ASUS Eee PC 1215N Review Discussion

The ASUS Eee PC 1215N is the latest netbook to offer a 12-inch HD display and a dual-core Intel Atom processor to deliver multimedia entertainment and multitasking productivity for just $500. While this isn't the cheapest netbook on the market, the 1215N promises to be the most powerful. Keep reading to find out more.

Read the full content of this Article: ASUS Eee PC 1215N Review

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Great review. The dual-core Atom in this netbook is actually not designed for netbook use; Intel announced the N550 a few days ago for that. Regardless, the single-core Atom was a very weak processor and was at its limits even surfing the web; the dual-core Atom apparently helps alleviate that problem.

It's a shame about how difficult it is to access the hard drive; that is definitely something I would do. With a budget SSD or fast 7200RPM disk this netbook could be even better. The performance bottleneck of just about every computer I use is the storage device (followed by a lack of RAM).

 

A bit disappointed that it's not coming out with USB 3.0, but I suppose that's what the 1218 will be for.

Great review.

 

Excellent review, I suppose I will wait for 1015n with possibly better battery life and slimmer profile body.

 

I think excaliberpc had it advertised with USB 3.0. I wonder how that will affect their pre-orders....

Any other big store have them for pre-order without excaliberpc's bonus price increase, or is that the new price?

Also disappointed about the hard drive access...

 

Hopefully the 1015n is slimmer

 

Remember that the 1015n has a more limited GPU though... (if that matters to you)

 

If it's anything like the 1201N (aka the other "most powerful 12-inch netbook in the world"), expect disappointment.

 

Another Asus netbook. Asus gave birth to the netbook. The category may well end up dying with Asus. It's incredibly difficult to differentiate the new models from last week's new models. Perhaps they can one day deliver a model with a good screen and better trackpad button. If they did that, I'd buy one.

 

I have been eyeing the 1215N, definitely an interesting machine, as a cheap alternative to the other Optimus powered laptop I've been eyeing, the U33/35JC.

 

I thought ION 2 was suppose to give much better battery life...

 

Come on, don't spoil the surprise for people who haven't read the review yet.

In all seriousness, Calxn makes a good point about the netbook category ... at least as far as many educated computer shoppers are concerned. The netbook category hasn't changed a whole lot since the birth of the netbook.

Entry-level discrete graphics like Nvidia's ION are a good step in the right direction, and we're certainly glad to see something other than a single-core Atom in a netbook, but we haven't seen anything that has the same "WOW" factor as the first Eee PC did back when ultraportables with similar performance like the Fujitsu LifeBook P7120D were priced at closer to $2000 rather than $200.

There are still plenty of average consumers interested in netbooks, and if all you want to do is browse the web and do basic stuff then a netbook is all you need. Still, it would be nice if a manufacturer did something new in terms of design with netbooks and gave us another WOW moment.

 

I've been using the 1201N since December and I have to say that I have not been disappointed in it at all. One does have to keep in mind that it is technically a netbook, and is not going to perform on the same level as a desktop; however, with a fresh install of Windows and a couple driver tweaks, mine has been very responsive, only occasionally making me wait for anything.

I plan on purchasing one of the 1215N's for my father as soon as they are available and will post back with my impressions of the 1201N's successor.

~Ado

 

The ION2, in and of itself, does not provide better batter life. The Optimus feature allows the system to automatically turn off the ION2 GPU, this is where the power saving comes into play. The problem is that, if you were to constantly have a program running that the system thinks needs to have the ION active, then you will not be saving power. One video review I saw showed that Yahoo Messenger will cause the ION2 to be active, even though it should not be necessary. These 'false positives' will likely be fixed with software updates.

From what I've read, if the ION2 is constantly in use, the battery life is roughly the same as the 1201N; however, under normal daily use it appears to have about an hour longer battery life than the 1201N.

~Ado

 

If it makes you feel any better, I haven't read it yet either.

I've had mine since January (well, technically I'm on my third one, I've had it replaced in March and June), and I've also done a fresh Windows install, as well as a memory upgrade to 4GB. I wasn't expecting miracles from this thing, but I had hoped for a bit more out of a dual-core CPU, even if it is an Atom. Also, this thing runs hot as hell (idle temperatures in the upper 60's to 70's Celsius), and frequently shuts down during heavier use (notably games and video). And according to a brief Google search, I am far from the only one with these issues.

 

I had originally planned to upgrade to 4GB; but, I decided I didn't have the money at the time of purchase. Admittedly, it could be faster, but it is sufficient for my needs. I play some games on it, DDO is probably the most taxing. I am able to play with high quality, native res, and enjoy 35fps constant... except in town, then it's low to mid 20's. I also connect it to my HDTV and have watched several videos at both 720p and 1080p without issue. Load times are noticeably longer than my desktop (4800+ X2/2GB/RAID0); but, I expected that, and they are not long enough to bother me, just a few seconds extra.

Yes, I have also read where others have had cooling, or rather, lack of cooling, issues with the 1201N's. I have not had any of these issues myself, my system tends to stay in the 50's. If I remember correctly, it is related to some pads inside the casing that were blocking air vents. A couple users said they had tore down theirs, removed the pads, and used better thermal compounds and noticed significantly better cooling performance.

~Ado

 

5 hours and 34 minutes battery life with 70% brightness. That's very impressive considering the specs.

 

I really hope when Bobcat is out, Asus puts out an AMD version of their 12" range.

 

I'm waiting on the Eee 1218 to see if that brings anything new to the table. An N550 and USB 3.0 might be the best combo but we'll see.

 

On paper, it's an appealing machine... for selected people. For me, I'm a college student so I'm looking for something cheap and portable, but with battery life and enough power for a little gaming. I can't think of another laptop in this 500 range that can perform those tasks as well as this seems to be able to. Course to the average consumer, I think it's in a bad market spot. High end netbook...

 

Haven't heard anything about the 1218 for quite some time now, have you?
I also need a small netbook for taking notes in class and if they don't announce a 1218 release soon i'll have to buy the 1215N...

 

I dont known... the 1215N 3d performance is a deception to me for now..
Ive seem some videos, and the performance is below the 1201N... especially for MW2.

There something that NO ONE has ever talked about... The Pinetrail platform only gives 3 pci-e 1.1 lanes, and so, the ION2 could only be conected to the chipset by an x1 pci-e 1.1 lane with a maximum bandwidth of 250Mb/s, i need someone with one to confirm this...

3dmark06 is giving a high score because of the high sm2 and sm3 scores... but 3dmark of just a series of small tests in with everything get loaded to vRAM before the test start, thats why it will still give a high score.

 

I shouldn't have to fix their design flaws myself.

 

ExcaliberPC.com finally has a few 1215N's in stock, I placed my order for a black one at 2:00, they had 12 available then... as of 2:45 they are only showing 6 available. They are going fast. They are showing 18 of the silver ones available, better jump on one quick if you want one!

~Ado

 

If you get one can you give me more details on the ION2 pci-e conection?

 

Gahhh ... bouncy keyboards....

 

Hmm, a bit pricey for what it is...

 

I received my 1215N yesterday, I'll be spending some quality time with it this weekend. My initial impression is pretty good. I liked the larger touchpad and I did not notice any bounce in the keyboard. The power port is now the furthest back on the left side and the exhaust vent is slightly further forward, this corrects some minor issues that the 1201N suffered from. I haven't really pushed it yet and I still need to perform a fresh install of Windows; but, it felt plenty snappy already. I did notice that, unlike the 1201N, the 1215N does not share memory for video, the ION2 has 512mb dedicated.

I'll provide more feedback as I use it this weekend. Feel free to ask questions if you have anything specific you would like to know about the 1215N's.

~Ado

 

I've had mine for over a week now and have had time to do quite a bit with it.
Below is a link to my thread on performance, a brief overclocking guide and a gpuz screenie showing that the ion 2 is a pcie2.0 card @x1 meaning 500mb/s bandwidth not 250mb/s as was originally thought by many.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/515917-eee-pc-1215n-performance.html