First off, kudos to Asus for enabling a 2gb RAM upgrade. Microsoft are a tyrannical bunch, and, in case you didn't know, the reason netbooks are only enabled with 1gb of RAM. I ordered an improved speed 2gb stick (PC2 6400 Crucial) which has worked out fine. It actually seemed fast enough before I installed the new RAM, but the stick was a small price ($20). I might install Dreamweaver and Fireworx just to see if the netbook can handle it. I've run MS Excel, MS Office, Celtx, three tabs of Firefox, three tabs of IE, and had memory and processing for more. I'm impressed with the Intel Atom processor. The screen is beautiful. The size is quite small. I got a case that is supposed to fit 10" netbooks. This 10.1" is a bit loose in the case. That's due to the seashell design. The seashell allows for a big battery. Unfortunately it makes the computer backside heavy. It does tilt rather easily. I haven't found it to be a problem on a level surface, but on my laptop lap desk it has to be situated in a particular way. I say it's a small price to pay for a sleek and light computer with an incredible battery life. When I run internet (wifi) and MS Word or Celtx, I get a true 10 hours of usage time. After an initial full charging, I ran this netbook to 1% battery life before the first three times I recharged it. When I run it down completely I can recharge completely in 2.5 hours.
Downsides: Understand that this is just a consequence of typical netbook status: 1) The keyboard takes a bit of getting used to. Really, this is no big deal. It's 92% the size of a regular keyboard, and my somewhat larger-than-average male hands have adapted completely in a few weeks. 2) There is no cd/dvd drive. I've installed imaging software and converted programs to ISO files so that I can run them on the netbook. Again, no big deal. The real downside--I can't watch a movie on a plane without an external drive. Those cost about $70. Upside: the integrated audio on the motherboard handles music pretty well. I've heard that Nvidia is creating better hardware for people who want a netbook that will play BluRay quite nicely. Of course there is a price for that. Except for such a capacity, from what I can tell, the Asus Eee PC 1005HA is everything you could want in a very small computer. For a fairly advanced computer that will run you less than $400, Asus delivers with this nice little model.Get more detail about ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BU 10.1-Inch Blue Netbook - 10.5 Hour Battery Life.
