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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."
The point of a netbook is size and weight, not speed. More power is nice, but the creep up towards 12" screens is annoying.
if the answer isn't violence, neither is your silence / freedom of expression doesn't make it alright
Boy, I can't wait for the 17" netbooks with lots of ram, ssd and fast CPUs. A good video card would be nice, too. Why won't someone make this?
The biggest benefit I see of the Ion is for small form factor desktops to support VDPAU (an API for hardware offloading of video decoding). Majority of the recent small form factor systems (e.g. Dell Studio Hybrid) I've looked into use the Intel 4500 which does support XvMC, but at least in Linux VDPAU is much more usable (larger list of supported codecs, etc.). I moderate the Boxee Linux forum, and I'm seeing a lot of posters using Ion based HTPC's.
Sadly, PS/2 was yet another victim of USB, which doesn't care what you plug into it, the electrical slut.
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).
This netbook has the same screen size, ram, and CPU perforcement as my four year old laptop.
Has my old laptop become a netbook?
I was impressed by the build quality of their new T91MT touch-screen tablet, and it was definitely an all-around improvement on the older version of that model (the T91, which came with Windows XP and didn't have multitouch). I just wish they offered a handheld touch-screen computer in a screen size slightly larger than 8.9 inches. If they could release this one with a touch screen that swiveled around to lay down flat on top of the keyboard, that'd be perfect! We need such devices to deploy our software product on, and Gibabyte makes a 10-inch one, but even with the nearly full-sized keyboard, it was nowhere near as compelling a user experience as the ASUS.
I'm kind of a beast, so having the larger display and keyboard for my club-like fingers is handy. For me, the distinction between a 12" netbook and a 13" laptop has more to do with battery life. I have the 12" Asus that was the precursor the one in this article, and I get roughly the same battery life out of it that I do my smartphone, which means I can use it consistently all day long without needing to plug it in. Charge up overnight, and keep on going the next day. And since it's roughly the width and length of a piece of paper, weighing less than three pounds, it's perfect for when I'm on the road traveling or working.
What is up with the names?! Ion infused?? Definition of Infused: An infusion is the outcome of steeping plants with a desired flavour in water or oil. Defenition of an Ion: An ion is an atom or molecule where the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons. Right...
So, saying they get their ions from a sensible source, such as salt, and use a plant with salt on it, such as seaweed, then what we actually have is a laptop that has been dipped in seaweed oil? No wonder people don't trust major companies any more... all this sounds very fishy.
Penguins can be fascists too
Sounds like you want an Aspire Revo. ( see http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+AspireRevo+Nettop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Atom%26%23153%3B+Processor/9535434.p?id=1218120545008&skuId=9535434 ) costs $200, ION graphics, 1 gig of RAM, HDMI support, and a 160 gig HDD. I also think its got an E-SATA port on the front of it which is a nice addition. According to reviews its easy to crack open and upgrade the RAM. While the Atom CPU might be on a bit of the sluggish side, I think this might be what you are looking for if you don't want a laptop.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
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.
It's like bragging about having the largest sub-compact car.
They tested it in the article, and it ran for about 3 hours and 20 minutes. Not the best life, especially for a netbook.
I have a dell mini 9 in front of me right now, the two mouse buttons are below the touchpad.
I do not know about the hp ones.
All of Apple's notebooks at least are in fact machined from a single slab of aluminum. I'd bet other manufacturers have adopted similar "unibody" approaches with their high-end systems. And while the $1100 I paid for my MBP13" is decidedly a premium price, it was damn well worth it for my needs.
Manufacturers are in no way required to lower their prices according to their costs. So long as people are paying the current prices, their costs could drop to zero and they'd still be idiotic to lower MSRP by a cent. If people are paying $1700, then it's worth at least $1700 to them - it's not like basic necessities where you have to pay whatever the price is in order to survive.
Of course I'd like lower prices, along with the rest of the world. But if the market is willing to bear your price, the last thing you should do is lower it.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
They are all laptops. A netbook and a notebook are all laptops. Netbook is a marketing term.
You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
It was named Aluminum by Humphry Davy, who discovered it. Aluminium was a bastardised spelling by someone who thought it didn't sound very Latin. Both are now considered valid. Apparently no one decided that we should have platinium or molybdenium. Only Aluminum got the retroactive renaming.
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