Trying to decide which I’d rather have of those two.
There is the ASUS Eee
Or
There is the MSI Wind U100
Both seem pretty good and price wise so close as to make no difference to me on that count.
Figured it is worth getting some Doper opinions. Personal experience with them is great but anecdotal evidence is fine too. Whatever you’ve got.
Thanks in advance.
I tried them at the local Best Buy the other day. The 1000HE is noticeably larger and heavier when compared side-to-side. The U100 looks more sleek, though the 6-cell battery protrudes from the bottom at the back a little bit. (I think the 1000HE’s battery is flush with the bottom.) Both screens looked very bright and visible, and both had decent keyboards (not great, but I’m sure I can type at my usual speed on either one). The 1000HE has a longer claimed battery life, but I haven’t seen test results.
I don’t have either one, but I considered (and rejected) them both in favor of the Acer Aspire One, which I did get.
The ASUS comes in two model lines: the 900 line and the 1000 line (with numerous flavors of each). The 900 line had good prices and was nice and small, but too small to touch-type on (essential for my purposes). The 1000 line was easy to type on, but much more expensive.
The MSI was a much better compromise in terms of price vs. typability (is that a word?), so it was a contender.
But the Acer was better in all specs: size, typability, cost, etc. I’ve had it about eight months now, and still love it and use it every day when I’m out and about.
Of course, your mileage may vary…TRM
I have the ASUS Eee OC 1000HE. Here’s my 5-star review from Amazon:
*The size of this netbook and the ease of getting started (no need to read instructions!) were great. But I had to get used to the keyboard. It’s only about an inch narrower than the one on my regular laptop, but the difference is noticeable. The smaller shift keys on both sides were the main culprit behind my typos. Also some of the other keys on the top row are rearranged (like the Delete key). The screen is very sharp and there was no problem reading text without straining my eyes.
It was a breeze to replace the installed 1GB with 2GB – remove 2 screws, take off cover, push out the two retaining clips on either side of the 1GB module, take out the 1GB module, put in the 2GB module, press down, replace cover and screws, done! Oh, one more thing. As the computer starts to boot up (and I mean right when it starts to power up) hold down the F2 key to bring up the BIOS. Verify that it sees 2GB of RAM. Then hit F10 to save the configuration. Once booted up, check by right-clicking My Computer, Properties.
The 1000HE comes with StarOffice and Skype pre-installed. StarOffice is pretty good – I was surprised how easily it read all of my MS Office files. As for Skype, it was version 3.6. The current version is 4.0. Initially I had problems doing a vidcam call until I downloaded 4.0 and installed it (yes, getting connected to the Internet via my home wireless was super easy). Once I did that I found the built-in webcam worked just fine in a video conference call.
The blue color is very nice, but it’s a bit too glossy for my taste. It’s a super-magnet for dust and fingerprints. The slip case provided by ASUS is a nice-to-have accessory and fits the computer perfectly. But you’ll have to carry the power cord and adapter elsewhere.
Finally, the 1000HE, like all netbooks on the market, does not come with a built-in CD/DVD drive, but I hooked up an external DVD drive and the computer saw it without any problems. So I was able to install other software that way.
My main goals with this netbook was portability and functionality. In particular I wanted something to take on the road to do presentations and maintain on-line communications. So far this little machine has done the job.*
I have the Eee with a 7" screen. It was tricky to learn how to type on, but I really like it. It took a while to learn to type on it, and I still miss vowels occasionally, but after using it regularly, it isn’t a big deal any more. I mostly use it for internet and word processing and it works for me, not to mention that it travels really well.
I have the MSI Wind 1GB 160GB 6-cell battery 10.1", excellent buy.
The battery lasts forever. I have big hands and it’s not really hard to type, my wife uses it with no problem.
DO NOT get a 3-cell battery, it bets the point of super-portability.
Go for the MSI
I had a U100 for a couple of days back when they first came out. The specs were right (screen size, processor, hard drive), but the plastic didn’t seem especially robust and the touchpad was small*. Having handled various iterations of the EeePC 1000, I would recommend it over the wind based on the touchpad and apparent sturdiness.
At any rate, the battery, keyboard layout, and aesthetics are about all that’s left for any sort of comparison, since pretty much every netbook in existence now has a 160GB hard drive, Intel Atom, 1GB RAM and a 10" screen.
*I sold it on eBay and actually earned money, the demand was so high back then. I bought an EeePC 900 instead.
I think I have this exact model of ASUS Eee PC. I got it from New Egg with the recommended 2gb of memory.
It’s the greatest thing ever. Bird Man and I call it Pickle. We love it like a child.
It wakes up from hibernation super fast, and can show anything Hulu can throw at it without any problems.
The internal speakers are kind of crap, but if you need really good sound you aren’t going to use internal laptop speakers.
The memory was way easy to install, just search WikiHow for instructions.
The right shift key is in a weird place, but you will get used to it. Otherwise the keyboard is easy for 5’2" petite me and 6’1" manly Bird Man to use with no problem.
The screen looks great.
Um…I can’t think of anything else to say about it. It’s just…just really super.
Glad to hear this positive report… I think I am buying one of these today!
Glad you got some use out of my post. There’s also a user forum you might enjoy:
I also have an EEE. I love it. Best $400 I ever spent.
I looked at all of them and wound up going with the Lenovo S10 netbook. Build quality is noticeably higher than any of the others mentioned and feature set is robust.
Lenovo site
I’ve got an Asus EEE PC (and am using it right now to surf the Straight Dope). It took a little bit to learn how to type on the smaller keyboard, but the machine is great in terms of basic word processing/internet functions and starts up and shuts down very quickly. The solid state hard drive is another plus, as it runs nearly silently and is pretty hardy. The only downside is the small screen, which is set at a resolution too low to display the entire page of some websites, necessitating scrolling to the right with some websites. I find that quite annoying, but it’s definitely still worth the $400 it cost.
I have the 10" EeePC and never upgraded the RAM, because for my purposes, I haven’t found that I need it. This has become my primary computer, largely because my older laptop’s powercord is fraying and the battery doesn’t last very long anymore. I’m actually spawled on my back on the couch with the laptop propped against my leg to type this post.
I agree that the right shift key is annoying, but you get used to it after a while and I barely notice it anymore. The computer is fast and responsive, and I usually have several things open at once on different desktops (I use VirtuaWin to have more screen realestate) and I’ve never had this computer crash.
I love the battery life on this thing. I bring it to school every day, and since it weighs significantly less than most textbooks, it’s very convenient to carry around. I don’t even carry the powercord with me, since I charge it overnight and it lasts all day quite easily. When I travelled with my family at Christmas, we used the Eee PC to watch movies/shows on in the plane. This computer got through two episodes of Pushing Daisies and two viewings (different people!) of Burn After Reading and still had over an hour of battery life remaining (it was unplugged but not necessarily on for a total of about 10 hours, IIRC).
It is a fingerprint magnet, but I don’t care. I’m one of those crazy people that just makes swirls and patterns with my fingerprints when I’m bored anyways.
I love this thing, and recommend it to anyone.
I have the Wind U100.
The RealTek wireless card is a POS. It was nonfunctional out of the box, and it took some good digging on the net to find better non-OEM drivers.
Then it started flaking out and losing connection with my Netgear router which has always performed like a champ. I have two other laptops (both Dells) that have no problem at all. Then it completely died a few months later, and no amount of reinstalling, rebooting, or disabling/reactivating would get it back.
I am now on the hook to buy myself a new half-height Dell wireless card, additional RAM, and disassemble the thing.
Oh, and the touchpad is not a Synaptics touchpad. It requires tap to scroll and furthermore is not as awesome as a Synaptics in terms of sensitivity and general performance. Many, many people have complained about that, but I found it takes getting used to.
Other than that? I like my MSI Wind’s sheer portability. 
I’ll also note the RAM limitation + the fact that the Ctrl key is not where I expect it to be from years of various keyboards.
I just got an Acer one netbook myself. It has a 10" screen, 1 gigabyte of RAM, integrated intel graphics and 160 GB hard drive.
This little guy runs windows 7 like a champ. It’s actually faster and more responsive that the XP install that came with it. Good riddance. Would definitely recommend Windows 7 RC install to anyone with one these guys.
Aside from running visual studio 2008 as well as office on it I also use it to record school lectures, take notes, and at home I can stream HD video from my HTPC (also running windows 7) so I can catch up on my shows while my SO catches up on her German soaps.
Love this thing!