Asus 1225B EEEPC review – we like it a lot (with video)

You might remember the 1225B, the mini laptop Asus announced a while back, as part of their new line of budget laptops. The Flares, as they’re called, are here to replace Seashell laptops, which were sidelined as the Cedar Trail platform emerged. Asus showed their Flares during CES, and recently our friends from netbooklive.com got the chance to play with a review unit.

You might be very interested in this review, if you’re hunting for a new ultraportable laptop, that’s not as flashy or expensive as an ultrabook, but it’s significantly better than a regular netbook. Basically, the 1225B fits right in the middle of the consumer spectrum, where most buyers eventually decide to venture.

The 1225B comes with a new AMD Fusion APU, namely the E-450, which incorporates a dual core processor clocked at 1.65 GHZ and built in HD graphics, namely Radeon HD 6320 with Turbo Core.  You also get 4 GB of RAM, a 320 GB HDD and an 11.6 inch display with an HD resolution of 1366 x 768 px. To sum it up fairly quickly, Mike from netbooklive.com observed that the new design has slimmer edges than the middle, so kind of mimicking a flare, while the Seashell design was thicker towards the end and slimmer towards the edge.

Moving on, the display on the 1225B is quite a problem, as it has bad viewing angles and reflects light, being on par, negatively, with the 1215B, which had a similarly problematic display. On a more positive note, if you find a good angle, in a rather dark room, the display is very bright and lively, offering vivid colors, particularly pleasing when watching HD content.

The 1225 comes with a brand new design and hardware platform

As for performance, the 1225B does well what it was designed to do: basic tasks with a seasoning of HD playback and mild gaming. The dual core processor and slightly pumped up graphics will offer an experience that’s better than the one on the 1215B, but it’s nowhere near what an ultrabook can do. The laptop will be able to deal with HD playback, both streamed and directly from the HDD, and can run older games at good frame rates and detail levels, but newer titles will see you play them with minimum detail and even lower resolution.

Anyway, for an entry level machine, the 1225B seems to do just fine on this front. As for pricing, the 1225B starts at $399, but that will buy the base model, powered by a slower C-60 APU, while the model packing the E-450 goes for 479 bucks.  Stay tuned for the detailed video review below or hit the source link for the written review.

Related posts:

1. Asus 1225C vs Asus 1225B- fresh of the bus 11.6 inch EEE PCs for 2012
2. Asus 1225C review – a good EEE PC mini laptop for 2012
3. Asus 1025CE review – we like it, but there should be more of (in) it
4. Asus B23E 12-incher released: a business laptop with a lot of power and a premium price
5. Asus UL30JT review – 13 incher with extra-muscles and good autonomy

Last updated: April 18, 2012 | Tags: Asus, intel atom

As a student and future ScreenWriter and Movie Producer, Mark simply cannot live without his mobile computing solutions. He's grown very fond of smartphones and compact laptops over the years and sometimes he likes to share his views on portable gadgets here on AllAboutEEEPC.com . More on the About page. See all posts by Mark.