Just as there are many paths up the mountain, there’s more than one way to build a multimedia-friendly netbook. Nvidia’s Ion changed how consumers looked at netbooks last year. But now chip maker Broadcom promises a superior HD experience over the typical Pine Trail/integrated graphics solution inside most netbooks for a more wallet-friendly price. Given ASUS’ notorious penchant for bringing out a new Eee PC model more often than NBC changes late-night hosts, it’s no surprise that they’ve given the Crystal HD Decoder a spin in its newest netbook, the $399 1005PR Seashell. Unfortunately, a medicore keyboard nearly spoils the fun.

Editors’ Note:Portions of this review were taken from our earlier review of the Eee PC 1005PE-P.

Design

As the newest member of ASUS’ Seashell line, the 1005PR shares the same tapered lines, rounded edges, and slim chassis as the 1005HA and 1001P, among other recent Eee PC models. Available in four colors—black, white, pink and dark blue—this 10.3 x 7 x 1.4 inch netbook benefits from a matte outer shell and a fingerprint-resistant checkered pattern on the lid. This adds a touch of style to an already elegant design, making the 1005PR fashionable without being loud. To go along with its sleek look, the 1005PR is also lighter than the average netbook, weighing just 2.4 pounds. The inside of the system is glossy black, and the deck picked up its share of fingerprints.

Heat

ASUS continues to deliver netbooks that keep their cool. While using the 1005PR we never noticed any uncomfortable heat, even after hours of usage. After playing a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, we measured the temperature on the touchpad at just 84 degrees Fahrenheit, the space between the G & H keys at 85, and the middle of the underside at 91—all well under acceptable levels. Even the area where we expect to find a hotspot—the netbook’s vent on the left side—notched only 95 degrees.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The 1005PR’s keyboard has the same island-style layout found on earlier Seashell models. Though the keys offer decent tactile feedback and allowed us to reach our normal typing speed right away, there was noticeable flex when we typed. Typing was also noisy, which was a distraction.

Most of the keys are well-sized and in the right place with the exception of the right Shift key, which is shrunken and not directly below the Enter key. Other than that, we found the other keys easy to use, even when executing keyboard shortcuts.

The 2.5 x 1.5-inch pad touchpad, similar to that on the 1005PE-P, blends in with the system’s deck and is covered with small braille-like dots. Unlike some netbooks, the pad exhibited very little friction, and navigating the desktop didn’t require much backtracking. As with other Eee PCs, the touchpad also supports multitouch gestures; using two fingers to pinch and zoom in on a web page in Google Chrome was easy, and images quickly rendered in their new size.

ASUS equipped the 1005PR with a single mouse button. Unlike some netbooks we’ve used, this implementation was comfortable for making selections. However, we still prefer the Toshiba mini NB205’s larger touchpad and dedicated right and left buttons.

Display and Audio

The glossy 10.1-inch, LED-backlit display has an HD-friendly resolution of 1366 x 768. Unfortunately, this resolution on a 10-inch screen meant we ended up squinting quite a bit and had to use the pinch-and-zoom gesture on the touchpad for most websites we visited. The display has other virtues, though. Colors were bright and blacks deep. Plus, horizontal viewing angles were good. To get the best picture we had to tilt the screen back about 30 degrees. When the display is at a right angle the image washes out.

HD video stored on the hard drive played smoothly but betrayed some pixelation, especially in transitions between dark and light scenes in the 720p trailer for The Discoverers. While streaming an episode of House on Hulu we noticed even more pixelated colors and playback issues.

The speakers, located at the bottom front edge of the 1005PR, allowed us to hear songs loud and clear from across the room. Slash and Fergie’s “Beautiful Dangerous” came through powerfully with little to no distortion. Kanye West’s “Stronger” was on the tinny side, but the speakers sounded better than most netbooks’.

Ports and Webcam

On the left side of the 1005PR is a USB and VGA port. On the right are a memory card reader, an Ethernet port, two USB ports, and headphone and microphone jacks.

Above the display, a 1.3-megapixel webcam provided decent images in a Skype video chat. Once we adjusted brightness, contrast, and a few other advanced settings, the camera picked up accurate skin tones and clothing colors. A friend saw little motion blur when we waved quickly and made out details on our face.