NbC: Asus Eee PC 1101HA video hands-on

At yesterday’s Asus press event, we also managed to spend some time with the company’s first 11.6-inch Eee PC. The Eee PC 1101HA is certainly a very attractive device. I had always imagined that the move to a larger display size would mean a bulkier and compromised netbook. However, that wasn’t the case, the 1101HA felt only marginally bigger than current 10-inch netbooks.

In fact playing around with the model left me convinced that this particular size could become a sweet-spot for netbook manufacturers. You get a full-sized keyboard and high resolution display in a package that is not that much bigger than current 10-inchers. The keyboard came with flat keys and felt very responsive with the right amount of feedback. I was disappointed that it only had a small right shift key, especially considering the amount of space available.

Minor annoyances included a glossy 1366 x 768 display and no access panel on the bottom for the hard drive (RAM only on this model). The styling is very similar to other Seashell models and the 1101HA basically looks exactly the same as a bigger 1005HA (which doesn’t have the port flaps that the 1008HA has). One difference you will find is a dedicated button which turns the multi-touch touchpad on and off. The touchpad includes the same dimpled surface as the 1008HA with a single faux-chrome rocker bar underneath. The 1101HA comes with a 4,440mAh rated 6-cell battery.

As mentioned in our previous post (which has the full specifications), our biggest disappointment was learning that no 1.6GHz Z530 Atom SKU was planned. The model is expected to launch in “early July” for £379, as hinted by Amazon UK’s recent listing. Check out our hands-on video below along with a host of pictures.