Yesterday I went to check the mailbox and I found something very interesting.  It was a box from some an auction I won on eBay for an Asus 1101HA netbook.  Needless to say that I could barely contain my excitement once I opened the package.

The 1101HA is probably the best netbook I’ve held and used in quite some time.  I actually went ahead and bought a 1201N hoping to discover that it was as good as everyone had said it was but I was disappointed by how much tweaking I had to do just to be able to watch Hulu without the high amount of pauses.  I ended up sending it back and the 1101HA fit me and my usage much better.

First of all – the keyboard on this thing is great.  After using the 1000HE and 1201N with chiclet style keyboards I forgot how good it feels to type on a regular keyboard.  The keyboard doesn’t bend or flex while typing which makes typing posts like these a breeze.

Next, and this is probably the most surprising – this thing is dead silent.  When I would do posts late at night (as I’m likely to do) my wife usually ends up waking up because of the noise from the fan.  I’ve been using this netbook almost nonstop since I’ve taken it out of the box and haven’t heard anything more than a mild push of air coming from the side.

Maybe it’s because this netbook is wider than my old 1000HE but it feels really light.  I picked both up in my hand and it’s amazing how light it feels.  Carrying around a netbook has never been much of a problem but it’s going to be a whole lot easier now.  Another thing that shocked me is that the lid has a matte finish.  It feels great in the hand and I don’t have to worry about rubbing fingerprints off of it all the time.

Many of you may be wondering how it performs with video and how the battery life is and you’d end up being surprised.  The first thing I did was to set the Super Hybrid Engine up to make sure it was clocked higher than it’s stock 1.33GHz speed.  Next I downloaded Flash 10.1 to make sure the GMA500 graphics were getting the best boost possible.  From there I went over to Hulu to check it out and while it wasn’t completely smooth it played better than my 1000HE with N280 processor and GMA950 graphics.  Also it didn’t do much worst when compared to the 1201N I tried either.  As far as battery life I’ve been able to go the whole day using it without having to recharge it.  Usually I’ve just let it charge to 100%, turn the brightness down and go from there.  Watching movies reduces battery life  but not drastically.  I’m sure that if I played games I’d likely drive down battery life even more.

There are a lot of people selling this netbook and a lot of them are overcharging.  The worst offender is Overstock.com.  They’ve been selling refurbished 1101HAs for a while and slowly the price has gone from $279 all the way past $300.  At this point I think they are selling it for more than it retailed for when it was brand new.  Checkout Craigslist, eBay, or B&H.  I’ve been eying this netbook for months and finally decided to get one and I’m glad I picked one up.

If you are considering this netbook and want to know something, just ask and I’ll do my best to answer.

1. My Asus Eee PC 1000HE Review

2. Netbook Owners Crave Keyboards With Backlight

3. Rumor: 1201PN Netbook To Replace 1201N?

4. Asus Eee PC 1101HA Available From Sears

5. The Price Drops On The Asus 1101HA To $399