Asus Eee PC 1018PB-BK801 review: Asus Eee PC 1018PB-BK801

Editors' note: This review is part of our 2010 retail laptop and desktop back-to-school roundup, covering specific fixed configurations of popular systems that can be found in retail stores.

8.2

Asus Eee PC 1018PB-BK801

The Good

New slim, brushed-metal design; excellent touch pad.

The Bad

Some annoying keyboard concessions.

The Bottom Line

Asus reboots the Eee PC series (at least aesthetically) with this slick-looking metallic Netbook, the Eee PC 1018.

As a computer maker, Asus is best known for its Eee PC Netbooks, which were arguably the first and most important minilaptops for the mainstream market. The basic plastic design of the Eee PC hasn't changed much over the past few generations, giving the series a look and feel in line with its entry-level prices, as seen in the rounded plastic bodies of the Eee PC 1001 and 1005 models (there have been a couple of one-off exceptions, such as a Karim Rashid edition).

Moving the model number up to the Eee PC 1018, Asus has taken the Netbook chassis back to the drawing board, coming up with a new design that's thin, sturdy, and attractive while only bumping the asking price up to $349 (from the typical $299 Netbook entry point).

Under the brushed-metal exterior, however, is still the same Intel Atom N450 Netbook we've seen throughout 2010, with the same anemic performance (but impressive battery life). As long as you don't expect the internal components to match the flash of the new external body, the Eee PC 1018 is probably our new favorite nonpremium Netbook.

The very thin, totally flat lid is the best visual feature on the Eee PC 1018. The back of the lid is clad in brushed metal, with a subtle chromed Asus logo in the middle. The lower half of the chassis has a similar brushed metal wrist rest, with textured black plastic on the bottom surface. The overall effect looks much thinner, and more upscale than previous Eee PC models, and the mostly metal construction feels solid and sturdy.

Asus keeps the standard Eee PC keyboard, with flat-topped, widely spaced island-style keys. Typing on it is mostly trouble-free (for a Netbook), but we remain annoyed by the shrunken right Shift key, which makes touch typing difficult if you're used to a bigger Shift key.

The touch pad is much improved over previous Eee PC touch pads. It's larger, with a demarcated scroll zone along the right edge (you can also use a two-finger multitouch scroll gesture, but it's less reliable). A single button bar below the pad takes the place of left and right mouse buttons--we strongly prefer a pair of separate mouse buttons, but the single bar in this case is at least wide enough to use comfortably, with a textured surface.

The 10.1-inch display has the same 1,024x600-pixel native resolution as nearly all nonpremium Netbooks. At this price, it's still acceptable, but starting at only $50 more, there are several 10 and 11-inch Netbooks available with 1,366x768-pixel displays. Interestingly, the 0.3-megapixel Webcam above the screen has a very low-tech on/off switch. A small slider above the camera lens physically moves a cover over the lens.

Though the collection of ports and connections on the Asus Eee PC 1018 is pretty standard, the slim design of the body requires some tricky engineering. The Ethernet cable jack is half hidden behind a hinged flap that swings open to accommodate the wide Cat 5 cable plug. Similarly, the AC adapter plug is also very tiny (although the cord and power brick are normal size).

Despite the redesigned exterior, the internal components in the Eee PC 1018 are going to be very familiar to anyone who has checked out a Netbook during 2010. There's a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive.

Predictably the system's performance is right in line with what you'd expect from this standard set of components. The Eee PC 1018 is fine for basic Internet surfing, office productivity, and even watching streaming Web video (your mileage may vary with some HD video streams).

Juice box
Asus Eee PC 1018	Average watts per hour
Off	0.52
Sleep	0.78
Idle	6.34
Load	13.36
Raw kWh	23.15
Annual power consumption cost	$2.63

The Asus Eee PC 1018 ran for 5 hours and 15 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, which is excellent for any laptop, even a power-saving Netbook. Asus has long led the pack in terms of Netbooks battery life, but among our four retail back-to-school Netbooks, the Dell Mini 10 did manage to last about 40 minutes longer. The HP Mini 210 from our roundup ran only a few minutes less, but that system has a large battery that sticks out awkwardly from the rear of the system, while the Eee PC manages to work its battery into the chassis seamlessly.

Asus includes an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the system, and also offers a collection of online support tools, including driver downloads, online FAQs, and also a 24-7 toll-free phone line. As this is a retail-specific model, brick-and-mortar stores will offer you a variety of extended warranties--in this case, we saw a two-year plan offered for $59--but we don't generally recommend them, especially for low-cost laptops.

Find out more about how we test laptops.

System configurations
Asus Eee PC 1018PB-BK801
Windows 7 Starter; 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450; 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB (Shared) Mobile Intel GMA 3150; 250GB Western Digital 5,400rpm

Dell Inspiron Mini iM1012-1091OBK
Windows 7 Starter; 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450; 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB (Shared) Mobile Intel GMA 3150; 250GB Hitachi 5,400rpm

Samsung N150-11
Windows 7 Starter; 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450; 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 256MB (Shared) Mobile Intel GMA 3150; 250GB Hitachi 5,400rpm

HP Mini 210-1199DX
Windows 7 Starter; 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455; 1024MB DDR3 SDRAM 667MHz; 256MB (Shared) Mobile Intel GMA 3150; 250GB Seagate 7,200rpm