ASUS Eee PC 1008HA Seashell review
By Laura June 
posted May 26th 2009 9:00AM
posted May 26th 2009 9:00AM
We've been seeing plenty of ASUS' newest, and possibly most attractive netbook -- the Eee PC 1008HA Seashell -- around here as of late, and the slim model's gotten plenty of solid reviews in the UK, where it's already available. Nobody can talk about the 'shell (as we refer to it) without praising its handsome exterior, and with good reason, too: even if you're not a fan of a curvy, thinned-out approach, it is most definitely refreshing to see a netbook that doesn't just look like... every other netbook. We decided to take the newest ASUS for a spin, comparing it to the netbook we're friendliest with -- the HP Mini 1000 -- to see how they stack up against one another. Could we swim through the blackened, dark abyss of netbook confusion and emerge with a clearer sense of ourselves? Does clarity come at a cost? Can the 10.1-inch Seashell fulfill all of our netbook dreams? Join us after the break for our musings.
Look and feel
First things first: when it comes to looks, ASUS has definitely stepped it up a notch. The stylings have been compared (pretty fairly) to the MacBook Air's shape, with a curved, thinned, and lightened chassis that's just an inch in thickness at its largest point. It's got a high gloss finish that makes it pretty smudge-prone, but also really slick-looking. The slimming ASUS has done has practical value, too: the 1008HA is extremely comfortable to hold and carry about in one hand -- whether open or closed -- and though, at 2.4 pounds, it's slightly heavier than our 2.25 pound HP Mini, it feels less clunky in hand. It's also pretty comfortable sitting in the lap, and we noted that this Eee PC is definitely less top-heavy than our Mini, which occasionally almost topples backwards off our knee. For a netbook -- which is all about portability and on-the-go situations -- the vibe that this little guy gives off couldn't get much better. It just feels like it's ready to be popped into a bag (or purse, if you will). ASUS hasn't spared any expense on little details, either: they've hidden the ports behind teeny doors, so that the Seashell presents a smooth, uninterrupted exterior.
When you open it up, the 1008HA continues to be fairly impressive, with a super-comfortable keyboard that's about 92 percent of a full-sizer. The keys have a nice tactile response and some users will no doubt rejoice when they spot an Eee PC first: a full-sized right-shift key. The trackpad is dimpled and has some two-fingered zoom in and out gestures that function as advertised, but that we didn't find to be particularly useful to us. We were also disappointed at the lack of two-fingered scrolling on this otherwise super pad. The chrome rocker is clicky and responsive, and the whole mousing package delivers a lot better than a lot of netbooks (and, in our opinion, way, way better than the Mini 1000).
Update: ASUS just let us know that you can in fact do scrolling by dragging your finger along the right side of the trackpad -- a fact that wasn't apparent to us when we were reviewing the Seashell.
Specifications and Performance
The Seashell boasts pretty standard netbook specs -- 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and Intel GMA 950 graphics. Its processor 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 is slightly better than the N270 crammed into most, and to that end, the 1008HA does, in our experience, boot about 20 seconds faster than the Mini 1000 -- 34 and 54 seconds respectively. It has just two USB ports, a standard headphone jack, and mini VGA port (which seems to have been chosen over VGA for aesthetic reasons only), all hidden behind those tiny flaps. To accommodate the lack of VGA port, there's a mini VGA to VGA adapter included in the box, and a dedicated magnetic slot to house it on the bottom side of the chassis, a unique solution to what could potentially be an annoying situation, though ultimately we'd still prefer a full VGA port. We also noted that larger USB keys won't fit into the ports (because of the darn flaps) without an adapter, which can also be a nuisance, especially when away from home. Other than that, the Seashell boasts 802.11 B/G/N Wi-Fi, 10/100Mbps Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, and a high-density, non-removable, lithium polymer battery that supposedly gets up to 6 hours of life -- but more on that in a moment.
In terms of performance, the Seashell operates in much the same manner as other, comparable netbooks. It's more than capable of handling everyday tasks -- browsing the internet, streaming video, editing documents, and listening to the Tegan and Sara channel on Pandora radio -- but it's by no means significantly more robust than other portables. As we mentioned, it boots up faster than our Mini 1000, and it also opens documents like Microsoft Word files a bit faster, which is nice as the lag can be grating. The high-gloss screen does produce a significant glare in sunny situations, and though that's pretty much par for the course these days, we found the Seashell's to be even glossier than other glare-inducing netbooks, which could surely be a drawback if you plan on using yours at, say, the beach. We found that with average, continual use, we got somewhere between 4 hours and 15 and 4.5 hours out of that non-removable battery, which is better than a lot of netbooks, and when we tested the 1008HA as recommended for achieving the full six hours of juice -- no WiFi, camera disabled, 40 percent LCD brightness and with power-saving mode turned on, we actually managed to pull about 5 hours and 45 minutes -- pretty close to its advertised life (even if nobody actually uses a netbook that way).
Wrap-up
Though much of what stands out about the 'shell is aesthetic, its skinnier form factor makes for a more enjoyable user experience. Add to that the excellent trackpad, sweet keyboard, and slightly pumped battery life, and you have a pretty nice package here. The Seashell -- which is obviously aimed at a demographic seeking a higher-end netbook -- is not super-cheap, at $430. Then again, a similarly configured HP Mini 1000 would run you about $414, a Dell Mini 10 would cost about $349, and there are of course myriad cheaper ASUS models to choose from, including the recently outed 1005HA-M (which looks just like the Seashell but has an Atom 270 CPU and some lower-end specs). Ultimately, ASUS has moved the netbook category forward a step; the Seashell is not a cookie cutter portable -- even with its somewhat run of the mill specs -- and for that, we thank it.
Nais
meh
nice
Ion not inside..... = fail.
Every now and then a chip comes along and changes the game. For netbooks, it's Ion. For smartphone, it will be Tegra.... IMO.
I agree wholeheartedly!
+1 for Ion. The S12 has it now, time for other manufacturers to step up their game.
Meh. The S12 won't have it till AUGUST. By that time Pineview may be out, and who knows, the power savings and performance increase (think 2GHz rather than 1.6) could be substantial. I'll wait and see what independent reviews of the Ion say about its battery life first.
Let's not get crazy. I'm not sure you could cool a 9400M chipset inside that little package.
Besides, do we really need 9400M on a 1024x600 screen? Are you willing to spend another $50-to-75 to get it?
Where is the best place to get one of these ?
sexiest netbook i've seen so far. sorry sony... you've been beat :\
does the ion not draw too much power ?
Besides a much higher price (due partly to Intel not playing nice), I think the main problem people are going to see with the Ion is a major step backward when it comes to battery life. It probably wont be abysmal, but I don't think we'll be seeing the "all day computing" 7-8+ hours of use that we've been seeing, which, unfortunately, is a big part of the draw to netbooks.
@barcode
An extra $49 is not "a much higher" price. Not even without the flawless HD playback (and modern 3D gaming) that Ion provides.
And secondly, I'd rather have 8 hours of watching 1080p movies and youtube on HD rather than 12 hours of a stop motion movie, and I think you would too.
That said, Ion is NOT power hungry.
what's the point of 1080p movies on a 10" screen? there's barely a good enough case for 1080p on 20-30" screens
Barcode, the consumption is different by 5-6 watts according to the deets released by Nvidia
Well, you'll instantly notice the difference when you watch a Bluray-rip instead of the dvdrip...
But then it's not meant for that. It's meant to act as a portable 1080p player to stream to your HDTV. And also, wouldn't you want to watch youtube on HD without it looking like a slideshow?
I think that the best option for netbook (not nettop) is Poulsbo chipset (with Atom Z5xx, especially more then1,6GHz). It is very energy efficient, far far better than ION (TDP 5W vs 12) and in idle it is much better (about 2W vs 5W). And remember that ION has some difficulties in Blu-ray decoding with hight bitrate (~60 Mbps) even with Atom 230 (which is better than N2xx and Z5xx series). Some real info about nettop ION platform: http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=pl&js=n&u=http://www.frazpc.pl/artykuly/681/NVIDIA/ION/idealne/polaczenie&sl=pl&tl=en&history_state0=&swap=1
I forgot to say that ION TDP is only for graphics (without Atom processor etc), and Poulsbo TDP is for whole platform (with Atom Z540 up to 4,7W; in idle much lower than 2W). The Pulsbo theoretically has the hardware video decoding, but you need special software on Win XP to use it. If netbooks have OLED display, the difference between ION and Poulsbo will be about 8 vs 16 hours of work (wifi enabled, full load).
TareX,
As of right now, Flash video does NOT use the GPU, which means that all of the tests that have been run to date on Atom-based systems, even nettops using the dual CPU 330, don't look very good. Doesn't matter if those systems have Ion, or stock Intel, or ATI graphics. They all suck at HD Flash.
Hopefully this will change soon. Adobe are you listening?
The only test I have seen on a netbook/nettop running HD flash well was one on jkkmobile.com where he put in a very fast SSD drive into a Dell Mini 10. Apparently this did the trick, e.g. freed up enough CPU/sped up things enough that HD flash worked well.
@barc0de
Thanks for stealing my name.
Stop condemning this product based on the supposed merits of a processor yet to be released. "Oh, I'm not going to buy Infamous, I'll wait for the new Zelda game. It's gonna be the BEST!"
Yes it draws more power and yes it's going to cost good % more.
We are talking about Intel here. The same company that is reportedly selling the Atom+chipset at a 40% discount to a lone Atom CPU. But they never get caught with their hand in the cookie jar... Oh, wait.
who's tegan and sara?
If you don't know, you probably shouldn't start listening to them ;)
How easy is it to upgrade the RAM?
not sure but the official website does say "upgradeable".
doesn't the green sticker say 802.11n?
Can you hear the ocean if you hold it up to your ear?
No, you can hear the excited natter of Asus R&D developers
Why there is not a word about the screen? Is it clear or matte? I know most of todays notebooks have clear screen - which is unusable with any amount of ambient light. Unfortunately more and more netbooks join this trend.
The article states that the screen is very glossy and it's hard to see in sunny conditions.
They make a big deal about not being able to use it on the beach because of a glossy screen in the post.
Lovely Macbook Air ripoff
No, this is something useful.
Lol, macbook air. I'd rather save 3,000$ and buy something with the same perfomance and won't snap in half on the airplane. Pfff
Try reading with your eyes open next time. I think this is definitely more than a word-
" The high-gloss screen does produce a significant glare in sunny situations, and though that's pretty much par for the course these days, we found the Seashell's to be even glossier than other glare-inducing netbooks, which could surely be a drawback if you plan on using yours at, say, the beach"
I want one so bad, ION is pointless, too much power, also can't help with flash. We need Adobe to pick up their game and optimize flash a lot more, then the world can rest in piece. Also, I wanna see how one of those 2GHz Atoms handle video.
Ditto. Wonder if the usual Asus overclocking tools work on this thing--Engadget, if you're listening, if you crank the thing up to 1.75MHz or whatever, does it let HD Flash work?
@fanfoot.
1.75Ghz.....
If "larger USB keys won't fit into the ports", then maybe an adapter would be needed to plug in a standard Vodafone Mobile Broadband dongle - that'd be pretty annoying. Or maybe it has an internal 3G SIM slot...
This with an Ion c/s, SIM slot and Windows 7 would be geekgasmic.
When the first Eee was launched I had to have it. Now when I am sitting there with the miniature keyboard and 7ich screen, I am thinking - what was I thinking - The Seashell looks much better. My original 2G was about half the money though - Am often using it
@ barc0de:
"It probably wont be abysmal, but I don't think we'll be seeing the "all day computing" 7-8+ hours of use that we've been seeing, which, unfortunately, is a big part of the draw to netbooks."
By the way, seeing how the only way to approach the advertised 6-hr runtime on a single charge is to disable Wi-Fi AND dump screen brightness to down to 40%, I see the whole 6/7/8 hour claims as a complete sham. If you disable radio, you can't really surf the web. If you dial down the contrast, you can't really work on documents. What's left to do? Limp along on a 3G connection via a Bluetooth-tethered phone or power-eating 3G USB adapter?
where's the hdmi or display port, vga who uses that anymore?
it looks like it has a mini displayport not mini vga, just a vga adapter. The question I wish engadget could answer is wether it actually does support the full displayport spec.
I just can't use a laptop that says "Eee" on it. Too embarrassing.
I'm still getting well over 6 hours of battery life with my Samsung NC-10, so whenever I see another Netbook that fails to even reach that, I'm not too impressed. Then again, battery life is about the most important thing for me in a netbook, and this Asus is one sexy netbook.
Inspired by Apple
interesting
the touch pad is
not slim enough
Is it really a mini vga port, because in all the pictures I have seen it looks like a mini displayport. I think they just included the vga only adapter. Which brings me to my next question, does this port that looks like a mini displayport support displayport and others or just vga?
Here is the picture from the bit tech review that looks like it has a mini displayport. I have contacted engadget, and hopefully they can sort this out.
http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2009/05/asus-eee-pc-1008ha-seashell-netbook-review/9.jpg
Wow! Acer aspire one's Piano black body and VAIO's amazing keyboard with the HP style touchpad. That's a netbook!
To the stupid w@nkers saying 1080p (Ion) is pointless on 10 inch screen... it isn't if you hook it up to a nice 42 inch LCD, is it? Fools...
Personally i refuse to buy a laptop without hdmi! instead of mini VGA Asus should have through in HDMI instead.
Its so much more convenient to have 1 cable for sound/video + the sound is digital!
I'm so pissed of Asus specially after 10000000 models of Eee and they still dont add any more "extra". Sure they play around with the
design but that don't cut it anymore, for me at least.
I didn't realize lack of two finger scroll was something to knock a non-Mac product for. But then again, this is Engadget...
I kid, I kid!
Hi Laura June,
Can you confirm the REAL chipset? I dont think its Intel GMA 950 graphics but rather a little better Intel GMA 950 graphics.
Thanks!
Sorry, i mean, HD-capable Intel GD40 chipset instead...
This looks great with Mac OS X desktop on it:
http://www.netbookdad.com/featured/nethackintosh-is-my-netbook-mac-os-x-compatible/
Has anyone got it to work?
На днях приобрел себе в магазине becompact.ru нетбук EeePC 1008ha (Seashell).
Выбор свой на нем я остановил по большей части из-за того, что ноутбук поддерживает WiFi соединение по протоколу 802.11n.
Точнее, должен был поддерживать. По крайней мере на сайте ASUS поддержка заявлена без всяческих оговорок (ссылка). Скриншоты с описанием я, слава богу, успел сохранить.
На яндекс-маркете также указано, что ноут эту технологию поддерживает.
Ноутбук мой определяет в диспетчере устройств WiFi модуль Atheros AR9285, который (судя по описанию на сайте производитля чипа) должен держать новую технологию.
Однако, в службе контроля качества и обслуживани ASUSTek меня пытаются убедить, что у меня установлен WiFi модуль 802.11B/G 1*1 WLAN HMC 0C05-00890AS922000585 04G033098014 (непонятно, что это за модуль, но похоже на Atheros 9281).
Как? Почему? Почему у меня установлен WiFi модуль без поддержки 802.11n?