Hands-On: Asus Eee PC 1008HA, UX50, and U80V - Washington Post
It's thin, sleek, and light. I had a chance to play with one, and I'll tell you one thing: Asus may be spitting out more revisions of its netbook line than I can count, but at least its designers are continuing to look at ways to refine the machine. The proof is in this new $420 netbook.
Though I couldn't steal the 1008HA away from its PR handlers to lock away in our labs, I did get a few minutes for a quick test-drive. So consider this a hands-on teaser of what's in store for when the unit ships.
Under its frosty exterior, the system sports current netbook innards: an Intel Atom N280 CPU, 1GB RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Bluetooth, 802.11n, and a three-cell battery (just don't ask me about the battery life yet).
The 92-percent full-size keyboard is big and comfortable, with a good layout. The buttons felt firm and large enough to type up a quick story. Even the metallic mouse-button bar was reasonably secure. That said, I'm a little concerned about the touchpad. On the device that I tried, I found little indication between where the touch area ends and where the wrist rest begins. But the spokesperson on hand assured me that the final unit will have bigger grooves so that users can feel their way around without having to eyeball the strike zone.
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The laptop is a customized version of its Eee PC 1008HA, complete with industrial designer Karim Rashid's cover art and feel. According to Tyrone Gruner,
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