ASUS Eee PC 1201N: Dual-Core Atom + ION FTW?
by Jarred Walton on December 24, 2009 5:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Windows OS Performance
We didn't have time to get boot/shut down numbers from the 1005PE for our initial review, so we have them in this article. Really, these are just numbers for the most part. Faster systems boot slower in some cases, and some of the Atom systems boot rather quickly all things considered. We've tried our best to optimize all of the test systems by removing unwanted software, but some of them still "stall" between the login prompt and the Windows desktop for 10 to 15 seconds.
The 1201N isn't really anything special in most of these OS related tasks, typically placing in the middle of the pack. The 1005PE benefits from having only 1GB in the hibernate/resume tests. As for the EC5409u, it manages to load Windows faster than any of the other tested laptops at just 39 seconds. Both ASUS laptops suffer from the aforementioned delay between the login prompt and the desktop. Also noteworthy is that the 1005HA places higher than the 1005PE in most of these tests, indicating perhaps better BIOS and software optimizations - it remains by far the fastest laptop to POST, taking less than half as long as the second place 1005PE in that metric.
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YpoCaramel - Friday, January 22, 2010 - link
130cd/m2 is too dim for portable use. These levels might be useful for getting accurate color in lighting controlled rooms, but most ultra-portables don't have that luxury. Even if they are kept indoors they will encounter a variety of lighting conditions, some of which will make the screen quite difficult to see at such low brightness. What's worse, the screen is reflective. Sufficient brightness can minimize reflections, but the 1210N just doesn't have the brightness. The competition can do better - even old the eeePC 1000H.darkryft - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
I personally feel the 1201N is a great evolution for the netbook, but probably represents the limit. To go any further in size any number of other features would drive the cost to where it is no longer a netbook, it's a laptop.There are some drawbacks, yes, and there are laptops that can be had for nearly the same money the perform better, but this is a fantastic feature set in the ultra-portable class. I'm personally phasing myself out of PC gaming and desktop computing as a whole, and I will probably invest in a full-on laptop at some point, but for documents, music, and netsurfing this will easily handle the tasks.
If only it were cost-feasible to drop a Patriot Torqx in this thing.
SmCaudata - Saturday, December 26, 2009 - link
The ASUS 14" laptop seems like the best portable out there right now. The battery life is good enough were you really don't need to bring your charger everywhere and it's price is not much more than this dual core netbook for much better performace. There are a few select situations where one may absolutely need 11" or smaller, but for 99% of the users out there I cannot imagine that the 14" thin and light ASUS is too big. If I were in the market for a laptop it is certainly the one that I would buy.Rsaeire - Saturday, December 26, 2009 - link
"...video decoding and in particular gaming are too much for the 4500MHD."The Intel GMA 4500MHD supports full hardware acceleration of HD video codecs, MPEG-2, VC-1 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.
JarredWalton - Saturday, December 26, 2009 - link
Yes, but Flash 10.1 still struggles on HD movies.LoneWolf15 - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
Yes, but Flash 10.1 is currently at beta 2, a full-featured release isn't available yet.JarredWalton - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
Exactly, and do you buy something with GMA 4500MHD with the hope that everything gets worked out in the next couple of months as far as Flash goes, or do you wait and see first, or do you go with ION? I'm inclined to take one of the latter two approaches, as buying something with the assumption that it will work later (see GMA 500 -- no recent XP driver updates, and as far as I can tell the Acer 751h still has major issues with stability) isn't a great plan.LoneWolf15 - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
Alternately, I might just wait for something like this.http://www.windowsfordevices.com/c/a/News/Broadcom...">http://www.windowsfordevices.com/c/a/News/Broadcom...
LoneWolf15 - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
Actually, having seen Adobe in action, I'd probably wait. Haven't seen too many things they can't break to some degree, even sometimes after they have fixed them.Ion is cool, don't get me wrong. However, Intel's 4500 onboard video has been the first video product I've seen from them that seems to work well for almost everything except gaming. I rarely switch on my Radeon 3470 mobile graphics (I have a ThinkPad with switchable graphics) for this reason. If I was in the market, I'd rather get an SU2300 laptop than an N330 once I've seen what Flash 10.1 release looks like --and your review actually convinced me of that, as I'd have been on the fence before.
Spivonious - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
But that's not due to the 4500MHD, it's due to Flash not taking advantage of it.