As I was thinking of awarding myself with a mini-laptop (I’m actually quite opposed to the netbook because it can’t do much for me), I’ve gotten pretty entangled with an article about the new Asus Seashell, which is reminiscent of those old, forgotten 7-inch Eee netbooks.

Anyway, the 10-inch screen Asus Seashell gives us exactly what we need for a netbook. It’s available in piano-black with little specks of blue in the keyboard when sunlight passes by it. It has beveled-keyed keyboard, tapered edges and integrated lithium polymer batteries.

It is only 2.4 pound in weight and measures less than an inch in thickness. It’s still comparatively thicker than the ones we were used to before but just the same, the Asus Seashell’s functionality would get you going.

The keyboard is easy to use; each key are easy enough to press and to find. A control panel conveniently gives access to Wi-Fi/Bluetooth to reserve power and another button to turn off the trackpad.

The trackpad though is another matter. Unlike most laptops that uses smooth materials for the trackpad, the Asus Seashell uses a brail-like design where your fingertips would gloss over while browsing. Not to worry though, it is completely like any other trackpads out there only that it gives you some friction at times.

Performance:

The Seashell looks pretty, but internally, it’s the same as pretty much every other netbook. Luckily, the computer is running XP, so the Atom N280 processor (without the accompanying, new GN40 video chipset), 1GB of RAM (upgradeable to 2GB), 160GB hard drive, SDHC port, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.1 will offer a reasonably quick and robust experience for browsing the web and light tasks. But as with any computer in this class, you should expect to lose some framerates during video playback (especially in HD).

The Seashell is priced at $429. Provided that it is slightly pricier than most netbooks, the performance makes up for the price. So if you’re looking for a nice netbook, here’s something you could get your mind on to get.