Asus was the father of the booming netbook market when it tossed its first 7-inch netbook onto the market in late 2007. Since that time the netbook has gone on to become one of the best selling categories in the entire computer market.

Asus was the father of the booming netbook market when it tossed its first 7-inch netbook onto the market in late 2007. Since that time the netbook has gone on to become one of the best selling categories in the entire computer market.

It comes as no great surprise, seeing as we saw the product page back in May, comparison shots with the 1008HA a few days after and an unboxing video a few days ago, but ASUS have now officially announced the Eee PC 1005HA Seashell. Available to preorder from today, the 1005HA Seashell has the usual Intel Atom processor – in this case the 1.66GHz N280 – paired with 1GB of RAM, but it also offers what ASUS are calling the longest-lasting battery life for one of their netbooks to-date: up to 10.5hrs, in fact.
ASUS’ Eee PC 1000HV has been benchmarked, putting its discrete ATI Radeon HD 3450 graphics to the test. Based on the same Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz processor as the 1000HE, the 1000HV uses its graphical grunt well: it racks up a CrystalMark R3 score of 37,430 versus the 1000HE’s 28,923.

Benchmark breakdown after the cut
An unannounced ASUS netbook has turned up for pre-order online, packing discrete ATI graphics. The ASUS Eee PC 1000HV pairs Intel’s Atom N280 1.66GHz processor with an ATI Radeon HD 3450 video card with 256MB of its own memory; it also has a 10-inch 1024 x 600 display, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard-drive.

Samsung’s N120 seemed like a netbook desperately searching for a niche back when the company announced it in March, promising a 10-inch display like its N110 sibling but the kind of larger keyboard you’d expect to find on a 12.1-inch machine. Bizarrely, though, it’s not the keyboard that reviewers Liliputing found impressive about the N120, but the speakers; in actual fact, the ‘board is something of a disappointment.

Given Toshiba’s history of making clever, compact notebooks, big things are expected from their Dynabook UX netbook (aka the Toshiba NB200 in the UK). Portable Monkey have gone hands-on with the 10.1-inch Atom N280 1.66GHz netbook, and come away reasonably impressed with build and battery life but disappointed by the specs.

The ASUS Eee PC 1008HA “Shell” doesn’t get its official UK release until May 15th, but that hasn’t stopped Electricpig from unboxing the 1-inch thick netbook. ASUS’ economy-friendly netbook alternative to the MacBook Air, the 1008HA is a mere £379 ($570) for what the company claims is their thinnest Eee PC yet.

ASUS are planning an 11.6-inch Eee PC netbook which will launch later in May, according to CEO Jerry Shen, presumably to counter Acer’s recent larger Aspire One 751. Specifications of the new netbook are unknown: ASUS could follow in the 751’s footsteps and use a Zxx-series Intel Atom, or they could step up to one of the chip maker’s CULV processors.
ASUS have been gradually transitioning to chiclet-style keyboards on their Eee PC netbooks, with the latest model to get the new style being the Eee PC 1000HA. If you’re an existing owner looking longingly at the new layout, meanwhile, and specifically have an ASUS Eee PC 1000H, you can fudge your own update with the keyboard from the Eee PC 1000HE.

Has Apple lost some of its world-renowned reliability? That’s what a new study from RESCUECOM is saying. In fact, this new study shows that ASUS topped the charts this time around–not the Cupertino favorite.
RESCUECOM is a support company and they just released their quarterly analysis. This study shows support cases taken at their call centers for each type of computer. Then, those numbers are matched up with the total number of computers shipped from each manufacturer.
Just last year, Apple was deemed the most reliable computer manufacturer, but the first few months of 2009 have proven differently. Apple received a score of 324 while ASUS received a super high 972. So, does this mean ASUS makes unbelievably reliable computers? Maybe, but most likely not. This probably has more to do with the fact that the ASUS Eee netbook surged in popularity at the end of last year and the beginning of this one. RESCUECOM believes the high score will lower a bit over time as there are actually used versions of the ASUS computers on the market.
[via Electronista]