ASUS Eee PC 1101HA MU1X BK 11 6 Inch Black Netbook 11 Hour Battery Life
Seemingly crafted by nature itself, the Eee PC Seashell draws its inspiration from seashells and its opalescent and glossy exterior is crafted by the innovative in-Mold Roller technology. It’s so light and compact, you can take it anywhere with you! And with sleek curves and smooth lines hugging its lustrous shell, the Eee PC Seashell will easily charm passers-by wherever it goes. Experience the clear and vibrant pictures and movies you’ve previously enjoyed on a bigger scale with the EeePC 1101HA. With the largest screen ever featured on an EeePC, its 11.6″ widescreen 16:9 display provides HD-quality visuals at resolutions of up to 1366 x 768. With support for 802.11n, you can now enjoy faster surfing speeds than previous a/b/g wireless standards. This allows you enjoy quick downloading and streaming of large multimedia files; and with a full range of applications, help enhance your communications and computing experience. The Eee PC Seashell’s keyboard is more comfortable and less fatiguing to type on for prolonged periods. Intel GMA 500 1.3 Megapixel Webcamera WiFi 802.11b/g/n Wireless Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR 10/100Mbps LAN Hi-Definition Audio + Stereo speaker Digital Mic 6-Cell 63Wh Li-ion Battery (approx. 11 hours) Memory Card Slot – MultiMedia Card (MMC), Secure Digital (SD) Card, SDHC Connections – 3 x USB, VGA, Headphone, Microphone, RJ-45 (LAN) Approximate Unit Dimensions – 11.26 (W) x 7.72 (D) x 0.86~1.43 (H) Approximate Unit Weight – 3.04 Pounds
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Star Returned twice
I gave up after trying two of these.
The first computer would boot out of standby about 25% of the time. After pushing the power button to resume, all the lights would come on, but the screen would never come back on. I updated the BIOS and other drivers to no avail. The only way to get the computer to boot up was to remove the battery for at least 10 minutes. After that it would boot up fine and perform as expected with the exception of the battery indicator which would ALWAYS say 43% charged.
So I returned the first for an exchange.
When turning on the second 1101HA only one third of the screen would be visible (the left third). The other two thirds of the screen would be blank. Very strange issue. I have never heard of such a thing.
I am returning the second for a refund. It is obvious that ASUS has some issues/quality control to work through on this model.
4 Stars Slightly bigger, slightly slower than it’s Asus 1000 cousins – but still pretty cool
The Asus eee 1101 is Asus’s first foray into the “bridge” gap between 10″ netbooks and 12″ laptops, and has a fair number of strengths and a few weaknesses.
A few differences between this and the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – 10.5 Hour Battery Life:
* The 1101HA has a slightly slower processor (1.33 Ghz) versus 1.66 Ghz. You’re able to overclock it to make up for that performance loss, however.
* The LCD on the 1101HA is is 720p (1366×768), but anything running at 720p will most likely overtax the CPU and make it a poor viewing experience. Even playing Quicktime mp4 (720p) with a 5mbps bit rate had frame dropping.
* Awesome battery life. Laptop Magazine reported nearly 9 hours of battery life on their torture test but it hit 7.5 hours in my test of WiFi + movie playing.
The main competition is the Acer Aspire One AO751h-1893 11.6-Inch Black Netbook – 8 Hour Battery Life, which has a slightly smaller pricetag to match the slightly less battery runtime. But it also includes Vista, a bigger hard drive and more memory. So, on the dawn of Windows 7’s release date, having Vista would make the upgrade process to Windows 7 slightly easier. Even though I’ve had mixed experience with the Acer brand, it represents a better value than the 1101HA.
The problem that if you were to shop for a netbook today, you’re almost innundated with choices. There are too many to choose from, and there’s not one that stands out from the rest. The Asus 1101HA is an great netbook, but it doesn’t make the decision easier to choose between this and the Acer A0751h.
4 Stars Great netbook with terrible speakers and touchpad buttons
When my wife wanted suggestions about what new laptop to purchase, I suggested this netbook. I recommended it because it had an SVGA+ display (1366 x 768 pixels) and amazingly long battery life. The screen and battery have not disappointed us.
However, we have noticed three major difficiencies in this netbook.
First, the speakers are just terrible. There is no bass whatsoever, and the midrange is pretty nonexistent as well. Frankly, I cannot bear to listen to music played on this netbook. I have gone into the Realtek equalizer and cranked the bass and dropped the high-end frequencies. It still sounds awful.
Second, the touchpad buttons are a rocker, not separate buttons. This means that you must press on the outside edges of the rocker in order to click. Which means your thumb has to travel a long way to switch between right and left clicks. I find this a real hassle. I have to move my whole hand to switch between buttons. This is lousy from an ergonomic standpoint.
Third, I did not know when I recommended this netbook to my wife that the CPU is designed to only recognize up to 1GB of RAM! I had planned to add another 1GB in order to improve performance and multitasking ability.
I currently own a different ASUS netbook myself — a 1000HE ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – 9.5 Hour Battery Life. I love it, except for its limited screen resolution (1024×600). Its speakers are vastly superior to those in the 1101HA. Music sounds great on the 1000HE. Also, the Atom N280 CPU in the 1000HE sees the 2GB of RAM I put in the machine.
I have one last complaint that applies to both the 1000HE and the 1101HA. It is that both these netbooks have wireless cards built in that only support the 2.4 GHz ISM band. This band is also used by microwave ovens, cordless phones and bluetooth. This means that the range and speed of the wireless connection is often degraded by interference. Newer 802.11n cards support the 5 GHz ISM band. Some cards even support combining the bandwidth in both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. I am planning to have my next laptop/netbook support the 5 GHz band.
Aside from these complaints, both the ASUS 1000HE and 1101HA are great netbooks!
I hope this helps you select the best purchase for you.
