Review: Asus Eee PC 1005PE netbook

The Asus 1005PE netbook hails from the firm's second generation of Seashell designs that started appearing in the middle of last year. These netbooks also have the next generation of Intel Atom processors known as Pine Trail which, coupled with the Tiger Point chipset, is said to offer great improvements.

From outward appearances, nothing seems to have changed from the Intel Atom N270 1.6Ghz 1005HA netbook released last year. They both weigh 1.27kg and measure 262mm x 178mm x 25.9mm, and have a screen height of 36.5mm. The changes are under the hood with the updated chipset and processor.

The Intel Pine Trail chip is the heart of the Asus netbook and is reported to be 20 per cent faster than the previous generation. The main reason for the faster speed is that the Pine Trail has the memory controller in the processor and an integrated graphics processor in the chip package, which also results in lower power consumption. These are fundamental changes for the Atom chip, although the speed increase is only mildly noticeable compared to older netbooks.

Display
The 10.1in screen has also seen some improvements, and is much more distinct compared with the 1005HA. It is also noticeably sharper in terms of colours and text. Netbooks have often been plagued with poor screens measured against those found in notebooks. Although this screen isn't as sharp as some of the others that Asus has put out lately, it is still an improvement and the company is definitely making ground in screen development. The display still has the 1,024 x 600 resolution of older Asus netbooks. We had hoped that Asus might step the resolution up to 1,366 x 768 to match its 11in netbooks.

These more vibrant and vivid colours could have something to do with the updated graphics processor, which also has improvements in high-definition (HD) video playback. The older 945 express chipset in our 1005HA with the GMA 950 struggled with all types of media in our tests, none more so than with HD. The new chipset includes the updated GMA 3150 and, as mentioned before, it is in the chip package itself.

As a result QuickTime 720 video plays smoothly, whereas on the 1005HA it was so badly disjointed that it seemed more like a slideshow than a video. This time around Intel and Asus have got the formula right and HD video is possible in QuickTime up to a decent margin. 1080p QuickTime or high bit-rate WMV media weren't nearly as smooth in playback, but were still watchable, whereas the 1005HA didn't even get a look in playing this type of media, and we were back to watching slideshows again.

Keyboard
The keyboard has been redesigned between the two generations of Seashell netbooks, and the new design falls more in line with Asus' other models such as the ULV50. The 'chiclet' keyboard format is well laid out with a surprising amount of space between the keys for a netbook. The spacing is even more crucial in a netbook than a notebook, as the size of the device can be a third of its larger counterpart. We found that typing on older netbooks often led to a few of the neighbouring keys being pressed at once, but this 'word bleeding' is avoided with the new layout and it's a welcome addition to light laptops.

Storage
Storage options have been improved since the last line of netbooks, especially in the area of cloud storage. Included in the 1005PE is a 250GB hard drive, the same capacity as in the 1005HA, although an optional 320GB drive is available in the newer netbook.

Asus appears to have switched from Hitachi to Seagate drives, but this might be down to what is favourable for that batch rather than a dramatic shift of suppliers. What has fundamentally changed is the amount of cloud-based storage, or Asus WebStorage, on offer. In the past only 10GB was included with Windows XP, now 500GB is part of the package with Windows 7.

Accessing and using the cloud storage isn't the most user friendly feature of the 1005PE. We had seen the cloud storage mapped as a network drive in the operating system, but this is now missing. The Asus WebStorage is primarily used, and initially configured, as a way of backing up files from the netbook, although it could offer so much more if an easier to use client were adopted. Still, half a terabyte of online storage isn't to be sniffed at even if it is free for only 18 months.

Operating system
Windows 7 Starter Edition is included as the default operating system, which thankfully doesn't have the three-application limit Microsoft initially threatened. This seems to be a good fit as a platform, but it is marginally slower at boot up than Windows XP on the N270 1.6GHz 1005HA. The older model booted into a functioning browser within 40 seconds, while the 1005PE took just over two minutes. A significantly slower time, all things considered, but the supplied Splashtop Linux-OS-on-a-ROM booted within a few seconds, and we are glad Asus has included this seeing as how it has been missing on a few models we've seen recently.

Battery life
The battery life of the 1005PE is supposed to be better with the Intel Pine Trail, but we saw a mixed set of results in our tests. In continuous use in the highest performance mode of Windows, and with Asus' own performance-enhancing software running, the 1005PE battery lasted four hours and 35 minutes. The 1005HA running Windows XP with both similarly power-hungry settings lasted just four hours on the same six-cell 4400mAh removable battery.

With the most power-conservative settings of Windows XP and Asus' own settings in power-saving mode, plus Wi-Fi, webcam and Bluetooth all disabled, the 1005PE survived for six hours. On the corresponding setup the 1005HA lasted longer at six hours and 20 minutes.

A good use for netbooks is as a video media playback device. On a continuous video loop the 1005PE lasted for seven hours and 40 minutes on the most power-conservative settings with the screen at 40 per cent brightness. Under the same conditions while playing the same file, the 1005HA lasted for six hours and 10 minutes.

Intel Pine Trail Atom N450 1.66GHz, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 10.1in screen, Windows 7 Starter, 250GB hard drive, 0.3-megapixel video camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3.5in audio, USB 2.0, VGA, SD, MMC