Conclusions
The Eee PC 1000HE won't usher in a new revolution for netbooks, but that's hardly the point of this model. As a modest update on an already familiar platform, the 1000HE succeeds in improving the areas that are most important to netbook owners. The keyboard has received substantial upgrades, both in layout and key design, which make it one of the most comfortable netbook keyboards around. Though there are some build-quality kinks to work out with the new design, Asus will hopefully continue to refine the idea—a chiclet-style keyboard is certainly a great fit for an Eee PC. Nagging touchpad issues are unfortunately still present, and it's up to Elantech to improve its drivers. Based on what we've seen from previous Eee PC 1000 models, unfortunately, that might be wishful thinking.

Battery performance has gotten a large boost, and with seven hours of Internet use on a single charge, the 1000HE has the best battery life we've seen in a netbook yet. Let's also not forget that, although it's a minor speed bump, the Eee PC 1000HE is the first netbook available with Intel's Atom N280 processor. In a market with largely identical products and specifications, these features set the 1000HE apart from the competition. Perhaps most importantly, Asus implemented all of these improvements without shifting from a $399 suggested retail price.

The 1000HE isn't perfect, of course, but several of its issues are inherent to the netbook concept. The display resolution is still slightly lower than it should be (720p would be ideal), and Intel's GMA 950 continues to hamstring multimedia performance. That's unlikely to change unless Nvidia's Ion platform makes it into a netbook, at which point we should finally see hardware acceleration for high-definition content, not to mention acceptable 3D performance. Losing some of that bezel to increase the LCD size wouldn't be a bad idea, either.

Even though it's not flawless, the 1000HE manages to take one step forward without taking two steps back, and it remains worthy of the Eee PC name. Folks interested in getting caught up in the netbook craze (or perhaps upgrade from an older, less-capable netbook) would do well to consider the Eee PC 1000HE. It's clearly one of the best options in this category.