Asus and AMD have a winner … about
Pros-Came with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Processing power, E-350s and better than average graphics performance
Overall, great looking laptop
USB 3.0 Port
+-USBCharge, an application that allows you to charge your devices via USB even when the notebook is off
-6 Hours of battery life
Island-style keyboard with Home, PgUp, PgDn, and End keys (missing similarly spec’d Dm1z)
Cons
-Typical bloatware you find on many PC
-Trackpad is a unique link which is perceptible noise
-Partitioned hard drive came very strangely, it can be fixed easily enough in Windows 7, but the end user should not have to worry about that.
-Charging Adapter is not always responsible for the first plug-in laptop
Trackpad-insensitive when
Overall, I am satisfied with my purchase, but especially because I was able to fix many of the Cons I had with this laptop when I bought it. First I will focus on the benefits.
I think Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit for more, because with a smaller form factor, it has rarely use the power to the 64-bit operating system. The first Pro is directly related to the second Pro, the processor is actually really good. I had Google Chrome works with about 12 tabs open, looking at a trailer in 720p with Microsoft Office applications running in the background and it handled the load very well. The trailer played at a respectable 28 fps without a drop in frames, a typical task of your single or double heart heart Intel Atom CPU could not do.
The USB 3.0 is a better place for future leak if it is not something else. USB 3.0 will become the norm in the case of the use and transferal device so its a pleasant surprise that Asus decided to include the port on this laptop.
Speaking of USB there are a total of 3 on this laptop, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, USB 2.0 port and a port of loading (the USB port on the left side of the laptop). This port in the conjunta USBCharger pre-installed software + program allows you to charge a device via the USB port while the laptop is off, does not sleep, not hibernation, completely cut off. This is the laptop that I travel a lot with its light and since I keep in my backpack. If the battery on my phone starts to run out, I can just plug my USB cable in the existing port and load up my camera, without the power on the laptop. This may not seem like a really great feature for many people but for mobile users is a very useful function.
Battery life is subjective depending on your usage, but I think it provided enough power to just spend my normal school day without having to carry a charger while being able to provide some juice to my smartphone . With brightness set to about 60%, wireless enabled, running on multiple tabs in Google Chrome, and typing into Google Docs, I get about 6 hours of use. Like any computer, if you start streaming video or run a heavy Flash content, you can expect to have your cup run about 30 to 40%.
The last I will speak Pro is the keyboard island. I am sure that this percent is a full keyboard, but it is quite comfortable to type on. The keys have a nice amount of compression and provides a satisfying click without being too noisy. I would prefer if the keys were slightly rubberized and less clever, but it’s better than your average keyboard to this form factor.
Now I will discuss the Cons. The bloatware is really easy to treat, go to control panel and remove programs you do not want. I do recommend you give this application a try first before deleting. + USBCharge is one of those rare gems that I really liked when it comes preloaded applications.
The bar Trackpad is a rare thing that I use with an application called TwoFingerScroll. This application allows you to add something for the MacOS keyboard as typing with two fingers to allow a right click, a gesture that pilots Synaptics trackpads typical PC does not natively support.
The hard drive is something I do not quite understand. The hard drive has about 300 GB available, but you can only access about 90 GB one. I had to use the Device Manager in Windows 7 to re-partition the hard drive. This is something that a technician would certainly not bothered, hell, I’m a geek and I’m bored with it, Asus should certainly solve this problem in the future.
When you look at the charging port on the 1215b you might confuse it with an audio jack or microphone because its so small. The charger has a very small plug that looks very fragile and could easily break overtime. I returned very late from class feeling pretty tired, so I grabbed my laptop from my bag, threw it on the charger, and collapsed on my bed to sleep a little much needed. The next morning I wake up grabbing my laptop to school to find that did not charge at all to 8 hours of his hip was in place. I checked the detachable cable connected and it was as it should so I’m not sure what’s going on. I unplug the charging cable and reconnected and boom, now it decides to load. This takes place at least 10 times since I am the owner of this laptop, it’s not a huge con, but be sure to take an overview of the LED load to ensure that its on before you leave only.
The biggest of them all for a Con trackpad. Simply put, it works sometimes and sometimes not at all. The main entrance to navigate on your mobile may decide to stop working at any second, crazy is not it. I uninstalled the Synaptics Touchpad drivers and grabbed the latest on the Asus website and I still encountered the same problem. I even started a different operating system (Linux Mint) and I still could recreate the same insensitivity trackpad, so I knew he was not in software. Fortunately, eeeuser.com gave me a solution. I had to force open and my laptop and remove two pieces of tape that were placed between the trackpad and the motherboard (to avoid the shock) to solve the problem. It’s really not excusable, all users have not encountered this problem, but knowing that I canceled my warranty potentially use my laptop is really discouraging.
So there’s my mini review of the 1215b, I made sure I used this laptop as far as I could before I wrote an opinion on it. With all the amenities that are listed, I will still give it a rating of 4 out of 5. There are not many E-350 processors available that come in a 12.1 to 11.6 form factor so my rating reflects the similar laptops that are available. The Dm1z have overheating problems that make the fan run continuously and lack of certain keys (those that I mentioned in the pros. X120e The Thinkpad has a 6 cell battery (like the 1215b), except that it exceeds from the rear, a design feature and I hate the Sony Vaio PCV-YB15KX is about 100 dollars more than the other E-350 similar spec’d laptops. You may or may not encounter the same problems as I had, but all things considered (after some tweaking of course), I am satisfied with my purchase. All electronics are going to have their gripes and defects, luckily mine were mostly fixable. He attractive design, attractive price points, respectable specs, really great form factor. When it comes to accessibility, portability and power, the 1215b is a really good competitor.
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