1GB DDR2 RAM, 2GB Max* (*Eee PC 1008HA model has no Memory Bay Door due to ultra slim design)
160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
Windows XP Home Operating System, 6 Hour Battery
Intel UMA, 10.1-inch WSVGA 1024x600 Screen
Description
ASUS Seashell 10.1-Inch Pearl Black Netbook, A Intel Atom N280 Processor 1.66GHz, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM) and Intel UMA, 10.1-inch WSVGA 1024x600 Screen.
Average Customer Review: ( 87 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 47 found the following review helpful:
What a great machine! May 26, 2009
By JerryWithaJ This is my third eee pc. I started with the original 4G with 7" screen. I wanted more storage and a screen that filled the form factor so I then moved up to the 9" 900HA. At the time of the 900HA, I opted for reduced weight over increased size and chose the lighter weight 900HA over the larger but heavier 100x series. I learned my mistake, though, because the more I used the 900HA, the more annoying the typing errors due to the smaller keyboard became. You might not think a diagonal inch could make such a difference, but it does. Since getting the 900HA, I've gotten two 1000HAs for my sons and recommended the 1000HA to my sister and all three of them love them. Still, the increased weight kept me from taking the plunge for a 10" netbook myself, that is, until the 1008HA came along.
As with everything, the 1008HA comes with pluses and minuses.
The biggest plus is the weight: 2lbs 5 oz. compared to 2lbs 7.5 oz for the 900HA and 3lbs 4 oz for the 1000HA (and 3 lbs 5 oz for the latest 1000HA with chicklet keyboard).
Another plus is the Atom N280 processor which, while not a barn burner, is noticeably faster than the N270 in other models.
There is also Bluetooth and 820.11n wireless, but those are of no real interest to me since I don't have an 802.11n router (but perhaps I should start thinking of one!).
The only clear minus for me is the port covers which make it inconvenient to connect things. They would be particularly inconvenient if I wanted to keep the teeny (1/4" extension) USB receiver from a Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks (Black) plugged in permanently. Unfortunately, Logitech does not make a Bluetooth version of the VX nano.
Then there are two things that are a positive or negative depending on your point of view.
The first is the nonremovable battery. If the battery were to die, it would have to be returned to Asus for service. I tell myself that by the time this happens I would probably be wanting to replace the machine. The reason I view it as a positive and not an outright negative is that the Li-polymer battery, which can be molded however the manufacturer wishes, helps give the 1008HA its reduced weight. Asus will shortly be introducing the 1005HA, which has a replaceable battery but is otherwise identical to the 1008HA. However, 1005HA's weight will be back up in the 3 lb 2 oz range.
The second is the glare screen. It can take some getting used to. I don't have any problems with my appearance, but if I wanted my face for wallpaper, I'd have taken my picture an uploaded it. However, so far I haven't found the adjustment to be difficult. The biggest surprise was that outdoors the glare screen on the 1008HA turned out to be easier to read than the matte screen on my 900HA! The trick was to have the screen facing the sun, but at an angle so that the sun was not reflecting in my eyes. With the back of the screen toward the sun, the 1008HA's screen is unreadable, but the 900HA's screen was no great shakes either.
I won't paint a pretty picture. I spent two days debating whether to keep the 1008HA or return it for what is now a considerably cheaper 1000HA, but I found myself getting used to the glare screen, felt I could easily live with the port covers, and decided to keep the 1008HA because of its reduced weight.
45 of 50 found the following review helpful:
Try before you buy Jun 03, 2009
By ryesteve Do yourself a favor. Before you order one of these, get your hands on one and try it out first. You may have heard that the display is "very glossy", but until you actual see it, you have no idea. I have never seen a screen as reflective as this one. For a machine in which the emphasis is clearly on the aesthetics, I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone thought this was a good idea.
Some may say that you'll get used to it, but my response is, why should you have to? It's not as if this machine has such overwhelming advantages, that the tradeoff is acceptable. Also, machines this portable are often intended for outdoor use; if you're one of those people with that in mind, this display is completely unusable in that kind of lighting.
So yes, it's small, light and stylish, but with a display that ranges from annoying to difficult to impossible to use, given the light conditions, I'd have a hard time recommending this to anyone.
19 of 20 found the following review helpful:
HOW TO: Upgrade Ram and HDD, possibly replace battery? Jun 03, 2009
By K. Gupta I pre-ordered the item and got it a week ago, and its an excellent piece of machinery. Let me say that every square millimeter (except the keyboard and the lcd screen itself) of this laptop is covered in piano black finish, which might scare some people since piano black is not too scratch resistant, but Asus apparently used some scratch-resistant coating, and it works pretty well.
For those who want to upgrade the hard drive and the ram in this laptop, its not an easy task. I was able to change the single 1GB dimm to a 2GB Corsair one (only one dimm slot, so not actually dual channel memory like every other laptop on the market, but usually most netbooks are like this.). The dimm they provide is 1gb 5300 samsung ram. The 2gb is working excellent with XP. I was going to replace XP with windows 7, but everyone online states that when you boot windows 7, it just turns to a black screen, although there is an easy work-around with a .bat file, just google :-)
How to open the netbook:
In ordered to open the netbook for those who are experienced with working in desktops/laptops and want to upgrade their hdd to ssd or replace the ram, you must first take out the four screws at the bottom of the laptop. Next, on the top edge of the keyboard, you will see 4 pieces holding the keyboard into the laptop. Push down on each metal spring with a flat-tip screw driver, and pull the keyboard out from the top left corner, there are no screws attached to the keyboard. Lift the keyboard when you have the 4 top pins pushed in. The keyboard is glued to the laptop, so dont be afraid to pull hard in order to remove the keyboard when you are sure that the 4 metal pins at the top are not in the way (there is a sticker between the keyboard and the computer where the glue is, and it will most probably get ripped in some way, but its not important. You may have to use a little glue on the keyboard to put it back on when you put it back together, but I found it unecessary). Detach the keyboard from the computer by pushing the black clip on the port of the keyboard connection upwards, this will loosen the wire from the port and then you can pull the keyboard cable out of the port. You can start lifting the keyboard first and push down on each metal spring as you go from left to right as well. Next, you will see 6 black screws, two on the left, one in the middle, and three on the right, that attach the top surface metal frame to the plastic body inside. Remove these 6 screws. Now, underneath the yellow sticker that says "will void warranty if sticker is broken or removed" is another silver screw that must be removed. You must CAREFULLY remove the sticker from the laptop, I used a little rubbing alcohol to remove the sticker from one side of the screw, and reattached it later with some glue. THE STICKER IS EXTREMELY FRAGILE, BE CAREFUL (please see the link I posted *** at the bottom of this review). After you have the all 6 screws removed, remove the blue-tabbed ribbon cable on the left side by just pulling gently on it, and do the same thing with the black cable thats in between the two screws on the right side.
Now here is the tricky part, seperating the two plastic pieces of the laptop. START AT THE SD CARD SLOT: remove the plastic sd card and using a flat tip screwdriver, slowly and gently pry the two plastic panels apart, and make your way first toward the bottom of the laptop until you reach the opposite side of the sd card, then work your way up from the sd card. These tabs that hold the computer are extremely fragile, so be gently. The two panels should eventually snap off if you have worked your way around the laptop, prying it apart with a very finely tipped flat head screwdriver. When you got the two panels apart, most of the hard work is over!
THE DIMM SLOT IS LOCATED BENEATH THE HEATSINK ON THE TOP LEFT PCB. In order to remove this PCB (the heart of the PC, because it contains the ram, the atom chip, the graphics chip, the northbridge, etc) first remove the black cable thats connected to it on the bottom left. Next remove the orange ribbon cable thats attached to on the right side (just pull up on the cable, and push it back down to put it back in later) and lastly, disconnect the black cable thats on the left side of the fan. Now starting from the top left corner of the PCB (where the charge port is), just pull up. The plastic tab piece thats about 5mm to the right of the charge port is not really a tab or anything, it just pushes down on the PCB to hold it in place, so you do not have to touch this. Just pull up slowly on the board, and eventually, it should come off. NOW THERE IS STILL A BLACK CABLE TO THE LEFT OF THE USED-TO-BE ORANGE RIBBON CABLE, I would say to leave this connected because its a pain to reconnect (must be pushed in very hard). THERE IS ALSO STILL THE BATTERY CABLE THATS ATTACHED TO THE BOTTOM UNDERSIDE OF THE PCB. To disconnect, slowly lift the pcb, and disconnect the rainbow colored wire. Now just tilt the PCB vertically so that the black cable is still connected (there is also another, very thin black cable attached to the top of the PCB board, this is the antenna for the Wi-Fi, leave it attached). At this point, you can remove the hard drive that is to the right of this PCB board. Now underneath the black sticker on the bottom side of the PCB is the ram slot, lift up on the black sticker, loosen the metal clips on each side of the dimm, and the ram pops right up. put your new dimm in, push it down, and it snaps into place. NOW REASSEMBLE THE LAPTOP!
The performance on this laptop is much better than I thought it would be. I use the bluetooth in the netbook to connect to my Windows Mobile phone and I am able to connect to the internet through AT&T 3G. I get around 5.5 hrs of battery life, which is pretty good imo. The single silver plastic bar for the touchpad is a rocker, and its EXTREMELY STIFF. This is what I hated most of the laptop, but I'm assuming with time that it will get less stiff, we will have to see.
Overall, I commend Asus for making such a light and thin portable computer with this kind of speed and processing power. By using the method above, it is also possible to replace the battery with an aftermarket one, but I have no idea about those...
** If you have assembled a desktop in the past, I see no reason for you not being able to upgrade the RAM with the above help. Fiddling with the two shell pieces takes some effort if you're interested in not breaking any of the tabs, but once the top shell is separated from the bottom it is much easier than the first part of the dissection. Overall, the process took me 1/2 an hour to take apart and put back together, but your mileage will obviously vary depending on your level of expertise. If you do manage to break a tab while removing the two shells, my friends have used EPOXY in between the two pieces to stick it back together, and you cant notice a difference. For those who venture into upgrading the RAM, good luck!
*** In regard to SPANKY who posted Comment #3 on this review (and to others who would like to know about the "void warranty" sticker): google "eee void sticker" and hit the first link.
Please do your homework before you go and criticize other people's work and giving other's wrong information. Thank you.
20 of 23 found the following review helpful:
Nice package, and (almost) works with Ubuntu May 29, 2009
By Kurt Milligan I was considering the 1000HE, but decided to wait for the 1008HA. It's a really nice package. My only real problem with it is the lack of a Linux option, but that is (relatively) easy to remedy.
For those wondering about Linux compatibility, I was able to install Ubuntu 9.04 easily enough, but none of the network interfaces worked. I then tried the "netbook remix" of Ubuntu, but this did not solve that problem.
(Note for those trying the netbook remix; it is about 950MB, and is an .IMG file, *not* an .ISO, so don't try to use a CD. It is relatively easy to "dd" the file to an SD card, however, and the Eee will boot from the SD card. It's also handy to know that you need to press F2 on boot to get to BIOS, then disable the "Boot Booster", so that next time you boot you can press ESC to select the boot device.)
Once you install, you need to grab the AR813X-linux-v1.0.0.8.tar.gz package from http://partner.atheros.com/Drivers.aspx . Untar this (ignore the gzip errors), cd src, make, sudo make install, then insmod the resulting file. That should give you wired ethernet.
To get wifi, go to Administration > Software Sources > Updates and check off "Unsupported Updates (jaunty-backports)", then do sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-jaunty . Once you reboot, you should have wireless.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Excellent Netbook Jun 06, 2009
By hdtravel Ahhh....the 1008HA Seashell is so cool and feels so good.
If you are looking for an overall excellent netbook then this is the one for you.
It is extremely nice looking, very thin and smooth just like a seashell. The style is truly fantastic. Better looking than any other netbook out there. It will blow you away when you see how nice it looks and how awesome it feels in your hands.
Performance is snappy and the sound is quite loud from the built-in stereo speakers. It is too bad you must be a brain surgeon to upgrade the memory ( RAM ), but this is really not a big deal since things work well with the included 1 GB of RAM. Still it would be nice to have the option to self upgrade. This is a weird design flaw ASUS ! The non user replaceable battery is not a big problem either as I have never needed an extra battery for a laptop and I always get rid of a laptop to get a new model before the battery ever goes bad. The trend is to build in the batteries and the laptop can be smaller, thinner, lighter due to using custom battery packs that fit around other components in the chassis. We will just have to get used to this.
The screen is sharp and bright using the latest low-energy LED backlighting. It is glossy, but I have found no problem with this. Colors are bright and vivid. The Seashell is also an "Energy-Star" approved device since it is very energy efficient.
The keyboard is very usable and the trackpad nice. The trackpad has little raised bumps and the multi-touch works good. The button is a one piece type and you push the right or left side. The button is somewhat stiff, but on the upside this prevents erroneous key presses.
It is the best netbook out yet in my opinion.
The included case is really nice and luxurious. It is a black velvet type of material outside and very soft inside and is very well padded. It has the eee logo and a zippered enclosure. It is a true case, not just a flimsy sleeve. It is a very nice touch that they include this.
The power supply or charger is white to match the white netbook. It is a 3 piece deal with a small "brick" in the middle and 2 cords. One goes from the brick to the wall and the other cord goes from the brick to the computer. While it is ok and serves it's purpose I would have preferred a "cell phone" type of charger with only a small cube that plugs into the wall and a cord plugging into the computer. This would have been much cooler.
Highly recommended netbook. This is the BEST netbook available right now in my opinion.
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based on 87 reviews
What a great machine! May 26, 2009
By JerryWithaJ
Try before you buy Jun 03, 2009
By ryesteve
