" touchscreen notebook, but the detachable keyboard seems great, and the Atom seems a lot more responsive than the AMD A6 APU. I may be in the same boat!

 

HTWingNut, if you've played with the T100TA in person, that responsiveness you felt was not only the Bay Trial Atom processor - but also the (much) upgraded eMMC SSD inside the little Asus.

I don't care if a system can't play games or even a video... but if it is making me wait even 0.00001 seconds longer than it needs to; it is junk for me. This BT SOC platform, along with the upgraded eMMC SSD is what made me decide to keep it. It is not only actually usable running Windows 8.1 and Office 2013 - but it also has a great wireless Dual Band card that keeps that responsiveness even over the network (important with no LAN port).

I should point out that I've OP'd the SSD, of course! It is only ~9GB 'unallocated' leaving C: drive ~40GB with ~10GB free. (Yeah, I try not to think about the percentages...) - but this may also contribute to the extra snappiness this tiny system offers me.


Counter note: I still see the HUGE and IMMEDIATE improvement in snappiness and everything else when I use my SanDisk Extreme II's OP'd by 50% on a 32GB+ RAM and i7 QC Haswell based O/C'd platform. But I can't hold those systems in one hand while checking my email either.


The 11.6" AMD platform you're using may be limited by the eMMC drive it holds? Or is this still a HDD?

Either way, it seems like the drive may be limiting the 'snappiness' of the system as the A6 1450 APU seems much more powerful (50% better passmark scores) than the Atom Z.

Ah!!! Of course, the QC Atom Z3740 can turbo up to 1.86GHz (on 4 cores?) while the DC A6 APU can only hit 1.4GHz on 1 core. (And the Atom Z sits at 1.33GHz nominal clocks while the A6 APU is at 1GHz clocks).

Okay - now that my head is spinning (and I still haven't killed the battery on the T100TA today) I'll leave this at that.

 

One thing I've found is that with slower CPU's the SSD doesn't make much of a difference. I've run a Crucial M4 128GB, Samsung 830 256GB, Intel 520 240GB, and there was little to no difference in performance. I'm running a 256GB Samsung 830 right now (and yes 20% OP because I don't need the space on this unit and I had the drive not doing anything), and the system waits for the CPU more than anything, so while a super fast or responsive SSD is nice, it doesn't help the overall experience. WLAN is an important thing too since the one in this AMD is an Atheros AR956x which is crap, but it works for what I need. But I do like the backlit keyboard of the AMD (it's an Acer Aspire V5 btw), which I know the T100 doesn't have.

The biggest thing though is Office Home & Student. I own Office 2007, but I'd like to use Office 2013, and really don't care to pay $139, and since TechNet is now nothing more than a Demo site, I no longer have that option either.

I'm thinking if I can sell this Aspire for ~ $250 and my Dell Venue 8 Pro for ~ $150 it'd offset the cost of the Transformer. But I should probably just be happy with my Aspire because it's paid for and figure a way to get Office a lot cheaper.

 

I agree about the backlit keyboard 100% - if the T100TA had it (and more SSD capacity!!!), it would be perfect.

It still offers a great value overall though, all things considered (and don't buy impulsively; wait for a sale or price match opportunity).

For example (if ME had it in stock, of course):

See: $449.99 ME price:
Asus Transformer Book T100TA, 64GB w/ Keyboard Dock at Memory Express

See: Find it cheaper at DirectCanada $379.02:
ASUS Transformer Book T100 Z3740 2GB 32GB 10.1in IPS HD Tablet WIN8.1 W/DOCKING & OFFICE2013 H&S - DirectCanada


See: Price Beat (by 25%) at ME:
Memory Express - Price Protection

Final price: $361.28 or a savings of $88.71.


As for the cost of what you have purchased already (and assuming spending an additional $361.28 is not an issue for you ) - it is irrelevant to your current purchase decision. And, when you eventually sell the old stuff - you may even be ahead slightly ($$-wise)?

By waiting though, you may see other manufacturer's answer to the T100TA, with more drive capacity, more RAM and/or a backlit keyboard and more. But the synergy that the little Asus has now is hard to achieve - for myself, I know my setup is useable for the next few years (at least).

Not that it will stop me from getting something newer and potentially better if the right opportunity knocks.

 

I'm in USA though.

I can get it at Walmart for $379. I hate Walmart but it's available locally and cheapest I can find.
Asus T100 10.1" Tablet 64GB memory featuring Windows 8.1 with Microsoft Office 2013 Home & Student: Computers : Walmart.com

I'm on the fence. I realize I love a keyboard, and it would likely go with me wherever I go. With my Acer, I like that I can use my own SSD, and can add my own RAM chip for 6GB RAM total, and weighs same as the T100 (with keyboard of course). Actually after a clean install of Win 8.1 which I did just very recently it seems a lot more responsive. Only thing that would make it perfect is if the screen would flip or fold or become a tablet. Otherwise best $349 laptop I've bought. I'll probably sell the Venue 8 Pro regardless. It's just too small. It's basically same specs as the Transformer T100 just in an 8" form factor and no keyboard, which is problematic for me on the small screen. The on screen keyboard just isn't as nice as on my Android phone, and I miss Swype on it.

 

tilleroftheearth, that's a pretty good price on the T100 at Memory Express. But it's the 32 GB model. How much space is left after the Win 8 + office install, I wonder? (It is in stock, BTW.)

Edit: I read that there is 8 GB free in the 32 GB model. That's not really a problem, since Office is already installed. SD cards can fill external storage needs.

I'd almost pull the trigger on this for $361, but I am not sure what is coming over the horizon.

Edit: I just learned that the 32 GB T100 was being sold this weekend at the University of Toronto bookstore for $289. I'd be compelled to make a trip and pick it up at this price, but it has apparently sold out. It is on backorder, but I do not know if they can honour that.

 

The Asus T100 was a temporary fanless product, using a 22nm CPU. Intel needed it to fill-in a space in the market, while readying the real 14nm fanless CPUs. The 22nm CPUs are no more to be manufactured or sold in 2015. So you are better off getting the T100's 14nm successor when it ships shortly for better fanless operation and battery life at the same price.
They are indeed faster than the old EEEs and the glossy screens have better colors. There is however the "workhorse" aspect to consider. These new PCs with optional keyboards (disguised as win8 tablets) may not be the most convenient option for a small workhorse computer, especially if you type a lot on-the-go.
For starters, these clumsy optional keyboards might be sold separately, and can unplug from their screen when you don't want them to. They are also too light to keep the machine's weight safely in balance on a desk, unlike a laptop or netbook.
Their memory is also never upgradable, unlike a laptop or netbook.
Finally, there's the "eMMC" hard disk that they come with. You already noticed their ridiculously small capacity, but that's not the biggest issue. The real problem is that they are not real hard-disks, nor real SSDs at all. Their performance and medium-term reliability are doubtful, and of course they are not replaceable, unlike a laptop or netbook.
Finally, there's the operating system they come with. Realistically, for a workhorse you would need to reformat it and install instead win7 (SP1) at least until Win10 ships.

To summarize, you have 2 options IMHO:
-You could pick-up a T100 (or its 2015 succesor) and deal with its limitations.
-You could upgrade your EEE with minimal cost: one 2GB ddr2 memory stick ($15) and one Crucial BX100 120GB ssd ($70), and then install win7 (SP1).

As a matter of fact, I am myself planning to upgrading a refurbished Asus 1002HA netbook I just bought online. The SSD I mentionned is especially suited to the old EEE chipset, because its writing speed does not go too far beyond the chipset's limit, and it has no "SLC write cache mode". This way, no battery power is wasted doing mysterious "SLC mode" to emulate write speeds that the SSD does not really have and your chipset can't benefit from anyway. That makes it very low power, while still beeing light years ahead of the poor "eMMC" hard disk in the T100.

Regarding win7 performance on the EEE, the biggest trick is to disable "smooth edges of screen fonts" in the Performance Options. It makes win7 much faster on EEE netbooks.

I hope this helps.

 

T100 is not a temporary fanless product. It's been around for 1.5 years which is far from temporary in the laptop market.

 

What I meant was that the 22nm was supposed to be quickly replaced by the 14nm more than a year ago. Unfortunately, Intel did not fulfill its own schedule, and the 14nm are 1.5 years late, thus the lack of evolution for the T100 models. All that doesn't matter. It's history by now, since the 14nm are now here (well, almost here... not just yet... not sort of right now here...they missed the Christmas season again.. next month maybe...).

 

For little more, why not hunt down a used Lenovo ThinkPad X201 and install a SSD in that? Outruns Asus Netbooks, weighs slightly more, far more durable and better performing. And easily upgraded. The upgrades you envision are more expensive than the EEEPC Netbook's actual used value.