ASUS Eee PC 1000HA 10-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel ATOM N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, 10 GB E-Storage, XP Home, 6 Cell Battery)

I've been using my Asus 1000HA extensively for a few days now, and thought I'd post a few comments.

First, let me address the two most common "complaints" -- the stiff touchpad keys and the placement of the right shift.

TOUCHPAD KEYS: I also thought the touchpad keys were far too stiff until I realized I was using them wrong. The touchpad keys wrap around the front, and are designed to be "thumbed" at the front, not pushed down from the top. Once I figured out how to use them I found they are not the least bit stiff. It is actually a far better configuration than any other laptop I've used, because when you move your hand down to use the touchpad, your thumb is naturally placed in front of the laptop, and you can flick the touchpad keys from the front instead of trying to crowd all your fingers over the touchpad. With this design, I can now easily cut and paste with one hand, where as with other notebooks I typically have to work the keys with one hand while I use the touchpad with the other. Truly brilliant.

RIGHT SHIFT KEY: As to the shift key, it is technically right where it is supposed to be -- at the far right side of the keyboard. Look down at whatever keyboard you are using and you'll see the right shift key at the far right of the other primary keys (not including the number keys). But to accomodate the up arrow, Asus made the shift key half-sized. So you will find yourself occasionally hitting the up arrow when you meant to shift. I've already programed my brain to reach a little farther when I use the right shift key, so it isn't a problem. Someone else mentioned that she used a program to switch the shift and arrow keys, so that is an option if it turns out to be a problem for you.

MEMORY: I ordered the 2GB memory card along with the notebook, and installed it before I ever turned it on. It was a one minute upgrade. Thank you to all that mentioned going to the bios so that the memory would be recognized. Note that you don't do anything in the bios, just go to there and then save and exit. RAM is the most important component relating to system speed, and the memory was about $30, so I can't imagine that anyone would not want to make that upgrade.

BATTERY LIFE: Battery life was one of the main reasons I bought this notebook, because the two hours I was getting on my other small notebook just wasn't cutting it. After fully charging the battery, I turned on the computer and checked the battery life, which was reported at just three hours! But as Windows got a feel for the battery, that number kept going up until it reached more than five hours. I haven't put a stopwatch to it, but I've actually been doing a little better than that with my daily use thus far. Nice to just sit down and get to work while everyone else is fighting over the electrical outlets at the local Barnes & Noble. UPDATE: I found an aftermarket 12,000 mHa battery on ebay for the 1000HA. With this battery I can go well over eight hours on a single charge! It's quite a bit bigger, so some portability is lost, but between the two batteries I can leave the power brick at home.

USB PORTS: There are two on the right and one on the left. With my other laptop, having all three side by side was a problem because sometimes the item you plug in extends over another port. I had to use a multi-tap just to plug in all my stuff. The one on the left is toward the back, which is cool because I can plug in my Sprint wireless and it is out of the way.

FUNCTION KEYS: I like that there are no separate buttons for mute, wireless, etc. Everything is controlled with the function keys.

SPEAKERS AND TYPING ANGLE: Another brilliant design point. With my other laptop, the speakers are where you wrest your palms while typing, which means I am covering the speakers any time I am typing. The Asus puts them underneath, and the laptop is slightly raised on feet at the back to both give clearance to the speakers and create a better typing angle. The sound is very impressive for such a small notebook, and the volume is very good.

SCREEN: I have no problem reading the screen, even with my tired old eyes. The native resolution of the screen in 1024 x 600. That second number means you'll be doing more vertical scrolling. Set the taskbar to auto hide and use full screen mode with your browser. I am really glad I went with this computer as opposed to the Acer One, which has a 8.9" screen. I wouldn't want to go any smaller than the ten inch screen on the Asus.

KEYBOARD: I'm a big guy with big hands, and I have no problem touch typing on this keyboard. I'd say my typos have probably increased 2% as a result of the smaller size.

BOTTOM LINE: I wanted a notebook I could throw in my briefcase and keep with me at all times, and would also allow me to get real work done when I used it, without major compromises. This small notebook completely fills the bill.

I just got this a few days ago (not from Amazon) and am really happy with it. As far as I can tell, it's very similar to the Asus 1000H, but it doesn't have wireless n (just b/g) and it doesn't have bluetooth. For me, that was worth the $50 savings over the 1000H.

Pros:
Good size. It's really easy to carry around. I hate carrying my full size laptop back and forth to work. This one slips nicely into my bag.

Battery life. I get about 4 hours from the battery. I think I could squeeze more out if I used the power saving option and turned off the wireless when I'm not using it. (new note: with power saving options turned on, I get just over 5.5 hrs from the battery. That also reflects having 2gb of RAM installed. - 10/26/08) Still good enough that I don't bring my power cord with me to work unless I'm going to use it all day. And way better than the other netbooks I looked at.

Ease of upgrade. I'm not very tech savvy. However, it was WAY easy to open up my 1000HA and pop in a 2gb memory stick, and junk the 1gb stick that comes with this. You just need a small Phillips screwdriver. No weird keyboard lifting and no cracking open cases and no voiding of warranties. I almost bought the Acer Aspire One, which I think is better looking, but it's apparently more technically difficult to upgrade. The hard drive looks easy to upgrade, too. FYI, if you DO upgrade the memory yourself, make sure to F2 into the BIOS on startup. No need to change any settings in the BIOS, but the BIOS needs to automatically recognize the 2gb memory (Windows won't recognize it without the BIOS acknowledgment first).

Weight. Light, but still feels substantial, so it doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart.

Asus name. I guess Asus isn't a big household name, but at least I've heard about eeePC for a little while. I almost bought the MSI Wind, which looked pretty easy to upgrade, too. But I got scared since I hadn't actually seen an MSI Wind anywhere. If someone wants to send me a free one, I'll evaluate it and re-write this review. =)

Cons:
The shift key on the right hand side of the keyboard is in an awkward place. I'm hopeful that my brain will eventually learn where it is so I don't hit the arrow keys or the enter key by mistake all the time, but until then, it's kind of annoying. On the plus side, the rest of the keyboard works great, and I can still type comfortably with it.

Glossy cover. It picks up some fingerprints. Boo. I hear the Fine Ebony version picks up even more fingerprints. They include a good neoprene-like sleeve and a fingerprint buffing cloth to keep the netbook fresh and clean, which is kind of neat.

I received my ASUS EEE PC 1000HA on Friday, October 18, 2008. 1000HA is, in every nook and cranny, similarly designed like the 1000H. The only functionality differences are: Blue-Tooth and wireless "n" connectivity - which are not in 1000HA.

Individuals have various needs for BT and the "n" connectivity. The difference in cost between 1000H and 1000HA is around $50. Remember everything else is the same on these two models.

I have posted many pictures while unboxing the package. The pictures may help you make a better buying decision, just go to www.trashtalkforum.com.

Many others, including myself, were going to buy the Acer Aspire One (Intel ATOM 1.6Ghz with 8.9" LCD screen, but I ma glad that I didn't. The screen on the 1000HA is just perfect for me - a girl with small hands and -2.25 vision on both eyes. 10" LCD works great for gaming, browsing, watching movies, and image editing. I will elaborate on gaming, movies and image editing, with sample pictures on my website. I'm not sure if html codes are allowed on this forum.

When I first booted it up, I had to go through the XP initial user setup. After spending 8 minutes completing that, I was able to log into Windows. It does not come with FireFox, Safari or Opera. The only browser is IE 6. I updated to FireFox 3.X.X. My router is a LinkSys Wireless router. Right now the wifi adapter on the 1000HA says the network speed is 54Mpbs. Asus EEE PC uses a very good ethernet adapter made by Atheros.

Regardless of the underclocked CPU (1.32 Ghz by ASUS), the 1000HA runs smoothly and so far has not crashed at all. I have run Counter Strike Condition Zero, Warcraft III Frozen Throne, and a few other free first person shooter games that are 2 to 3 years old. 160GB HDD is partitioned into two 80GB HDD. It initially slowed down a little bit and perhaps skipped some frames when I tried to run a large video file of HIGH RESOLUTION DIVX ON VLC PLAYER. After losing that little bit of FPS, it played just fine! Not to mention I was actually running 2 FireFox windows each with 3 tabs, Windows Live Messenger, File Explorer, all simultaneously. I am a heavy-user...

It opens up Adobe Acrobat Reader just fine, with no lagging.

It can handle image editing but I haven't tried that with Photoshop, I just used Photoscape - an free alternative lightweight program.

Finally the battery efficiency is just amazing. Acer Aspire One 1.6Ghz Intel Atom/ASUS EEE 1000H/1000HA all run on 6-cell battery. What changed my mind about the Acer, besides the screen and keyboard size, was the battery's "mAh" - milliampere-hour, a measure of a battery's total capacity. Acer Aspire One 1.6 Ghz, if I remember correctly, has a 6-cell 2700 mAh battery. Asus EEE pc 1000H/1000HA has a 6-cell 6700 mAh battery. Electrochemically speaking, the higher the measurement is the better and longer-lasting the battery is (under proper care of course). A 2700 mAh rechargable battery is not considered inferior at all, but in this comparison against the Asus EEE PC 1000H/1000HA, it's being outshined.

Asus EEE 1000H/1000HA model provides easy access to RAM upgrade. It can be easily upgraded to 2GB with a super simple installation. Acer Aspire One.....will make you work if you are not very "techie." I have seen an attempt by someone to upgrade to a 4GB ram but I don't know if it's any successful sincce I have forgotten the link to that forum which I visited 4 days ago.

Hard drive can also be upgraded easily to whatever size you like, whether it's 320 GB or 650GB, as long as it's the right specs and size.

There is onboard control for almost everything - sound, one-botton resolution readjustment, brightness, LCD-off (the system remains on), wifi-off, sleep mode etc.

The multi-touch keypad is pretty cool too but won't be as responsive without a good individual customization. It works like an iPhone, with two fingers going diagonally on the pad you can choose to zoom in/out on the screen. With two fingers going veertically, you can scroll up and down the web browser or anything that has more than one page. Remember there are two SHIFT keys on your normal keyboard? Well the new keyboard, due to its reduced size, will take you a lot to get used to. The SHIFT key right below the enter-key is reduced to a squared finger-tip size key, and I frequently hit the the uparrow when I meant to hit the shift key on my righthand side.

1000HA has a SHINY REFLECTIVE-surfaced 1.3 mega pixel web cam. 3 USB ports, audio/mic jack, VGA out, speaks on the bottom, and a ethernet jack if you prefer wired network/internet. I will post pictures on my website at www.trashtalkforum.com so you can see what I'm talking about.

Overview: It's a lightweight, ultra-portable netbook with a commendable battery life for a 6 cell. It comes with the basics pre-installed (word processor, a DVD program [a touch ironic since you probably don't have an external disc drive yet], and some eee PC specific keyboard functions). XP is XP. You know what you are going to get with that.

Pros: It gets all of your day-to-day activities done. The processor isn't a powerhouse, but it is fine for word processing, browsing the internet, and watching movies. The software overclock is nice because it allows for variable battery drain (roughly 17% swing if I remember correctly) depending on your needs and distance from civilization. For the brave, dual booting with a Ubuntu (linux) is very easy to do with a couple hours of free time. The AC adapter is also very compact and travels nicely with the eee PC as well. It has a reasonably well-built webcam integrated into the laptop (with respect to many newer notebook/netbook standards). It's not the greatest, but remember what you are paying for this little beast. The microphone is rather impressive though. It is an array-style microphone built into the base of the screen that does a very good job of catching your voice without much distortion prone to other microphones. The fact that there is no disc drive is a plus in my opinion. Get yourself a nice jump drive (8 Gig. is pretty cheap now) and use that. It reduces the netbook's weight immensely, and externals are available if you don't know how to network with your other home PC. Lastly, the touchpad has some very helpful functions built in. It has 1, 2, and 3 finger functionality that helps with some basic computing tasks. I was very impressed with this feature.

Cons: This should not be bought in lieu of a home or base computer if you do not own an external disc drive. If you have a home system, you can access the other computer's disc drive over a network and won't need an external disc drive (Note: I would recommend buying an external for watching movies). It is true that the shift key is a little awkward at first. You do get used to it though - don't let this scare you. You will not be playing the latest and greatest video game spectacles on this thing. I tried Warcraft III just for kicks, and I was greeted with a blue screen after 5 minutes. Remember, this netbook is designed for the traveling professional or student that wants ultra-portability. The battery life isn't really 7 hours either. Expect about 5 hours of reasonable battery use. The only time you will get 7 actual hours of use is if you have the wireless card and screen turned off and you are listening to iTunes. Lastly, the wireless card drivers don't seem to be too hardy in the latest Ubuntu distribution. I imagine this will be fixed, but be prepared for it to be a bit finicky. If you don't play with Linux though, don't worry about the last one.

Conclusion: This system does a great job at doing what it was made to do. You won't be disappointed, and you won't be regretting your purchase if you need something that can be taken anywhere with little hassle. I purchased this for my trip to Europe (not expecting to be connected to a jack that often), and I cannot recommend this netbook enough.

I just bought this ASUS Eee PC and have played with it for the last 3 days. I am very impressed, so much so that I have decided to sell my HP 15" DV6165cl laptop and go with this instead. The reasons: All I do is surf, email, do word processing and, having recently been set up with Slingbox, watch my Home Satellite PVR on it when I am away. This machine does all of that beautifully with 2 critical bonuses:

1)Its battery life seems to be around 5 hours, give or take, which is amazing compared to 2 hours for the HP laptop.

2)Its weight and size are so perfect for portability, whereas the 15" laptop is just too big for that.

I recently tested out an Acer Aspire One 1.60 GB Atom processor, 160 HDD with 1 gb of memory. Here is where I feel this ASUS beats the Acer hands down:

1) The battery life of the Acer is max. 2 hours. Enough said.
2) The sound, the sound, the sound. While not digital home theater quality, it's just about as good as any HP laptop, for example, which is quite fine for watching online stuff, videos or home TV via Slingbox as I do. The Acer sound, on the other hand, (how may I put this delicately so as not to offend the general public...) SUCKS!!!!! It's low, muted and awful. In order to watch a video or Slingbox TV, I had to plug in an external set of speakers.
3) The ASUS boots up much faster.
4) At 10", the screen is 1.1 inches bigger than the 8.9 Acer. The screen resolution and brightness are very nice indeed.
5) Everything feels so much more solid on the ASUS and smudges so much less.
6) In order to upgrade the memory on the ACER, you literally have to dismantle it, i.e., remove the keyboard and dive inside, at your own risk, of course. To upgrade the memory on the ASUS to a 2 Gb stick, it's just the standard "unscrew-panel-and-insert" routine. Remove this one underside panel and you have instant access to the memory and the hard drive.
7) One great thing that I just figured out on my own is that you don't have to click or double click the left mouse button, just one-tap or two-tap on the track pad instead with your finger. Take that those of you who say that the mouse buttons are the stiffest and most difficult to use that they have ever come across, which by the way is untrue for me. They are simply sturdy, to go along with the sturdy construction I mentioned in point 5) which I, for one, appreciate.
8) The Acer comes with this tight plastic carrying sleeve that doesn't even zip. While not a laptop carrying case, the ASUS carrying pouch is roomy enough for you to put in and pull out the unit with room to spare, it has a zipper and is not "plasticky". It has a velour-like finish.
9) The ASUS has 4 little sharp and sturdy silver hot buttons on the top of the keyboard to turn the display on and off, bring up messenger or skype, change the resolution of the monitor, etc... Very, very handy.
10) The Acer keyboard is smaller, flimsier, and more difficult to accurately type on than the ASUS. As for the supposed poor placement of the right shift key on this ASUS, not being a touch typist, I have not yet been even remotely bothered by it.

It is for all of these reasons that this ASUS is a keeper and that the ACER would simply not have been a long term pleaser for me.

The ASUS Eee 1000 pc is a fantastic little netbook. I got the HA because it was over 50 dollars cheaper than the H, with the only differences being lack of bluetooth and wireless N, neither of which I need.

This netbook is great for what I needed. I bought it so that I could take notes in class without having to haul my 17 inch monstrosity to class, as well as taking it to the library and study rooms. Interestingly, its use has expanded for me. I just use it as a secondary computer. My laptop might as well be a desktop because it never moves from the tabletop anymore. The netbook does just about everything I do with my normal laptop. I do plenty of word-processing, browsing the web, powerpoints, etc. When studying, I often have a browser with half a dozen tabs open, several powerpoint documents, and some word documents. The computer doesn't skip a beat.

This computer shouldn't be expected to do anything even remotely graphics intensive. I do, however, use it to watch hulu sometimes, which it still struggles with a bit. I can stream it fine on low quality, with some skipping once in a while, but it is almost unwatchable on high quality (480p). The computer does fine on normal videos, but I suppose it takes more to stream from the web. In any case, it's still watchable, but I'm considering purchasing an additional gig of RAM for it, which should really remedy any remaining issues. I'll update if I purchase the RAM.

The computer runs virtually silent, with some hard drive clatter once in a while (which is only audible in a silent room). The fan is imperceptible at any noise level.

I've found that the battery life is great. When I take it to class, I set everything to low, including the screen, which is plenty readable at the 2nd to last brightness setting. It lasts through my longest classes and then some. I've had it last over five hours with wireless off, and turning it on doesn't decrease the life too much. It's pretty much as good as six cells get.

In any case, I'm very pleased with this computer. I did a slew of research before taking the dive, but this seems to be the best netbook for the money. Also, if you are wondering about the keyboard, which I heard complaints about when I was researching, it's great now. I believe the earlier issues were having significant flex on the corners, but the keyboard on my example was flawless. The HA was released a bit later, so they probably fixed it on all models by now.

I sold my Asus Eee PC 1000ha after using it extensively for around 10 days. Overall, this is a machine with great potential and this is also a machine with fatal flaws that are intolerable to me.

Pros

1. The keyboard is roomy, the alphabetic keys, the enter key and backspace key are big enough for touch typing. (some reviewers said they didn't like the right shift key, but luckily it's not a big problem for me, cause I only use the left shift key when I touch type)

2. Good performance-price ratio (Intel Atom, 1GB Ram, 160GB hard drive, 1.3M webcam, 6-cell battery make it a compelling buy for the current price tag)

Cons (things that make me not keeping this machine)

1. The left and right mouse buttons are way **too stiff to press**. No kidding, this eee pc has the worst left and right mouse buttons I have ever met in my life. You need to press REALLY HARD for a single click, it's even HARDER for a double click, it's almost impossible for me to complete tasks such as drag and drop by using these mouse buttons. My index finger became extremely painful after using the touch pad and mouse buttons for more than 15 minutes.

2. Before I bought this machine, I was expecting a relatively slow (when compared with C2D processors nowadays) but quite machine. After using it for 10 days, I found the speed is not a big problem for me, however, I didn't like the fact that this machine was as noisy as those cheap $4xx laptops. The fan keeps running when the room temperature is around 80 F.

Update: I bought a Dell Mini 9 after selling this Eee PC 1000ha. The Dell mini 9 uses a no-fan passive cooling design and there is no noise at all when the computer is running. The Mini 9 keyboard is not as roomy as Eee PC's, but the mouse buttons are at least as good as those in regular notebooks (please allow me to repeat again - the left and right buttons in eee pc 1000ha are abysmal)

I have been debating what netbook to get for a few weeks now and decided to go with this one, the Asus 1000HA because I have always prefered Asus motherboards over MSI and have never been a fan of Acer computers.

I just have to say I am extremely happy with the purchase. I will admit there are some things that take some getting used to, the slightly smaller keyboard and the smaller screen are the main ones, but after all you have that no matter what laptop you decide to get.

The pluses of EeePC are:
Small and light weight the main reason for me getting a netbook to take around school. I have enough weight with the books.

Battery life is amazing, I tested it out yesterday to see how long the battery life would last with internet browsing, idling and some word processing through out the day at school. Normally I would plug my laptop in or else it would be dead within 2 hours and the EeePC lasted all day with about 6 hours of use time and 6 hours in stand by time with 35% of the battery life left.

The 1.6Ghz Intel atom is powerful enough to run Call of Duty 4 at the lowest res and settings.

The sound quality is amazing the Dolby Sound Room really enhances the speaker, they truly emulate surround sound speakers.

The quick res change button really helps I keep it at 1024x600 but if you wanted you could change it to 1024x768 compressed although it makes the text hard to read.

The video card supports up to 1920x1080 if you choose to have that setting without an external monitor you can scroll left and right and up and down to different parts of the screen. Not sure why you would do this but the option is there if you want it.

It comes with a nice sleeve so you don't have to pay extra money and then going through the hassle of getting one that fits correctly. It even has room for the power cord in it.

The track pad uses smart pad technology you can use the left and right buttons like a regular mouse and if you click both of them at the same time it does a middle click by default but you can change it. You can even switch the buttons around to get the feel of a left handed mouse if that is what you are used to. You can zoom in and out, rotate graphics on their axis, drag and drop, magnify glass, page up, page down features, and a quick link to open My Computer and switch windows.

The only negative thing that I find about the EeePC is the glossy finish on the top of it, I am one who hates fingerprints and they show up with the slightest touch however Asus included a nice cleaning cloth for the screen and the top of the netbook.


** Edit
Just an update on this review. I didn't change anything above but am making a suggestion to purchase http://www.amazon.com/1000HA-10-Inch-Netbook-Premium-Memory/dp/B001HLA3MG/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=apparel&qid=1232463051&sr=8-1 this case for it.

The case is slim and has a front pocket to store a mouse and cable. I only purchased this before I knew my netbook had a sleeve in it and glad I did, it has memory foam protection to give you a little more support for the netbook. To view my full review of the case please visit the link.

**
I hope that whoever reads this review finds it useful if you don't I am sorry you might have wasted your time.

Good luck in your purchase.

This is a great little netbook---like many others, I have been looking for a small laptop for traveling, taking to the library, sitting on the couch, etc. This is it. When my 7 y.o. daughter first saw it, she said, "aww, it's so cute!" It is cute, but you can get some serious work done on this computer, too. I have upgraded the RAM to 2GB, installed MS Office 2007, and have been using it quite extensively for writing over the past two weeks. This is a computer that's nice for doing some light web surfing around home, sure, but it can handle a lot more.

Here are some pros so far:
---The screen is very bright and clear

---the battery life is great (5+ hours---longer w/o wireless)

---the Atom processor seems quick and efficient; this thing starts up and shuts down a LOT faster than my other laptop, also running XP

---I love the fact that it doesn't get too hot; my other laptop gets uncomfortably hot after using it on my lap for anything more than a few minutes. The eee gets a little warm on the bottom, but not bad at all.

---there are so many things that seem to be well thought-out on this computer, including the little things like a nice neoprene case for storage and even an included microfiber cloth for

There are some cons, however:
---like everyone says, the right shift key takes some adjustment. I am still trying to get the hang of it and always have to pause a little bit when I want to capitalize something, so that my finger can make the extra stretch (assuming I remember)

---the trackpad buttons look sleek but are not designed well. They are too hard to press, yes, but they also are almost useless for things like dragging and dropping. Everytime I try to hold down the left button so that I can select and hold an object (and icon, a scroll bar, or highlighting a paragraph), I have to press really hard on the button to keep the pointer locked on.

---as I said, the screen is great, but it is a little small for looking at a good sized spreadsheet.

---I like to use the "home" and "end" keys a lot for getting around a document or a webpage. You need to press a function key to use home and end on the eee, since there is not a dedicated key for them.

Here are a few tips for getting more from your eee netbook:
---learn how to use the trackpad gestures; they are handy and a way to get around having to use the buttons. You can see how the gestures work by opening up the Mouse properties from the Control Panel. There is a tab for the trackpad that shows how to use the gestures.

---get a small wireless mouse to take with you; I got a Logitech model with a tiny USB receiver that you can leave in the side of the netbook all the time.

---set the Start menu and Taskbar to "auto hide" so you can get a little more screen space.

---use Google's Chrome browser, as it is fast and also has a low profile on your screen, again giving you more screen space to work with

---install the free version of AVG Anti-Virus ([...]) since the eee doesn't come with any anti-virus software, and Windows will keep bugging you about this.

---if you have another computer with a cd or dvd drive, use the Windows networking wizard to create a home network, and you can access the drive from your eee, allowing you to install software from CDROMS. This is how I installed MS Office on my netbook, and it worked great, once I got my computers to talk with each other.

UPDATE: I finally took the plunge and installed Key Tweak to remap several of the keys on my eee. Of course, first thing I did was to switch the right shift key and the up arrow. Then I found a great idea on an eee user group forum (see the discussions here on Amazon about the eee - there are some links to this info) about switching the right/down arrow keys by removing them and switching them around. So I swapped 4 keys total---they are the same size, so they will fit with no problems. Then I also set the Windows Start Menu key to act as a "home" key and the right-click (context) key as "end," so I don't have to use the Fn key to use these keys anymore (I never used either the Start key or the context menu key, so I won't miss them). This is a great "upgrade" that is easy to do and will make the eee work for you even better.

I purchased one of these a few weeks ago for use as my primary computer. I am a full time college student and use a bicycle instead of a car so I wanted something lite to save my back.
I chose the ASUS because of the longer battery life and functional keyboard. Also I was able too get it without sales tax since I live in CA so it was cheaper than a competitors site.

So here is my take:

The screen is small, but it is not too bad. The Keyboard is a big deal for me because I do type lab reports on this. I have found it to be fully useable and am able to touch type as almost fast as on a full sized keyboard. The keys are smooth and do not feel cheap.
The battery life I get is about five hours, which seems good. You are supposed to fully charge it before you use it the first time and I didnt do that.
You need to be in a quiet place to use the speakers. The webcam is ok.
I put OpenOffice on mine as it only comes with MS Works and OO has a better GUI.
It boots to the user accounts password page in about 30 seconds, which strikes me as fast, I don't have much to compare it to except for the PC's at the JC and they take forever.
Everyone who has handled my ASUS has complimented it's "cuteness" and commented that it feels sturdy.
The only other netbook I have handled is the ACER aspire one that they sell at Walmart. I think that the 8.9 inch size would still be useable for typeing however it would be difficult.

Joe