ASUS has updated and refreshed its lineup of ASUS Seashell netbooks with Windows 7.
Updated specs:
Eee PC 1101HA – 11.6”, Atom Z520, Windows 7 Home Premium, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, 9.5 Hour Battery Life
Eee PC 1008HA – 10.1”, Atom N280, Windows 7 Starter, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD, 6 Hour Battery Life
Eee PC 1005HA-H – 10.1” (Matte), Atom N270, Windows 7 Starter, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, 10.5 Hour Battery Life
Eee PC 1005HA-M – 10.1” (Matte), Atom N270, Windows 7 Starter, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, 8.5 Hour Battery Life
Looks like very soon ASUS is going to announce Windows 7-based Seashell netbooks. Current Seashell models (1005HA (299 Euros), 1008HA (399 Euros) and 1101HA (399 Euros) ) are being spotted in some online stores.
The EEE 1101HA is complemented with Windows 7 Home Premium instead of Starter Edition like the 1005HA and 1008HA. Reason being the fact that in most of the countries, it is being sold with Windows Vista Home Premium. Also, looks like all of them will be undergoing HDD upgrades too. 160 GB are things of the past now and 250GB HDD will be used as new standard. Also 2GB RAM will come as default instead of 1GB.
Commentary: ASUS Eee PC currently comes with Windows XP and it is nice that ASUS is on toes in rolling out Windows 7 based netbooks. The Seashell netbooks, especially EEE 1008HA and EEE 1005HA, both have enjoyed enormous success and Windows 7 will make things only better.
Also read: EEE 1008HA review
Few online retailers are selling mains charger and car charger for the ASUS EEE 1005HA with different voltage units, which can harm your device. Folks at Ultimate-netbook, a netbook accessory store, made us aware that they are selling the ones with correct voltage.
[1005HA car charger] [1005HA mains charger]
The ASUS EEE 1005HA is a great looking and functional netbook. For some weird reason, ASUS decided not to make the hard disk user-replaceable. Although, unlike the EEE 1008HA, the upgrading the RAM is not a big deal, but upgrading the hard disk is not easy at all. It involves taking the keyboard out and unscrewing lots of screws.
An EEE 1005HA user screw up his courage and took apart his EEE 1005HA to upgrade the hard disk (as-well-as the RAM). Hop on THIS link to see the full instructions on how to do it. Although he has swapped the HDD for SSD, you can always swap it for bigger, faster hard disk
ASUS has finally made their upgrade policy for the Microsoft’s upcoming OS official. To qualify for free upgrade, you must buy an ASUS laptop or netbook between June 26, 2009 and January 31, 2010 that runs Windows Vista Business, Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate.
Call it fortunate or unfortunate, but most of the netbooks come with Windows XP OS. That said, there are two models that do become eligible to the upgrade: EEE 1101HA (with Vista Home Premium) and EEE 1005HA (with Vista Business)
[Check if you ASUS model is eligible for an upgrade]
ASUS has made the drivers available for the EEE 1005HA and it seems that after installing the WiFi drivers of 1005HA on the EEE 1000HE, the WiFi performance has improved a lot. Some of the users were complaining about the occasional disconnections and the new Atheros WiFi driver has solved that problem.
[Download 1005HA wifi driver]
ASUS has pretty odd down plans coming up for the next few months as they are planning to reduce the total lineup of the ASUS EEE PCs to just THREE MODELS. All will be running Windows XP and will come equipped with 160GB HDD. Which three are they going to be? It was not a job figuring out the models though. First is the just released EEE 1008HA followed by 1005HA, which is basically same as 1008HA but with removable battery and an extra USB port. Third will be their first netbook-cum-tablet, the T91.
ASUS has pretty odd down plans for the coming months as they are planning to reduce the total lineup of the ASUS EEE PCs to just THREE MODELS. All models will be running Windows XP and will come equipped with 160GB HDD. Which three are they going to be? It was not a tough job to figure out those models though. First is the just released EEE 1008HA followed by 1005HA, which is basically same as 1008HA but with removable battery and an extra USB port. Third will be their first netbook-cum-tablet, the T91.
This actually marks the demise of the EEE 1000HE and other models like EEE 1002H. What is ASUS thinking? At first, we saw them rolling out an EEE every week or so and now they are slashing down all of their popular EEEs (including the EEE 1000HE which is selling so well!). EEE 1000HE is one of the netbooks in the world, which can give you 7+ hours of battery life in real world use. This is sad, really sad.
Many tech sites criticized the 1008HA for having a built-in battery. Well, looks like the ASUS has listened to your wishes. ASUS EEE 1005HA is in the works which is basically a 1008HA with removable battery. It also comes with an extra USB port, making USB ports to a total of 3.
There are more differences between 1005HA and 1008HA. The 1005HA comes with 6-cell battery with a capacity of 2200mAh. The 1008HA comes with a 4-cell battery. It will be priced around 350 euros.
