While I certainly have reason to believe that netbooks are already obsolete, it is good to see that the market isn’t getting too stagnant. The manufacturers are constantly upping the ante, granting us access to new features and better performance. One of the more recent examples of this is the Asus Eee PC 1000HE, a netbook that improves on the existing Eee PC line in just about every way.

On the surface, the Asus Eee PC 1000HE 10-inch netbook may appear to be remarkably similar to the Eee PC 1000HA that I reviewed last year, but Asus has made several noteworthy improvements that make latest product a worthy consideration.

Updating the Netbook Features

So, how do the features on the new Eee PC 1000HE stack up against the MSI Wind, HP Mini, and other Asus Eee PC netbooks? While much of the core spec sheet looks remarkably familiar, there are a few notable highlights that should catch your eye.

• Genuine Windows XP Home
• 10″ LED Backlit WSVGA (1024×600) screen
• Intel Atom N280 processor
• 1GB DDR2 RAM
• 160GB hard drive
• 10GB Eee Storage (free for first 18 months)
• 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
• Integrated Bluetooth 2.0
• 1.3 Megapixel Camera
• Six-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (up to 9.5 hours of life)
• Dimensions: 266mm(W) x 191.2mm(D) x 28.5mm~ 38mm(H)
• Weight: 1.45kg (3.20lbs)
• Available Colors: Pearl White, Black, Blue, Golden, Pink

The 10-inch widescreen display is a sort of hit-and-miss. On the one hand, it’s great to see the LED backlighting. On the other hand, it’s just a WSVGA screen when there are several new netbooks out there, like the Gigabyte M912X that offer WXGA (1320×768) resolution displays.

The Asus Eee PC 1000HE is the first netbook, to my knowledge, to rock the new Intel Atom N280 processor. This improves on the popular N270 both in clock speed (1.6GHz vs. 1.66GHz) and Front Side Bus (533 vs. 667).

There’s also the new chicklet keyboard and the claimed 9.5 hour battery life, but I’ll approach those two items in further detail in just a moment.

Looking Inside the Same Box

The box and packaging for the Eee PC 1000HE remains largely unchanged from the Eee PC 1000HA. In addition to the netbook itself, you get the power supply and cable, a protective sleeve, software CD, warranty card, user manual, and cleaning cloth. There are no real surprises here. The cleaning cloth certainly comes in handy, since the top shell is glossy (and a fingerprint magnet). The bezel around the display of the netbook is now glossy as well (it used to be matte), so you’ll need to do some fingerprint-wiping there too.