ASUS Eee PC 1005PR up for pre-order: $400 for your own HD savvy netbook

We had a hunch that ASUS' Eee PC 1005PR would come in at under $400, and sure enough, that's exactly where it has landed here on US soil. A month and change after its introduction, the 10.1-inch netbook -- along with its Broadcom Crystal HD chip, 1.66GHz Atom N450 CPU and 1,366 x 768 panel -- is now up for pre-order at Amazon. Frankly, it's one of the better specced machines that we've seen at this level, though the claimed 11 hours of battery life does feel a bit too good to be true. At any rate, you can claim your spot in line right now by parting with $399.99, but there's still no clear word on when it'll ship. Shouldn't be too awfully long now, though.

[n0ne Posted Apr 22nd 2010 11:15AM]

I like them Eee's :D

[ryankage Posted Apr 22nd 2010 11:19AM]

If this thing can play at least 720p video and 720p Youtube video, I might just have to buy one and throw Ubuntu Lucid Lynx on this bad boy.

[N900 Posted Apr 22nd 2010 11:23AM]

@ryankage What's Lucid Lynx; is that like Netbook Remix?

[Scythe Posted Apr 22nd 2010 11:29AM]

@ryankage Sorry to say Linux/Mac doesn't have GPU hardware acceleration for any of the native API's (such as VDPAU). You could download the YouTube video and use a video player like MPlayer to make use of the hardware, but otherwise we're all screwed.

And yes, that's with the latest Flash beta -- in which the core dev's said they won't support Linux/Mac hardware acceleration until the API's mature.

[Scythe Posted Apr 22nd 2010 11:30AM]

Whoops, EDIT: **Flash** doesn't have GPU hardware acceleration for any of the native API's

[iluvms Posted Apr 22nd 2010 12:34PM]

@N900 "Lucid Lynx" is the core name for Ubuntu 10.04 (soon-to-be-released)

[LEDfoot Posted Apr 22nd 2010 6:00PM]

@Scythe Only reason for flash is hulu. Hopefully, Apple will get it's way and more and more sites will move away from flash.
Adobe will never get serious about flash on linux.

[JakeInDC Posted Apr 22nd 2010 11:21AM]

yawn

[barbtx Posted Apr 22nd 2010 11:27AM]

I like Asus products but I'll have to give this a pass.

[MangoPants Posted Apr 22nd 2010 11:48AM]

when are we gonna see that 1018p?

[dannyry Posted Apr 22nd 2010 12:18PM]

Can anyone tell me if the Crystal HD is better than the gma4500

[detusueno Posted Apr 22nd 2010 12:35PM]

@dannyry With Flash 10.1 you'll be able to run any 720p clip without a hiccup. 1080p is also almost always smooth, with only some hiccups if you are doing too much at the same time. So in video it wont make a difference.

Now if you are trying to compare the two head to head, you can't. The Broadcom chip only accelerates video, the integrated GMA 3150 is what handles all graphics. So you'd have to compare those two and I'm pretty sure the 4500 is better.

[detusueno Posted Apr 22nd 2010 12:29PM]

I have the HP mini 210 HD which is a damn near replica of this: 10" 1366x768, N450 Atom, Broadcom HD card, etc. If you have a big-ish laptop, netbooks are a great, cheap alternative to take around. 90% of my netbook use is spent in a coffee shop working in dreamweaver, illustrator and photoshop. With Windows 7, it's great experience and definitely worth the 300-400 bucks.

I like the looks of the HP mini a lot more but this EEE should get one or two more hours of life out of the battery. One thing I will warn about though is that if you don't have good eye sight stay clear of this resolution, EVERYTHING IS TINY. I love it but I can see people having trouble with it.

[malibu1234 Posted Apr 22nd 2010 9:12PM]

@detusueno Good post, many people really don't give these little machines enough credit.

[JimmyBoy Posted Apr 22nd 2010 1:27PM]

It's been up for preorder since at least the 16th

[One Love Posted Apr 22nd 2010 2:03PM]

Eee sells seashells...

[malibu1234 Posted Apr 22nd 2010 9:11PM]

iPad killer! (duck)

[cray Posted Apr 23rd 2010 12:43AM]

I don't understand why there's no HDMI output if this netbook comes with the Broadcom Crystal HD chip. I would think that the selling point would be the ability to play HD video.

[thequinox Posted Apr 23rd 2010 2:56AM]

@cray Because the Broadcom chip is just a PCIe add in card. It doesn't have the means to tie back into a port or do anything but accelerate compatible video. It's not actually a video card. The onboard graphics on the Atom handle that.

[cray Posted Apr 24th 2010 3:52AM]

@thequinox The technical hardware is besides the point. I'm just saying that any laptop or netbook that boast the ability to do HD video....logic would dictate that costumers would want to use HDMI.

[Nitoo Posted Jun 2nd 2010 8:10AM]

Asus EeePC 1005PR include VGA video output, basic audio connections, SD card reader and 3 USB ports. We tested this Netbook for performance and found that is was similar to other Netbooks having the same hardware of Intel Atom N450 processor, a gig of RAM and Windows 7 Starter.
http://www.onlinenotebook.com/asus-eeepc-1005pr.html