By our count ASUS has released -- at the very least -- 20 Eee PC netbooks since 2008. Some had 8.9-inch or 10-inch displays, some ran Xandros Linux or Windows XP, and some packed hard drives instead of flash storage. But common to virtually all of them was an Intel Diamondville 1.6GHz Atom N270 or N280 processor. That all changes with the 10-inch Eee PC 1005PE -- one of the first netbooks to feature the next-generation Intel Pine Trail platform, which features a 45-nanometer Pineview Atom N450 processor that integrates both the memory controller and GMA 3150 graphics onto the CPU die. The newly compact package promises improved performance and power efficiency, but will you notice the difference? Does the $380 1005PE blow past the Diamondville Eee PCs of late? Read on to find out in our full review.
Look and feel
Though the new Intel platform's
reduced package size should enable thinner form factors, the 1005PE keeps the same compact and 2.8 pound chassis as the
1005HA. But we aren't complaining -- we still had plenty of room on our airplane tray table for a drink and a snack. Overall it's a nice-looking machine, but we've still got issues with ASUS's glossy, fingerprint-attracting lid. (Seriously, is anyone out there working on making a glossy material that repels fingerprints?) We'd also suggest going with the black version over navy: the blue lid doesn't match the black bottom, keyboard or screen bezel and the result is a bruise-like color combo. Like the
1201N, the plastic chassis feels cheap compared to aluminum-built netbooks like the
Nokia Booklet 3G and the
HP Mini 5101.
The 1005PE covers the major bases when it comes to ports, including three USB ports, VGA, Ethernet, an SD card slot, and headphone/microphone jacks. Hidden behind the battery is a SIM card slot.
Despite the matte keys feeling a bit flimsy, the typing experience on the chiclet keyboard was solid, and we rarely mistyped words while writing this review. The left shift key is full-size, and though the right one is shrunken it's placed in the correct spot to the left of the up arrow. We continue to be fans of the flush trackpad that's differentiated only by a grid of Braille-like raised dots; it was more than comfortable on our index finger and two-finger scrolling worked fairly well. But we'd love to see that stiff, clicky mouse bar replaced with two quieter dedicated right and left mouse buttons.
The 1005PE's 10-inch, 1024 x 600 resolution screen is plenty bright and watching an episode of 30 Rock on Hulu at full screen looked clean and crisp. It's a shame that it's surrounded by a thick glossy bezel which is almost as reflective as the screen itself, though.
Performance, graphics and battery life
So, what kind of difference does the new single-core 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 make? Coupled with 1GB of RAM and a 5,400rpm 250GB hard drive that boots Windows 7 Starter, the 1005PE felt slightly snappier than netbooks with Atom N270 or N280 chips, but not by much. We didn't wait around for programs to launch or have any problems running Firefox 3, TweetDeck, and iTunes simultaneously. It's possible to run Photoshop, but editing a batch of photos still requires the patience of a grade-school teacher -- just like on N270 or N280 machines. The benchmarks say the same: On Geekbench the 1005PE notched 942, while the 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 powered 1008HA scored a lower 756. Either way, the performance gain isn't going to blow you away, and keeps netbooks in line with their original purpose -- light productivity and web tasks.
It's a similar story with the Intel's GMA 3150 GPU, which is now integrated into the Pineview CPU. Like previous Atom-based Eee PCs netbooks (excluding the
1201N) you aren't going to want to put a 1080p video anywhere near it, but a 720p Quicktime clip played back quite smoothly, but we had the same old choppy issues playing an HD YouTube video. 3DMark06 scores also show that graphics gain is minimal: the 1005PE notched 157, which is higher than the GMA945-based 1008HA's 102, but not by such a significant amount that you'd notice real world differences.
| |
Eee PC 1005PE
(Atom N450 - Pineview)
|
Eee PC 1008HA
(Atom N280 - Diamondville)
|
| Geekbench (higher is better) |
942 |
756 |
| WPrime 32M (lower is better) |
115.847 sec |
137.624 sec |
| 3DMark06 (higher is better) |
157 |
102 |
| Cinebench (higher is better) |
869 |
726 |
The real gain with Pine Trail comes in battery life, as the platform uses 20 percent less power than its predecessor. Outfitted with a fairly standard six-cell 5800mAH battery that juts out only slightly from the bottom of the machine, the 1005PE ran for an 8 hours and 10 minutes at 65 percent screen brightness during our grueling video rundown test. We got just over 10 and a half hours of juice when web browsing, writing in Microsoft Word and listening to streaming music -- seriously impressive
compared to 1005HA, which has the same battery and runs for about 8 hours during similar usage.
| |
Battery Life (video rundown test)
|
| Eee PC 1005PE (Atom N450, 6-cell - 5400mAH, Win7) |
8:10:00 |
| Eee PC 1008HA (Atom N280, 4-cell - 2900mAH, Win7) |
4:01:00 |
| HP Mini 5101 (Atom N280, 6-cell - 4910mAH, WinXP) |
5:45:00 |
You can launch the 1005PE's
ExpressGate instant-on OS by hitting the button on the top of the keyboard deck. The interface is attractive and it's quick to connect to WiFi, but we're still not convinced by instant-on operating systems -- particularly since it just takes an extra 40 seconds to launch Windows 7. Oh, and all of ASUS's new netbooks come preloaded with an annoying screensaver with hold-esque music that plays in the background. Seriously, you cannot switch this off fast enough.
Wrap-up
If you've been waiting for Pine Trail netbooks hoping for noticeably better performance and graphics, you're not going to get it -- and the truth is you probably won't even notice the difference between the 1005PE and older Diamondville-based Eee PCs until you start using it on battery power alone. Though we're a bit disappointed in Pine Trail's minimal performance improvement, especially in terms of streaming 720p video content, that's not to say the $380 1005PE won't be a solid, affordable choice for those looking for a 10-inch netbook with seriously impressive battery life when it goes on sale January 4th. And when it comes to netbooks, Pine Trail or not, you can't really ask for much more.
The Star Wars scene reminded me of something... oh... yea.... I lost the game XD
I don't know how anyone who isn't a child can use a laptop with a screen that's less than 12 inches.
@Monkeytofu
A computer that small probably wouldn't be your primary machine.
Netbooks are fine for many tasks.
@Monkeytofu
When you are working on a plane, lecture hall table, or any other surface with restricted space, I don't know how you can use a screen that's greater than 12 inches! ;)
I have an Eee PC and it really is a nice little machine. Great battery life, quick, and it looks pretty slick too.
@Michael Scrip picked up a similar spec asus @ best buy and am totally liking it so far.
The awkward staging with pine sprigs was necessary eh?
@satyrica hey, it's the holidays! i'm a fan, personally.
@satyrica There was a block of cheese just out of shot also
@satyrica PINEtrail GET IT!?
@Joanna Stern
I guess you couldn't afford a proper staging area for the Diamondville laptops then huh?
@satyrica
Those are not "Pine sprigs". They appear to be Douglas Fir sprigs.
@satyrica Both have recently shown up on a few e-tailer sites, complete with pricing. Unfortunately for the US these sightings have only been in the UK and Europe. Still I imagine these will show up in North America soon enough. Detailed rev: http://bit.ly/asus-eee-pc-1005p-pe-overview
@richardviled
i like that the engadget editors get involved and reply to feedback, but it's pretty bogus that you can't vote up or down on their comments...
Joshua Toplotsky
yawn
"1005PE's 10-inch, 1024 x 768 resolution"
1024 x 600, no?
@jarek You're totally right. Thanks.
@jarek I think it's supposed to be 1366x768
@damianesteves I wish! Corrected the review it is the standard 1024x600.
@damianesteves I guessed wrong. Thought that a new generation device would finally upgrade the screen resolution =\
@jarek or 1366x768?
I love Joanna's articles!
Informative, polite, and well written.
Really? I thought she was very rude to me
@Weedo23
Couldn't agree more! A credit to the Engadget team.
@Weedo23 Agreed. Followed her netbook coverage when she was on Laptop Mag as well. Nice to see her work here lately!
Is the ExpressGate Instant On running at the native 1024x600? My Asus F6 laptop came with it, but it runs at a 4:3 aspect ratio on the wide screen, making everything look stretched out. Wondering if they've fixed that by now.
@damianesteves All I know is that the image isn't sharp, so it isn't at native resolution. Haven't noticed much stretching though.
@cherryboom So are you going to send in pics when you finally turn into Emperor Palpatine, or what?
@cherryboom Asus was actually founded by computer engineers that left Acer. Asus basically started the netbook category, and in laptops you'd be hard-pressed to find a better performance bang for the buck. My Asus F6 came with a 2 year warranty and 1 year accidental damage warranty (both of these are considered premium warranties by other companies). Also, I'll refer you to this http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/laptop-reliability-survey-asus-and-toshiba-win-hp-fails/ and see how Asus laptops fare in terms of reliability.
@cherryboom Nilay just owned you my friend and may I add "OH SNAP!!!"
The article picture looks like it was Photoshopped, but it wasn't. :o
i think asus is getting better and better. i saw this slightly old one, but it's still pretty legit
http://www.tvlesson.com/video/40196_how-to-get-started-with-the-asus-eee-top-et2002.html
they have some pretty good older stuff too
http://www.tvlesson.com/video/40196_how-to-get-started-with-the-asus-eee-top-et2002.html
@cherryboom
Epic comment Nilay! =D
at least they got rid of that hideous eee logo and replaced it with the ASUS logo.
@Nilay Patel
"Highest Ranked"
@cherryboom
for the second time in a year ASUS will get my award for being the most innovative company on the market. Shall we talk about the first All in One PCs? The Eee Tops, the Eee Boxes, the Eee Keyboard, bringing Splashtop to Netbooks, having the first Multitouch Netvertible... i can go on for an hour
sorry to tell you but you might wanna go back to your Playstation... Hardware topics, IT-industry... that's not your playground ;)
is the ion still faster?
@va jj yep, gfx should be about twice as fast, depending on application
@va jj
for graphics, ion owns this stuff. the battery life with pine trail is pretty fantastic though. think of this as sticking to the essence of a netbook, with ion seeking to bridge the gap towards ultraportable.
@va jj - anandtech.com says that for graphic intensive stuff, Ion is still better (video playback, Flash performance). But for general purpose stuff, Pineview is a bit snappier due to the better memory controller etc...
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3692&p=12
@va jj
I can see Ion being faster, but if the new GMA in this thing makes HD video capable on a netbook, then whats not to love?
@Jeff
the problem is, that for all practical purposes, the new gma doesn't do that. i wonder what would have happened if intel had gone with a version of the 4500mhd instead..
@va jj Even a GMA500 equivalent would have done the job, enabling h.264 decode acceleration and Flash 10.1 offload. The GPU in Pine Trail is truly disappointing in that it can't even to 480p playback at 1366x768 without dropping frames. I'll take this trade-off for the extra battery life in a netbook, but the whole nettop market might as well just bypass this chip.
For that price I'd rather get an Acer 1410. You lose some portability though since it has an 11.6 inch screen.
@comments
although im a fan of the timeline series myself, im an even bigger fan of long runtimes and 14h>8h ;)
@(Unverified)
This Asus doesn't do 14 hours. Anyway, for me (probably not for you), CULV (2-3 times faster than an Atom) and 6-8 hour battery >> Atom and 14 hour battery.
@comments Completely agree. This thing at $380 makes no sense at all when you can buy an Acer AS1410 for $399. And if you even consider the h.264 decode accelerator option or 1366x768 display option etc that some netbooks will offer, you should stop yourself and buy a CULV instead.
@Nilay Patel
Lad, that was rather an outstanding retort, but, alas, woe is me that I cannot uprank you.
Not completely related to the review, although the 1005PE does look pretty cool I will say:
Joanna, since when do you write for Engadget? Part of me feels betrayed, the other part of me is glad that I would get to read your reviews fairly often.