Hands-On with the Eee PC 1008HA Seashell Netbook
Yeah, it's really that thin
Eee's new 1008HA Seashell netbook is an attempt to return the netbook market back to the basics that drove that market's creation in the first place: portability, style, battery life, and strong basic functionality. As netbooks start experiencing "feature creep" that turns them less into super-refined appliances and more into just stunted, underpowered laptops, Asus seems to be on a mission to drag public expectations back on the rails--and the Seashell hits the right marks, with a unit that amplifies the original appeal of netbooks without necessarily adding features.
The Case
The Seashell weighs 2.4 pounds, is 10 inches across, and only 1 inch thick when closed. Its moniker comes from the beveled case edgings, which give it a vaguely clam-like appearance that evokes the Macbook Air, as compared to the compact but relatively blocky design of the original Eee PC. Most everything about the casing indicates an increased focus on functional style, from the rubber coverings for side ports, to having USB ports on each side of the machine, to the hidden mini-VGA adapter for external displays, to the smooth but sturdy keyboard. Despite the netbook's dimunitive size, the 92%-sized keyboard is satisfying to use, with none of the cramped "Tyrannosaurus Rex" typing style engendered by other netbooks.
The large keyboard, SD slot, and rubber cover hiding USB and headphone/mic jacks
The mouse buttons are unified into a single chrome-like bar that differentiates from left- and right-side clicks. The ridged multi-touch trackpad keeps the line of the interior case, and that's our only warning about the usability here--the Braille-like trackpad is a little difficult to get used to at first and took some time to adapt to, particularly for multi-touch use.
The ridged multitouch trackpad and chrome mouse button
Specs and Performance
The guts of the machine are respectable if not stellar--we are talking about a netbook here after all. An Atom N280 processor, 1 GB of RAM, 160 GB hard drive, 1.3-megapixel webcam with mic, and Bluetooth and WiFi adapters are pretty much de rigeur for the netbook world but will deliver completely satisfactory performance for everyday usage with the installed XP operating system. An SD card slot is available as well. The LED-backlit 1024x600 screen is pleasingly bright with a strong viewing angle, but I did notice that the Seashell's screen is pretty susceptible to glare, so you may not want to take that window table at the coffee shop.
The Seashell running Windows XP in 1024x600 resolution
The built-in hotkeys include two particularly nice touches: a trackpad lock for the mouse, and a recovery system that requires simply pushing F9 three times during boot to restore the Seashell to its factory defaults.
Battery life is strong, though not as strong as advertised under their Super Hybrid Engine. Asus claims 6 hours of battery life on the integrated lithium-ion battery, but in my testing I got a little over three hours going full tilt (WiFi and Bluetooth on with multiple apps open including video), and barely five hours for very light usage (browsing and email only).
Conclusion
There's no question that with its current-but-not-bleeding-edge hardware, the Seashell's biggest selling point is in its design. But the design delivers in spades, being slim and light without sacrificing keyboard size or screen performance like some comparable netbooks. Performance and battery life are solid, and unlike its nearest competitor (coughAircough), it doesn't feel like you're making compromises for the sake of portability.
The Seashell is a strong performer with a very slick design. Best of all, it doesn't attempt to evolve the netbook market, instead just amplifying what makes netbooks desirable in the first place: portability, appliance-like simplicity, and snappy performance for a specific set of tasks.
The Eee 1008HA Seashell netbook retails for $429 and is available for pre-order now.
Pros:
- Slim, light design
- Elegant hiding of external ports
- Bright screen
- 802.11n and Bluetooth support
- Solid multitasking performance for a netbook
- Better-than-average battery life
Cons:
- High price point compared to other netbooks with similar specs
- Mousing requires some practice
- Screen is prone to glare
- Non-replaceable battery
--Aric A.
David Wairire on May 29, 2009 at 08:41 AM
I LIKE IT
Robert Sterling on May 29, 2009 at 04:18 PM
I purchased an ASUS Essentio in January and am about to return it for a THIRD time because it doesn't work. On the first unit the mother board failed, on the second the CD-ROM drive failed, and now I have periodic hard drive failures on the third one they shipped me 10 days ago. Anyone who purchases an ASUS should do so with full awareness that product quality is garbage and their customer service department is so slow and unhelpful that it might as well be made out of rocks. Every time I send in a defective unit I have to wait three to five weeks for the replacement to arrive.
I will never buy an ASUS product again, or knowingly buy anything with ASUS components. Garbage!
eputrola on May 29, 2009 at 06:26 PM
Non-replaceable battery? Are they serious?
Lil on May 29, 2009 at 09:05 PM
That's definitely one sleek looking netbook. The touchpad on it seems odd, like it has speed bumps. LOL. It'd be nice if it had a replaceable battery and a matte screen.
Aric A. on May 31, 2009 at 11:33 AM
@eputrola: Unfortunately yes, but Asus has already announced the next version of the Seashell which will have a replaceable battery.
William McLean on June 06, 2009 at 12:48 PM
I own the Eee PC 1000HA which came out before the 1008HA. I paid $349.95 for it - with free shipping from Amazon.com. The built-in mouse pad is different from the 1008HA but it is otherwise very similar. One outstanding difference is that my 1000HA's battery is replaceable.
I love my little Eee PC. I use a wireless mouse and an external optical drive. I leave the drive at home when I take my Eee PC to a local hot spot. At home I use Clear Wire for high speed Internet. Because it uses such low power, I could run it on small solar panel charged batteries indefinitely. For me, the Eee PC 1000HA is the best of all possible mini laptops.
dsi r4 on January 02, 2010 at 01:20 AM
That tray applet for changing resolution is nice when you're planning to use the netbook to drive a projector, because then you want to run at the native resolution of the PROJECTOR, not the netbook screen.
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