Asus began its netbook in-thing with its 7-inch Eee PC. Several manufacturers then followed Asus as they developed at least one portable and affordable laptop. Nowadays, netbooks aren’t that small anymore – they have already increased in size ranging from 7 inches to 9 inches and currently, most netbooks have a 10-inch display. If you are looking for a portable laptop with long battery life, I would recommend the 1000HE model. You can keep this netbook alive for almost 10 hours. Can you imagine that?

Well, the battery life is perhaps the main selling point of this notebook. However, in order for you to have this awesome battery life, you need to make use of rigid power saving schemes – this could mean no Wi-Fi and you need to lessen the brightness. In the general usage test that I have made, this portable laptop delivered almost 8 hours, which is really good and more than acceptable.

As with its design, this notebook stays with the concept that I have seen in the earlier Eee PC models. Its keyboard is nearly full size and its trackpad buttons are quite off-center in the front. Generally, the design of this portable laptop is centered on usability. It is not thin like a few of its siblings like the Asus S101 but it positively gets the task done with flying colors. It is its simple design that keeps its price minimum anyway. However, the design is sometimes the deciding factor for a portable laptop buyer.

You can find no ports at the back of this netbook because all are placed on its right and left sides. On its right side, you will find a memory card reader and 2 USB ports. The other USB port can be found on the left side. Among other things that you can find on its left are audio line in/out and Ethernet ports.

The display is great, with 10-inch 1024 x 600 pixels. It comes with Windows XP Home preinstalled and a roomy 160GB hard disk drive. I find its keyboard so easy to use. Thankfully, it has a large keyboard. It enabled me to type faster and to surf the Web comfortably.

As for its weight goes, it is very light – 3 pounds is good for a laptop of this size. It is also glossy enough to be vivid – good quality, but quite not good for outdoor use. Another thing that I noticed about this portable laptop is it’s not as fast as the previous Eee PC models. Other features that I find interesting are its Bluetooth, which is compatible with most Bluetooth-enabled devices that I have tested, fast connectivity and fast boot up as well as shutdown times. It includes a free online storage – 10 gigs is good enough to store data online; flawless LCD screen warranty and 1-year product warranty.

Overall, I’d recommend this netbook to those of you who are always taking long trips. This netbook is such a good travel companion.