I worked on a Toshiba NB205 this week and I am very impressed with it. The model we got is a NB205-N310/BN. It has an Intel Atom N280 processor, 1GB of RAM and 160GB hard drive. It is Bluetooth enabled, so you do not have to buy additional adapter. One nice feature is the USB Sleep-and-Charge. You can charge any device that can be charged through the USB port even when the computer is in sleep mode(standby). This feature is available on higher end models of Toshiba laptops. It’s a pleasant surprise that they include it on a budget netbook.

I like the keyboard a lot. What’s good about it is that there are dedicated keys for arrows, Page Up and Page Down.

On the right side, we have two USB ports, a power connector and a security lock slot.

The indicators are on the front.

The SD card slot is on the front, too.

We have VGA, headphone, microphone, Ethernet and one more USB port on the left.

This shot shows the oversize 6 cell battery. I must admit, the battery does not look nice. However, I think most people will trade the look for the extra power provided by the bigger battery.

Now is time to show you how to replace the 1GB built-in RAM with a 2GB one. There is only one slot, so you have to take out the old one and replace it. You can use a  2GB PC2-5300 667MHz 200-pin SODIMM Memory. Before you begin, turn off the computer and remove the battery. There is only one screw to remove. I have marked its location in this photo. Once you remove the screw, Gently remove the cover. The cover is secured by two tabs around the mid section. You need to apply a bit of force to get it open.

Before you touch any components inside the computer, touch any metal in your surrounding to discharge statics on you or put on an anti-static wrist strap. Gently pull out the clips from the side of the memory. The memory would pop up. Remove it.

Insert the new memory into the slot at an angle. Note that there is a notch on the memory, make sure the orientation is alright. If you have problems inserting the memory, the orientation is probably wrong.

Push down the memory so it locks in place. The last step is just to put back the cover and screw.

The Asus Eee PC 1008HA is a new netbook with N280 processor. The main selling point is the ultra-slim form factor. The computer looks stylish and it’s pretty light(2.43lb). However, due to the small case, both battery and RAM are NOT user serviceable.

I was trying to find service manual, but didn’t find the official manual. Luckily, there are some guides that covers on how to disassemble the machine.

• NetbookItalia (in Italian, English translation)
• Moblie01 (in Chinese, English translation)
• NotebookReview

The third one is basically just the English translation of the first two. The procedure is not for faint of heart. If you have not tried something like this before, I suggest you think twice about following the steps to disassemble your machine.

Here is a picture from NotebookReview about the location of the memory slot.

Asus is vague about what kind of memory is needed for 1008HA. I found the specification from Crucial.com, the memory you need is PC2-6400 laptop RAM .

I helped a user with his Acer Aspire One AOD150 to upgrade memory. The AOD150 comes with 1GB of memory and it has only one slot. Therefore, you cannot just add memory to it, you have to replace the old one. The memory you can use is DDRII 667 MHz. Here is a good one: OCZ 2 GB PC2-5400 667 MHz DDR2 . Follow the steps to install it.

1. Turn off the computer and remove the battery.
2. Turn the computer bottom side up and place it on a soft surface.
3. Use a screw driver to remove the one screw.
   
4. Now it’s the scary part. Gently remove the cover. The cover is secured by two tabs around the mid section. You need to apply a bit of force to get it open.
   
5. Before you touch any components inside the computer, touch any metal in your surrounding to discharge statics on you or put on an anti-static wrist strap. Gently pull out the clips from the side of the memory. The location of the clips is shown in the previous photo. The memory would pop up. Remove it.
   
6. Insert the new memory into the slot at an angle. Note that there is a notch on the memory, make sure the orientation is alright. If you have problems inserting the memory, the orientation is probably wrong. This is a photo for an ASUS 1000HE, the idea is the same.
   
7. Push down the memory so it locks in place.
8. Put back the cover and screw.

You have saved $50.00 by doing this yourself.

There are a lot of ultra portable computers before, but what started the recent trend is Asus’s Eee PC series. 1000HE is the latest model from this popular netbook series.

Here are the key features and my thoughts.

• N280 1.66GHz  Intel Atom Processor: The speed increase is not that much compared to N270, but N280 is more energy efficient. It also has a faster (667MHz) FSB, so you can use faster RAM.
• 6 cell battery: Up to 9.5 hours battery life. When I use it to watch video, the battery life dropped to about 7 hours. Note that the 6 cell battery adds weight to the model so it is heavier than previous models with 3 cell battery.
• 10 inch screen and chiclet keyboard: The screen is excellent. I am glad that they did not use a glossy LCD display which I don’t like. The keyboard is the kind that you find on the MacBook. The size is 92% of a traditional notebook. It’s bigger than previous model, but still it might take you some time to get used to the keyboard. I found that the right shift key is a bit too small. I often typed the wrong key when I  use it.
• Bluetooth: You can now use Bluetooth devices with this model. I don’t use it often but it might come in handy. Remember to turn it off when it is not in use to conserve battery life.
• Multi-touch touchpad: I like the multi-touch touchpad on my MacBook, but not on 1000HE. I found it too sensitive on the tiny touch pad. A lot of times, my scrolling gesture translates to zooming gesture. You might want to disable it.

I am used to my fast Core 2 Duo MacBook, so I feel like the performance is not that impressive. However, it still performs quite well for doing email and web browsing which it is designed for. If you want to squeeze the performance out of it, try to plug it in. When you use the AC adapter, it operates in AC mode which is faster. You can also press Fn+Space Bar to switch to Super Performance mode.

I tried to view video on 1000HE, the 320×240 YouTube video plays smoothly either in the  browser or full screen. The HD content of YouTube does not play smoothly, but still viewable. Hulu’s SD content plays OK only in the browser, when you play it in full screen mode, the motion is kinda choppy. The use of the AC adapter helps a little, but not much.

For those benchmark geeks, I did install and run PCMark 05 successfully on 1000HE. The score is 1568. I ran it after I installed MS Office 2003, FireFox, Thunderbird and McAfee. I also upgraded the RAM to 2GB. Please see this post about how to upgrade the RAM.

Overall, this is a fine netbook to own and it’s currently the top selling model on Amazon. The street price is around $379.00.

I helped a user with his Eee PC 1000HE and the first thing I did is to replace the memory. The 1000HE comes with 1GB of memory and it has only one slot. Therefore, you cannot just add memory to it, you have to replace the old one. The memory I added is a OCZ 2 GB PC2-5400 667 MHz DDR2 memory. Here are the steps to install it.

1. Turn off the computer and remove the battery.
2. Turn the computer bottom side up and place it on a soft surface.
3. Use a screw driver to remove the two screws.
   
4. Now it’s the scary part. Gently remove the cover. The cover is secured by two tabs around the mid section. You need to apply a bit of force to get it open.
   
5. Before you touch any components inside the computer, touch any metal in your surrounding to discharge statics on you or put on an anti-static wrist strap. Gently pull out the clips from the side of the memory. The memory would pop up. Remove it.
   
6. Insert the new memory into the slot at an angle. Note that there is a notch on the memory, make sure the orientation is alright. If you have problems inserting the memory, the orientation is probably wrong.
   
7. Push down the memory so it locks in place.
8. Put back the cover and screws.

You have saved $50.00 by doing this yourself.

New models of netbook is coming out regularly. Amazon.com is discounting some of the older models.

Click here to go to the Amazon’s netbook sale page. If you cannot find the one you like, here is the link to the netbook selection on Amazon.

If you ask me how to pick a good netbook, I’d say pick one that has Atom processor, 1 GB RAM and a big 160GB hard drive or more.

Over the holiday season, I helped my users to pick laptops. To my surprise, those so-called netbooks have occupied the top spots of the best selling list. I have complied a list of several popular netbooks running Windows XP.

Brand	Acer	Asus	Samsung	HP	MSI
Model	Aspire One	Eee PC 1000HA	NC10-14GB	1035NR	U100-432US
Display Size	8.9	10	10.2	10.2	10
Resolution	1024×600	1024×600	1024×600	1024×600	1024×600
Weight (lb)	2.2	3.2	2.8	2.38	2.6
Processor	1.6 GHz Atom N270	1.6 GHz Atom N270	1.6 GHz Atom N270	1.6 GHz Atom N270	1.6 GHz Atom N270
RAM	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB	1 GB
Storage Type	HDD	HDD	HDD	HDD	HDD
Storage Size	160 GB	160 GB	160 GB	60 GB	160 GB
Battery	6 Cell	6 Cell	6 Cell	3 Cell	6 Cell
USB Ports	3	3	3	2	3
Camera	1.3 M	1.3 M	1.3 M	Unknown	1.3 M
Street Price	$380	$390	$460	$450	$430

If you look at all the models available on the market, you can see a lot of variations. However, the popular models are similar in spec. They typically have the Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, and 1.3 M camera. You can not go wrong with any model listed here.

One thing to note is these netbooks have a smaller keyboard and trackpad. Before you buy one, you might want to try one at your local retailer and see if you can live with them.