Asus Eee PC 1001P review

With so many manufacturers lavishing attention on their premium-priced netbooks, the Asus Eee PC 1001P dares to buck the trend and go right back to basics. It’s only £186 exc VAT.

Before you get too excited, some compromises are inevitable at this price. There’s no sign of 802.11n wireless networking or Bluetooth. The Asus has a mere 802.11bg chipset within.

The second compromise comes in the form of Windows XP. If you won’t settle for anything less than Windows 7 then you’ll just have to spend a little more.

Windows 7 Starter is good in many ways, but Windows XP’s lesser demands mean this netbook is noticeably quicker, with an overall score of 0.39 in our benchmarks.

And, where many manufacturers scrimp and save by resorting to a tiny battery, the 1001P makes no such compromise. The 4,400mAh cell at the rear delivered 8hrs 24mins of light usage, a little behind the best we’ve seen, but not by much.

The build and design of the 1001P is nigh on perfect. We’d have expected quality and style to be sacrificed at the altar of cost-cutting, but with its textured matte-white finish and attractive curves, this is a cute yet sturdy little netbook. That matte finish picks up dirt fairly easily, though.

Its curvaceous figure will be familiar to anyone who’s clapped eyes on Asus’ Eee PC 1005P, but peer inside and one major thing has changed: the keyboard. Asus has abandoned the Scrabble-tile keyboard of recent models and gone back to the traditional design of the older generation. It’s spacious and, for the size, very comfortable. The 10.1in screen, however, isn’t as good. It struggles to differentiate between darker shades, leaving images looking overly dark and bereft of detail.

At this price, though, we’d be more than willing to overlook the Asus’ more mediocre assets. It’s affordable, pretty and genuinely comfortable to use. A top-quality netbook for just £186? We thought we’d never see the day.