Aiming to recreate some of its lost glory, the virtual inventor of the netbook market Asus has come up with a polished, new take on its pioneer Eee PC, with its 1008HA - which the company also calls "Seashell."

Though the Asus Eee PC 1008HA netbook, with its $429 price-tag, is no where near the cheapest netbooks available, the super-slim design device boasts of some clever engineering. From a custom-molded battery to an assortment of hidden ports, the new Asus offering is perhaps the best-looking 10-inch netbook around!

The 1008HA is quite a handful - its frosty peripheral contains a rather trendy and in-tune-with-the-times interior comprising an Intel Atom N280 CPU; 160GB hard drive; 1GB RAM; Bluetooth; 802.11n; and a three-cell battery.

The keyboard of the new Asus netbook is 92 percent of full size, with its excellent layout and firm buttons giving it a big and comfortable feel. The mouse-button bar is metallic and practically secure, and Asus' treatment of the touchpad eases the process of navigating the web sites.

With its indigenous 1024-by-600-pixel resolution - which can be scaled higher in a follow-up mode - the 10.1-inch typically shiny screen of the 1008HA appears satisfactorily sharp and crisp, and the tilting the display at a specific angle pops up colors!