MSI Wind U123 and ASUS 1000HE Show Netbook Evolution
by Wesley Fink on July 17, 2009 12:02 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
When the first low-cost "computing appliances" arrived in 2007 as solutions to the non-profit OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) initiative, few realized a new class of computer was emerging. As frequent travelers to Asian shows and markets, many of the AnandTech staff had embraced the idea of the small full-featured notebooks that were all the rage in Asia but which were almost nonexistent in the US.
For some reason those same small notebooks that were so popular in Asia just weren't available in the US market. The notebooks available in the US were the heavy "full-featured" 14-17" models that were barely portable. Just lug one of those beasts through a few airport security lines and the small light and elegant Asian notebooks for writing, web-surfing and spreadsheets start to look like a great idea. Of course in typical notebook fashion the smaller the notebook the more it generally cost at that time. That was a hard pill to swallow, but the charms of the smaller notebook were hard to resist if you could afford the price of admission.
The first OLPC notebooks in 2007 were a different breed than the small full-featured notebooks that were so popular in Asia. The OLPC units were also small, even downright tiny, but they were much more limited in capabilities than most were willing to accept. Of course they weren't designed to even be sold in the general computer market. The $200 subcompact Intel Classmate PC was targeted at a third-world user who could finally afford a real computer or who was the recipient of one bought by an international agency as an education grant. The early models looked like toys but they were real computers aimed at education and children in the developing world.
They were called subnotebooks at first, but the idea was one that was hard to resist for many potential users outside the developing world. Provide just the computing power a user needed to do research on the web, write, manipulate spreadsheets, and do general educational computer use, and make it available at a very low price. Computing power had grown so fast in recent years, and costs had dropped so dramatically, that a pretty powerful computer could be built with a very low cost CPU and clever engineering. ASUS saw the potential and introduced the Eee PC late in 2007 to the American (and later worldwide) market. The Eee PC changed everything about the market.
The original ASUS Eee PC was a massive hit in the US and it became popular throughout the world. It was tiny, weighing just 2 lbs, with a 7" screen, built-in WiFi and regular network ports, with standard ports and an integrated webcam for a price of less than $300. The ASUS Eee proved there was a market for a small, light, less powerful, low-cost laptop and the netbook was born. ASUS has produced many evolutionary Eee netbooks since and it seems every major notebook manufacturer has since jumped on the netbook bandwagon. Two of the last PC holdouts were Dell, who finally jumped on the bandwagon with their Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12 models, and Sony, who recently introduced the VAIO W "mini notebook".
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JackPack - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Will AnandTech consider updating this article with the 1005HA Premium/Value?Honestly, this article feels a little outdated given the 1000HE is EOL.
Wesley Fink - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
We mentioned in the article that the 1005HA was replacing the 1000HE, which might make the 1005HE a bigger bargain as it is closed out. We have received a 1005HA in the lab for testing.Wesley Fink - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
I think I created a new Asus model in the reply. The model that may see close-out pricing is the 1000HE.goinginstyle - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Is there any reason why wireless tests were not run or performance not even mentioned. I have to depend on a wireless connection and without a DVD drive, it is really important to know how well the wireless setup works and if there are any compatibility problems hooking into a router.Maybe it was on the hands on pages but my eyes hurt after looking at the background colors on the pics. It could just be me but red and pink just seems out of character around here.
Both units have what appears to be nice webcams and once again no mention on how well they work and the quality or if still pictures are a choice. Is the wireless connection or even the machine fast enough to handle skype video?
I know these units are not built for gaming but can you run WoW or Company of Heroes on them and how well do they run the multitude of flash games, especially the card games.
How good is the video quality on the VGA port and do the drivers offer support for widescreen formats or just 4:3. I guess I am frustrated as I am looking for a netbook and need more information than the asus, acer, hp, or msi websites provide.
The battery tests were really good but what happens if i buy a usb DVD drive and rip a movie to the hard drive. Will the msi have enough juice to play a couple of movies on a plane ride. Maybe I need to spend more and get a 14" notebook but i was hoping to save some money here.
Wesley Fink - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
We found no issues at all connecting any of the 5 netbooks tested by wireless for our battery tests. All found the connection to our wireless router and held onto to it for the 2 to 8.5 hours until the battery was depleted. Testing wireless was not the point of the battery test, but it is some evidence of wireless stability.We do intend to add wireless connectivity testing to future netbook reviews. We are currently looking at several potential test methods.
TotalLamer - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
With netbooks getting larger, more capable, and more expensive... at what point does a netbook cease being a netbook, and simply becoming a notebook?nafhan - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
I think hardware plays a big part in what defines a netbook. That said, I wouldn't pay more than $400 for a netbook.It would be nice if they would release a netbook based around a dual core atom processor (the 330). I'd gladly sacrifice a couple hours of battery life on the MSI lappy for an extra core.
The0ne - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Definitely not over $400 as you could always find laptop deals for around the same price. For the same price the lack of CPU power is a huge drawback.Wesley Fink - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
That is a very interesting suggestion. As I mentioned in the article we used an exterior monitor for the PCMark05 testing since a minimum 1024x768 was required to even run PCMark05. I was very surprised at how different the netbooks were in their output to the external monitor.As you say some are very clean and some are quite ragged. We will try to find a way to include VGA port output in future netbook testing.
sprockkets - Friday, July 17, 2009 - link
Would like to see the HP mini 2140 though.