Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Good Stuff: - I type thirty or so pages a week between three different computers. The keyboard on this little guy works great for my purposes. I'm 6'3", 280 lb. and yeah, I have big hands. - Minimal bloatware. Took just a couple minutes to remove the stuff I didn't want. - Attractive and practical design. - It has a good display and decent sound... for a netbook. [Edit] As far as sound goes, it depends on what you're listening to. My Baroque Classical and Russian Chant sounds great, as does anything spoken word. My Swedish Death Metal (and anything similar) sounds tinny and weak. - While it was no use to me, it came with some basic office programs already loaded. Just one of many things Asus did to try and make this netbook ready to use straight out of the box. - At least so far... the battery life is pretty close to what's advertised. [Edit] I'm able to get just under eight hours of operation out of it, without turning the screen brightness all the way down or wireless/bluetooth options off. [Edit] Swapping out the 1GB Memory stick for a 2 GB Memory stick was easy. Bad Stuff: - It attracts finger prints like bees to flowers. Get skins/decals/stickers for the outside cover if you're really OCD. - Doesn't make coffee. - Bulky. The wife has a 1002HA with a 2 cell battery and it is soo slim and strim looking compared to mine. Hers is a half pound lighter too. She still gets 4-5 hours of battery life out of hers even with the smaller battery. Thoughts: For the money, it's one of the best netbooks out there. I looked at almost every netbook available and read over 500 reviews before deciding on this one. I bought the 1002HA (brushed aluminized) for my wife because she didn't need the battery life and wanted something more professional looking. [Edit] I spent the weekend passing it around to people I know and letting them type on it, and everyone (big or small) pretty much agreed that it was an easy keyboard to adjust to and comfortable. My father ordered the Blue 1000HE (from Amazon!) he liked it so much. Update [Feb 24th, 2010] I used this device for almost a year before selling it on the cheap to my friend. His wife quickly laid claim to it however, leaving him sad and bereft. After a year of heavy use my Asus 1000HE held up perfectly. No dead pixels. 200+ recharges later, the battery still held the same charge as the day I laid hands on it. Within my circle of friends and family, two other folks bought the same device and continue to use them as I write this. One friend in particular has dropped hers several times, and while the rattling of small broken pieces emanates from within, the device still continues to function perfectly in spite of its wounds. I've had the opportunity to use and examine other Netbooks and I can say with some confidence, no one has made a better model than this one. Even the Netbooks Asus put out in the last year have been disappointing in both their manufacturing and composition. The keyboard on this model was unbeatable, as was the power and flexibility it provided, balanced with a lengthy battery life. Had Microsoft not so woefully bungled the transition from XP to Windows 7 (among other things), and Apple's new OS X not been so appealing, I might never have relinquished my Asus Netbook.