Asus 1201N Reviews and Owners Lounge

oh man im tied now, the m11x is out and with cupons ect i can get it for like 700, and after getting ram for the 1201n it runs like 600, oh man decisions! eith seems good, but alienware definately has some bonuses. the graphics card difference is phenominal correct?

 

ya the m11x is much powerful in the gpu and even the cpu.

im thinking of getting the m11x pretty much loaded which gonna cost around 1100$ but its the machine im looking for.

tho i already bought the 1201n month and half ago... than the m11x had to come out hehe.

don't get me wrong the 1201n is a really nice machine and does what i want it for but wow the m11x would pretty much replace the 1201n and my g50vt all in one small package.

sure the g50vt is still more powerful but kinda big and the battery life doesn't really last long for how long i use it for


if i do get the m11x im gonna use this for a primarily media center on my 57in dlp tv so its still gonna get used

 

I can't comment on adding BlueTooth, but for that matter advise that getting an OEM BlueTooth setup is preferable to adding it on later, and it's cost effective to do this also. Of course there's also the BT Dongles which I had had occasion to test, and they seem to work well with small form factor notebooks and netbooks, but YMMV!

I am very impressed with my laptop after I converted it to a 320GB 7200RPM HD, 4GB RAM 1201N, and of course did the requisite 64-bit upgrade also--- what a difference it makes! WOW! No comparison to the OEM stock machine is fair after experiencing this setup, so by all means upgrade your 1201N if you get one, and you will not regret the enhancements one bit, they are 110% worth doing!

It's a bit of work, but work well spent to do the enhancements I describe above, so please take it from the voice of experience that going down that road is more than worthwhile, it's just a fantastic thing to do, and you get your investment back in droves and droves of good stuff, performance just shines like silver in a tin mine!

I am 100% pleased with the way my 1201N turned out with the creative engineering that I did to it, ala 320GB 7200RPM HD, the 64-bit OS and drivers and applications, plus the overall upgrade that happens when you install the 64-bit Windows 7 OS, it's just so dramatic that I find it very hard to put into words...suffice to say my time and $$ has been well, well, spent with the upgrades to my 1201N!

In my review of the 12012N at Amazon.com I mention that the 1201N is a "multimedia powerhouse" straight from the factory, and doing the things I did to mine just makes it that much sweeter. BTW, I am fully, 100% convinced that going to 64-bit OS and drivers, applications is another 50% to the good with anybody's 1201N in the mix. It's just so compelling to have this great machine that begs for improvement and modifications, and to finally see just **HOW GOOD** it actually turned out in the end is butter creme icing on a lemon chiffon cake!

You know what, there's "good, acceptable, passing, intermediate," right...?
All kinds of explanations about what's the best situation, the best item, the best netbook, the best experience possible. I think we have to understand our own netbooks/laptops and their abilities 100% before we can begin to have multimedia experiences that are excellent, just 100% top drawer stuff. With that in mind, I think I "get" the 1201N's abilities 100% by now, and I definitely think it's got everybody covered with lesser machines.

 

I am thinking about ordering this from newegg. Does it come standard with a single 2gb chip or 2 1gb chips? I want to upgrade it to 4gb but if i can I only want to order a single 2gb chip.

 

This notebook is equipped with a 2x1GB kit. You will need to purchase a whole new 2x2GB kit if you want to upgrade.

 

sigh... got my RMA ticket today....

my AC adapter kept blanking out on me. it would happen right after i plugged it in and a small high pitched buzzing would emit from the port inside the 1201n.

to be honest i couldn't tell you if it was a faulty adapter or inverter board in the 1201n but im not taking any chances with that one.

RMAed cuz i want to take mine apart and if it were to break after a HDD swap id be pretty pissed.

i did get a few numbers before it started acting stupid and i can confirm that in W7 you will get roughly 10-20% les Fps in CPU dependent game such as TF2 & CSS. in Xp i was seeing 30-60Fps avg. and in W7 i was seeing 20-40Fps avg. ( DX8 tweek with lowest setting @ native rez with multi core and v-sync enabled)

also note this was on stock hardware & OCed to 1.9Ghz via OC tuner.

 

Oops...

 

1st post here.

I'm trying to decide between this Asus, and a Toshiba t115d-s1125.
Other than screen size and the hard drive size, is one much better than the other?

Toshiba

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834114801

Asus

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220659

 

The 1201N.

 

With facts like that to back up your statement, How could I ever doubt you?

I know you like the Asus better(or you would have bought something else), but what is better about it than the Toshiba T115D-S1125? on paper they are very similar.

 

would this be able to run empire total war? if soa t what settings most likely, and could it play it at 1080p out?

 

The Toshiba has better battery life and a faster processor if you choose the dual core variant.

The Asus plays games better (by a good margin) and is cheaper.

 

yep the 1201n is pretty much the best net book out except for the m11x but i really don't consider that a net book lol


but if you look on the net even for the acer Ferrari on youtube you could even see it has a hard trouble playing games.

but if you look for videos of the 1201n it does alot better.

like for one left 4 dead 2 theirs a video on there that someone played it on the acer and by the videos looks like hes using really low res and everything on the lowest.

i can play left 4 dead 2 pretty decent with everything max sure the fps are still low but still playable.

the acer has the same specs as the Toshiba so.


and when you overclock the 1201n 330 cpu im sure it will beat the neo amd.

the 330 in the 1201n can be overclock up too 2.1ghzs with the right ram.

 

Highly doubt that, the AMD L325 gets 2450 in PCMarkvantage while the 1201N gets 1500. That's too large of a gap to cover with an overclock. The L325 can also achieve a moderate overclock of ~200mhz.

But again, Ion dominates the HD3200 in games. For example, my laptop with a full on 2.1ghz Turion and HD3200 can barely play Assassin's creed on lowest resolution, the 1201N plays it at default resolution.

 

Hello! I haven't been to the forums in a very long time. I just wanted to post that I got a 1201n to replace my dying XPS M1210. It served me well but it was time for a new laptop. I'm happy to report that I can enjoy Team Fortress 2 (TF2) albeit at a lower than native resolution and lower settings. I enabled multicore rendering in the video section which made a huge difference.

I also forgot to say that it works well at native resolution and lower settings too but I just prefer to play at lower res for better performance. I also enabled v-sync.

 

the 1201n is without doubt the best netbook (what is a netbk anyway?)...beats the crap outta wannabes...for potential buyers, don't go by expert reviews..they really dunno much..they'll say stuff like this sucks and that sucks and finally says its worth a buy depending on what you want..go by the word of ppl here..i did...i dun repent it one bit..killer deal for a really good piece...just dun xpect core i7 performance...!!

 

just ordered a wd black 7200rpms 320gb hdd for 69$ and gskill 667 2x2gb 4gb ram for my 1201n

and got a kabuto mouse pad for my razer orochi and a hard drive External Enclosure so i could use the 250gb for external


hopefully i could hit 2.1ghzs with that ram like everyone else


i was gona just keep it stock sense i problee be getting the m11x but i figure i be using the 1201n too for media center and other stuff so i maxed it out.

but ya when i get the ram and hdd i post results

 

Thanks for clearing it up a bit for me.

I was sold on the Asus, but cannot find one locally(Las Vegas area).

 

I was wondering if its worth putting only one stick of cas 5 4gig ram instead of 2x2gig?

I know the 4 gig stick is more expensive, but would it save more power or overclock better?

 

Stick with 2 x 2GB SODIMMs because you'll be better off in terms of Dual Channel RAM mode, ie better throughput. I haven't clocked my RAM in Everest Ultimate yet, but I will one of these days just to satisfy my own curiosity about it. I have no idea about power savings, overclocking either, but throughput will be better with Dual Channel mode.

 

its pretty much best just too get 2x2gbs and if you want too overclock nicely i would get 667mhzs ram sense its the best for overclocking.

i was gonna get the hyper x Kingston ram but couldn't find anyone that uses it and overclocks didint want to risk getting it and it wont overclock good.

so i got this ram http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231165

which pretty much everyone that has it lets them overclock there cpu too 2100mhzs and up think around 2120 is the limit sense asrock tuner doesn't go pass that...

i should get the ram and the hard drive in about 2 days so i post results

 

Could you post a link to the OC tool you keep mentioning? I'd like to try it out, not a big OC, but just a little something...and have no idea where to get the tool...thanks!

 

How is the screen on this? I've read that it is somewhat dim compared to the Acer Aspire 1410. (Trying to decide between the two.)

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5721371&postcount=599


and heres the program http://www.asrock.com/feature/OCTuner/download.asp?Model=A330ION

 

Fudzilla is anouncing that the Ion 2 will be getting Optimus technology. That means not only will the Ion 2 be getting a discrete GPU basedon the 310M but also a form of CPU/GPU switching which could significantly increase battery life when performing tasks like word processing.

What are the odds that the 1201n gets refreshed with the new Dual Atom and the Ion 2?

Bronsky

 

Thanks so much for that! It's appreciated gordy my man!

Now I can play like you do, well maybe not quite so hard but play i will now!

rex

 

glade too help

 

And good help it was, too! I was stuck on the editing part of the OCTuner installation, and gordesky1 came through with a much needed tip to make the whole thing work, and work it does!

I "tried out" OCTuner tonight, for about an hour and a half or so, just experimenting a little, and settled on a nice, warm 1906Mhz overclocking, where the machine is nice and stable, temps are actually *lower than OEM 1600Mhz settings* for some strange reason, and it's quite a nice bump up, about a 20% overclocking, without dramas, or problems.

I tested the setup (159QPI) with OCCT v3.1 for a brief 25-minute long 100% CPU Linpack and 90% Memory run, and the 1201N is very comfortable, temps got to 75-degrees C in Everest on the CPU, but the Cores were strangely cool @55-57-degrees C, and the fan was only blowing @ 590RPM's to boot.

So altogether a good showing for my first foray into Overclocking the N330 with regular old 800Mhz Crucial PC 6400 6-6-6-18-51-2T Clocks SDRAM, nothing exotic or special there, just regular stuff that anybody could do if they have a mind to do it!

I don't think that this 20% 1900Mhz overclocking will detract from the 1201N's stability, seems to be mellow and KUHL about it, so I am considering just running it there for my daily clocking, we shall see...it seems about right, not stressful on anything in particular, 300Mhz up from box, stock OEM speed.

According to Everest Ultimate, idle temps are 65-degrees C CPU, and 40-C Cores, so go figure! RAM is @466Mhz/933mhz real clocks, so nothing really stressed out, seems to be a comfortable speed and range of Mhz and temps.

Thanks to gordesky1 this is all possible, and will probably be "normal" for this 1201N from now on.

 

Just an FYI as soon as you change the FSB the CPU temperature sensors become inaccurate, so if you are overclocking you can't use the CPU sensor readings.

 

Awesome news! I thought I saw some news that Asus will be releasing a new netbook with Ion 2 sometime in April?

I am holding out for now on my laptop purchase. I have been waiting for more news on Ion 2 as well as the Asus UL30/80 JT series. Those are going to have the auto swithing capabilities of integrated descrete GPU's. If I needed one today I would probably get the Sony CW i5 at bestbuy.

 

jake whats the best way to know the temperatures once overclocked ?

 

There isn't, besides getting a separate sensor.

 

That is indeed interesting news, so thank you for that strange thought! How in the world are we to monitor the temp of the CPU and Cores then, that is the question of the evening...if overclocking?

So Real Temp, Everest, whatever we use will show an inaccurate temperature then? Correct? That is somewhat bizarre!

I do a fair bit of overclocking on my full sized desktops, which are Core i7-based 920-series CPU desktops running a full 61% overclock, ie from 2.67Ghz up to 4210Mhz 24/7 doing Folding@Home, and anything else that I've a mind to do on them, and the temp sensors for the i7 CPU's are indeed still accurate *even if overclocking*...so I find this whole line of thinking strange indeed!

Of course it would be a concern...as in I really don't want to torch the CPU or the components inside of this chassis, so I will be researching the topic to find out some way to monitor the notebook's CPU and Core tuit suite mon amis!(right now friends!)... :GEEK:

Surely there's a way to do this crucial and critical temp monitoring for laptops, there just has to be a way to keep tabs on the CPU temps...(!?)

I am on this right now, and will report back here if I find a way to go about monitoring the CPU and Core temps accurately, as I cannot imagine doing this if I cannot do that critical step...I will go back to stock configuration if I can't figure out how to check on the temps inside of this beautiful little lappy here, that seems content, and happy to be @ 1906Mhz as I write this note...

 

ya it seems like it needs a new bios update too fix the temp problem. seems too be the ony way too fix it.


on my g50vt the temps read normal even overclocking it goes up some but too bad.


seems like it could be a problem with the bios with the temp thermaling with the 1201n.


tho im not worrying sense even when i had it at 2ghzs temps felt the same on the laptop than it was atstock on the vent.

and the bottom of the laptop hardly feels warm.

 

The best you can do is use the Chipset and GPU temps to as a gauge. It is just the CPU sensors that are effected. Interestingly the larger the increase in FSB the bigger the discrepancy in temperature, so a small OC will still fairly accurate temp wise.

 

What is considered a small OC? <10% <5%?

 

i don't even think the stock temps are right sense when i first got mine or even keep it at stock it would be 70s and 80s just idleing but the air coming out of the case and when i feel the bottom of the case just feels warm.

it kinda reminds me of my old desktop the temps was nuts running at 50s and 60s idleing than found out the temps was screwy because it needed a bios update so i did the update and the temps was like 20c cooler.


problee what the 1201n needs a bios update hopefully they release another one soon.

 

I agree 100% with this assessment, after having my 1201N for almost 3 weeks, as I never felt the temps were right from the beginning. They certainly weren't right when doing any overclocking! There is no way the temps in the Cores decrease when overclocking, that's impossible...just would never happen like that in a desktop or notebook...they always increase come Hell or high water, on a large scale, not just a couple degrees either.

On a side and sad note, my 1201N lost its BlueTooth capability last night, and I don't know if it was because of overclocking or not, so I did a complete "Recovery and Reformat" of the partition that the 64-bit OS was on...to no avail, reinstalling all new 64-bit drivers from scratch with Driver Magician and Windows Update both...just a terminal case of no BlueTooth. The reason I am noting this here today is because BlueTooth is very important to me for downloading files from servers at work, which is my method there rather than carry around an Ethernet cable to attach to every computer I need a file out of, you know?

I troubleshot the problem with Asus Tech Support early this AM to *make certain* that it wasn't anything I had messed up or missed, and sure enough the BlueTooth part of the network adapter had failed, unfortunately...
The only fortunate part of the whole deal is that I was still in the 30-Day Return Window at Amazon.com, so I initiated an RMA for refund right after that.

After I removed my WD Scorpio Black HD I replaced the OEM Hitachi 5400RPM 250GB HD, removed my 4GB Crucial RAM & reinstalled the OEM RAM, carefully getting that together and doing the necessary steps...then I packaged up the 1201N, after reformatting the HD once again, getting all of my personal data off the machine 100%, then brought it back to 32-bit OEM Factory Default OS and applications, drivers, programs, etc., right back to the "Welcome Screen" for a 1st use... then I pulled the battery out of it and discharged it on my battery conditioner/charger (external device for tech work), brought it back to a 30% charge, then put it in its plastic bag for shipment.

After doing that I gathered up all the OEM materials, warranty books, DVD-ROM for Recovery, etc, placed it all in the Asus shipping box, put that in another heavy-duty box with plenty of air bladders and packing paper, sealed it up with my RMA papers and a copy of the receipt for purchase, and BAM! Gone like the wind is my 1201N... ...not happy about it, but at least I didn't have to go through an RMA at AsusTech, which would have taken many weeks...Amazon.com paid for the shipping back to their RMA Dept/Return Dept back in Lexington, Kentucky, via UPS Ground, so they will get it back next Tuesday/Wedneday if all goes well with the return shipment.

I haven't decided what to do just yet... I am going to take a week or longer and just use our HP 5101 FM976UT netbook, my "spare" netbook for just such an emergency, which my wife normally uses at home, and use it for work while I figure out the next move. I don't know if I am getting a 2nd 1201N just yet...there may be something even more compelling to purchase in the next 30 days or so, thus my mind is open to something else if it seems like the way to go. I liked the 1201N but was not happy with the battery situation, so I'll look at Asus's next offering in the 1201-series if that becomes a factor with ION2 getting into the mix, I just don't know quite which way to go-- so when *that happens* I tend to weigh the options over a little time and see what turns up.

It's how I ended up with the 1201N in the first place, and it's a shame that mine went South like it did but better now than later...I believe there is a reason for everything, so for whatever reason this happened I accept it and will move on without a 1201N and make my next decision just like I made it for the 1201N...reading up in ZDNet, Notebookreview.com, Amazon.com, TechRepublic.com, CNET, and other publications and sources that I use at times like this, so I can come up with the best choice out of all that's out there in the small notebook/netbook category.

My decision will be for something in this same category however, it won't be for a $1200 MX11 gaming machine, nothing like that enters my mind right now, and won't. I will be looking for another small notebook/netbook, but with advanced multi-media capabilities like the 1201N has, but ideally it will do better in terms of battery consumption/run time. My 1201N never got out of the 3-hour operating window when I was using the HD capabilities it has, either ArcSoft's Theater 3, Quicktime/iTunes for either watching movies or just playing music, HuLu TV via Flash Player 10.1.x, ie it didn't seem to matter what I tried, the 1201N ate up its battery like my 16.1-inch Sony C2Duo 2.4Ghz CPU/ATI 4650 machine uses its battery...

I have no idea what to buy right now, frankly...so I will take my time and figure it out over the next week or longer, whatever is appropriate will happen in its own way. So I leave the 1201N thread with mixed feelings, but certainly I have learned a lot here about this notebook, and have met some cool people to boot! So thank you to Soviet Sunrise, gordesky1, and the others who have helped me out with data, knowledge, tips, and inspiration...it has been appreciated I assure all of you.

This is a fantastic web page and resource, and I'll come back here for more of the same after I score my next small notebook/netbook, whatever it turns out to be.

 

sorry too hear what happen too your 1201n

ya i pretty sure its not from overclocking sense my Blue Tooth is still working and i always use it sense i got my razer orchi .


but ya the battery life is kinda low mainly when you do heavy task stuff like watching videos mainly hd and games but that's pretty much with anything with decent specs except for those 8 or 12 hour asus they have nice specs and do great on battery.


i say i get around 3hours to 4hours if im browsing the web with Blue Tooth on and wifi sreen brightness almost on max.

when gaming i get around 2hours and 40min too 3hours or more depends on what game and how much cpu and gpu power it takes.

what i am waiting for is some aftermarket battery's 8cell or 9cell for the 1201n that would problee push it up too 6 or 7hours and around 4 too 5 gaming or videos watching


but ya right now the 1201n still pretty much the best netbook out there except the m11x but i pretty much wouldn't call that a netbook lol

and ion 2 is pretty much not coming out till april from what sites says

and also says its gonna be priced much higher than entry level pine trail models tho they didn't give the price yet.

tho if its gonna be around the same price as the 1201n i might look into it and use my 1201n for a media center

but if it gets over 600 i problee just go for the m11x.

or just keep on using my 1201n till they do a refresh on the m11x or get a better pair up with ion 2 sense the 1201n is doing everything i want it too do which is mainly gaming lol and with the new ram and hdd coming tomarlo hopefully.... lol that should speed stuff up some sense the cpu will hopefully be at 2.1ghzs and faster loading times with the hdd.

 

And who knows how long it will be until Asus or another company releases a netbook or ultraportable notebook with a dual core CPU with the Ion 2? It might not be until late 2010

 

ya its just the websites im looking up pretty much rumors it seems.

 

Here's my anecdotal battery life post.

Been working with the laptop unplugged for about two hours with music playing through headphones via Windows Media Player. WiFi has been on about half of that time and I've been typing in OpenOffice. Right now it says 50% remaining and gives an estimate of 1 hour and 46 minutes remaining. So not bad. I wish I could get it above 4 hours, maybe there are some tweaks or I could just stay offline when I'm suppose to be working on papers!

 

A strange thing just happened. My computer just shut off for no reason. It didn't enter sleep mode it simply shut off. Weird

 

I just downloaded and played the Bioshock demo on my 1201N via Steam...I am quite impressed by how well this thing handles it. This is at stock speeds, mind you. I ran it at the native 1366x768 and medium settings. I don't have an exact number to give you for the framerate, but it was definitely playable. And I'm sure you could get better performance by lowering the resolution or settings.

 

ya i was suprized too how well it played bioshock i even tried it maxed settings on 1024x768 and it was playable but did get a bit slow.


im gona try bioshock 2 on it when i get my ram and new hdd monday ups delayed my order like 3 times because of the bad weather but today the streets was good but again they delayed it... and what makes it worse is fedex and usps drop couple things off too my door lol

 

What were you doing before it shut off.

 

It was about 20 minutes after I posted my anecdotal battery life post. I had closed the display because I walked to the other side of the cafe, then I came back opened it and the computer popped out of sleep mode. I continued listening to music via WMP with wireless going while typing in OpenOffice. The computer just went off, the display turned off the blue LED on the power button went off. At first I moved the mouse and touched a few random keys to see if it had went in sleep mode again for some reason.

So I turned it back on and OpenOffice recovered my document and WMP told me that "there may be plug-ins which are incompatible which caused WMP to unexpectedly end" (paraphrased, can't recall verbatim). Which is strange because I haven't installed any WMP plug ins unless the program did automatically.

Afterwards the computer worked fine and I continued my work, hopefully it was a one time random occurrence, I know it couldn't have been the battery life because I was sitting just below 50%.

 

That's awesome! I wonder if BioShock 2 would be playable, does it use the same engine as BioShock? Knocking the resolution down to 1280*720 and lowering some effects to low would probably bump up the FPS substantially.

 

Re random 1201n shutdown

I've had the same random shutdown issue as have others - see thread here at the Asus forum.

In short: some hardware/software issue where certain sleep/hibernate or other power management changes seem to be causing an internal controller glitch that makes fan stop working - this in turn eventually causes protective complete shut-off once internal temperature reaches some critical maximum. By shut off I mean the 1201n just goes instantly dead as if the power source was suddenly removed - i.e. no battery then unplug AC adaptor.

Good news: there seems to be a workaround - disable wake on sleep for USB devices. Has worked for me so far touch wood...

Unsure if there is a bios or driver update as yet that totally fixes this issue...

 

At least it automatically shuts down to protect the system instead of allowing severe damage to happen. At the risk of sounding like a total idiot what is "wake up on sleep [...]"?