ASUS EEE PC 1201N REVIEW

Plenty of 11 and 12 inch laptops with Atom processors and Nvidia ION graphics are now available. But the Asus Eee PC 1201N is different from the rest. It is powered by a dual core Intel Atom 330 processor with Nvidia ION graphics. The dual core Atom 330 is usually only found in desktop systems. It is more powerful than the Atom N270/N280 processors found in most netbooks. The presence of a dual core CPU gives the 1201N a significant edge over competing netbooks from HP, Samsung and Lenovo.

Review Laptop Specifications
Display: 12.1 inch display with 1366 x 768 pixels
Processor: 1.6GHz Intel Atom N330 dual core
Graphics: GeForce 9400M (ION Graphics)
Memory: 3GB of DDR2 RAM
Storage: 250/320 GB hard drive + 500 GB web based storage
Battery: 6-cell 5200mAh battery
Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium

Ports and Slots
The Asus Eee PC 1201N comes with the regular array of ports. There are 3 USB 2.0 ports, 1 SD card slot, HDMI, VGA, 0.3 mega pixel webcam, headphone and microphone jacks. Connectivity options include Ethernet, Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11b/g/n.

Design and Build Quality
The Asus Eee PC 1201N measures just 1.3 inches in thickness and weighs around 3.1 pounds. Build quality is reasonably good. The notebook comes with a shiny black plastic exterior. While the glossy exterior lends the notebook an attractive look, it tends to collect fingerprints.

Performance
The dual core Atom 330 and Nvidia ION combination gives the machine an edge over other netbooks with single core processors. Performance is good. The machine can easily decode 1080p Flash video using Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta with GPU acceleration. HD video also looks good on the high resolution display. The machine can also handle several graphics rich games such as Call of Duty 4, Torchlight and Street Fighter IV demo. And if you need to, you can edit photos in Photoshop CS4.

Battery life
Asus claims that the 6-cell battery will provide up to 8 hours of runtime. But in real usage you can’t get more than 5 hours. In fact, you won’t get more than 4 hours if you perform a lot of CPU and GPU intensive tasks.

Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard is large and comfortable to type on. It comes with two full sized shift and two full sized arrow keys. The touchpad supports multi-touch gestures.

Heat and Noise
Heat and noise levels are well within normal limits. The 1201N is relatively quiet, almost silent. It doesn’t get too hot even under heavy loads.