First Look At Latest Ion-Infused Asus Eee PC

MojoKid writes "Atom-based netbooks have come a long way since they were first introduced. 7 and 8-inch netbooks are no longer the norm, and availability of 12-inch netbooks is on the rise. The newest member of the Asus Eee PC lineup is the Eee PC 1201N, and it really stands out in the crowd of netbook in terms of specifications. The machine features a 12.1" HD display, new dual-core Atom 330 CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium, an HDMI output and NVIDIA's Ion chipset with integrated GPU. HotHardware was able to demo the system's ability to handle more advanced benchmarks, thanks in part to the Ion GPU. It's also the first netbook they tested that could actually play older 3D titles respectably. You won't get Crysis running but lighter duty titles can be played back nicely if you tone the details down and lower the resolution. The 1201N also played back 720p and 1080p content without stuttering, and the dual-core CPU allowed enough headroom to multitask while videos were playing."

Comments

More power is nice, but has everyone forgotten...?

[SomeGuyFromCA]

The point of a netbook is size and weight, not speed. More power is nice, but the creep up towards 12" screens is annoying.

Linux/SSD version wanted

[markdavis]

Now if they would just go back to their true *netbook* roots and also offer a Linux + SSD version!! That was a killer combination.

I will stick with my Linux EEE 1000 for now. Better value than the MS-Win version (for me), uncrashable "hard drive", great battery life, nice form factor, decent keyboard, reasonably fast, respectable screen. About the only two annoying things are the right shift key in the wrong place (which really kills me when using vi) and the battery light starting to blink at something like 75% power left (obviously a boo boo).

Re:Linux/SSD version wanted

[TheDarkener]

Mod parent up. My eee 701 is still the choice for me, even given the higher specs of all the latter models. It's the smallest of them all (didn't netbook used to = subnotebook?), SSD = oops, I dropped my laptop, oh well.., and Ubuntu runs great on it. Asus has lost their netbook roots, now they're just making normal notebooks with a crap OS.

DISCLAIMER: I love Palm Pilots, too. You know, stuff that was made for its purpose.

Re:Linux/SSD version wanted

[markdavis]

Exactly. The whole concept of "netbook" was supposed to be small, inexpensive, light, long battery life, lesser specs, solid state hard drive, and MS-Windows-Free. Asus essentially invented the category based on that. Simple, rugged, very portable, cheap.

Pretty much all of those criteria were perverted to the point that now they are really just turning into run-of-the-mill notebooks. Double the RAM, rip out the SDD, blow up the screen and case size, pack on the weight, lower the battery life, install MS-Windows, and jack up the price 50%. It just becomes a low-end notebook or sub-notebook.

Kinda like Firefox.... it was supposed to be fast, light, simple- that was it's born mission. But with each release, it was getting more complicated, bigger, harder to use, packing on more and more "features". Seems like it has been moving back to the right direction again, though (I hope).

Oh well. Maybe the true "netbook" concept will be rediscovered again soon, too.

Re:More power is nice, but has everyone forgotten.

[Anachragnome]

That is EXACTLY what I want.

Too bad it is made by Acer. Their past history of totally fucking over customers when their cheap Mobos die prevents me from doing business with them. Ever.

Re:More power is nice, but has everyone forgotten.

[HermMunster]

They are all laptops. A netbook and a notebook are all laptops. Netbook is a marketing term.