Best netbook 2012 - best Asus EEE PCs news and reviews » 12 inch netbooks and above

Asus B23E 12-incher released: a business laptop with a lot of power and a premium price

Adrian — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:48:08 +0000

Asus’s laptop collection improves and enriches almost weekly, with products being unveiled and released to fit everyone’s needs, no matter your education or profession. One of the latest notebooks to hit the market is the Asus B23E, a business-oriented 12-incher with a pretty premium price, but a sturdy and solid exterior, as well as some impressive tech specs.

Powered by a 2.7 Ghz Intel Core i7-2620M, the B23E-XH71 will certainly not be on top of the casual technology enthusiast’s shopping lists, but should draw attention from those of you who need a solid, snappy and portable laptop to carry around.

Weighing in at 3.2 pounds, the Asus B23E is clearly not a lightweight device, but it’s made out of magnesium-alloy, so the aim is to provide ruggedness and strength. The all-black exterior, with matte surfaces, might seem old-fashioned for some of you, but once again this 12-incher is aimed towards a certain kind of people and those people appreciate elegance and plain, but sophisticated looks.

It's robust, solid and sturdy, which is exactly what you need on the road!

Aside from the very snappy dual-core Sandy Bridge processor, the B23E also comes with 4 GB of RAM, a 500 GB 7200 rpm hard drive, a DVD burner drive, Bluetooth 3.0 and WiFi connectivity. The laptop runs, of course, Windows 7 Home Premium, and the 3-cell battery, while it still has an unspecified autonomy, should come with enough power to go around.

The 12.1-inch screen is another technical detail that should draw your attention, featuring a 1366 x 768 pixels resolution and offering protection against sunlight or any kind of powerful light source. There’s also a spill-resistant comfortable keyboard, as well as a fingerprint reader, so all in all I for one am really impressed with this netbook’s features and tech specs.

It doesn't look spectacular, but it packs a lot of power under its hood!

As you might expect, this kind of power and build doesn’t come cheap and the 12-incher currently starts at 922.43 dollars on Amazon. You can pre-order it right now and it should be delivered to you in a matter of weeks, even though there’s still nothing official on that front.

There it is, the new 12-inch business-oriented netbook from Asus, dressed to impress and ready to accompany you on the road anywhere, anytime! What do you think, are you willing to pay almost 1,000 bucks for this 12-incher?

Source: Laptoping.com

Asus 1225C 12-incher unveiled at CES, set to hit the market soon with a solid body and a high-res screen

Adrian — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:21:46 +0000

The CES technology tradeshow has always been a great event to unveil new, innovative and special computer devices and that’s exactly what Asus has done in Las Vegas during the past couple of days. The Asus 1225C is one of the most interesting ultraportable laptops we have seen in probably a while and is set to hit the market soon with a solid build and a more than decent display.

The design is one of this laptop’s strongest points and the aluminum case makes this 12-incher look nice and solid. The keyboard/trackpad combo is another thing the 1225C has going for it, providing comfort while looking stylish and fashionable.

In terms of hardware and performance, you should expect a pretty snappy overall computing machine, giving the fact that the Asus Eee PC 1225C will be powered by a dual-core 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Cedar Trail processor. There’s also 2 GB of RAM, integrated HD graphics and an HDD with either 250 GB or 500 GB of storage, depending on your needs and the exact model you will go for.

The Asus 1225C features a very nice design, as well as an elegant and functional keyboard.

The 12-inch screen sported by the 1225C should be pretty capable too, featuring a 1366 x 768 pixels display. While it’s not ideal for playing full HD 1080p clips, you should easily run 720p clips, which I would expect to be enough for the target customers of such a netbook.

As for the ports and connectivity, Asus hasn’t disappointed us, coming with all the basics, including HDMI, USB 3.0, an SD card reader, Bluetooth 3.0 and WiFi. The operating system of choice is of course Windows 7 Home Premium and there’s also a low-res 0.3 MPx webcam on the device’s front.

Pretty aerodynamic and slim, isn't it?

No pricing details have been announced just yet, but we should find out something sooner or later, because the Asus 1225C is set to be made available in the US, as in other markets, in the second quarter of 2012, according to official statements.

Here’s a short hands-on video of the 12-incher as well, brought to you straight from Las Vegas by the guys at Netbooklive.com:

Asus Lamborghini VX6S to have a 3D display, plus ATOM and AMD graphics?

Mark — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:52:35 +0000

Asus’s booth at Computex is full with exciting new stuff, one of them being a new 12 inch notebook from the Lamborghini line, called VX6S. At a first look, it looks pretty much similar to the VX6 that we had a while back. The case has the same design, the keyboard and touch pad are virtually the same and the glossy treatment is still there.

The color is different, as the unit displayed is orange, and the palm rest got a leathery like finish, a touch of finesse we’ve seen on other Asus high end laptops recently. Major changes are happening under the hood, though. The VX6 had a dual core, Intel Atom D525, running at 1.8 GHZ, while the graphics module was the old faithful Nvidia ION. The VX6S, however, comes with an Intel Atom NM10 processor and Radeon HD 6470M graphics.

We don’t know too much about this new processor from Intel, but might be a newer entry in the D series, probably faster than the D525, meaning it could go over the 2 GHZ mark. Another interesting spec listed by Asus for the VX6S is that the 12 notebook is able to decode HD3D thanks to the Radeon graphics module, which might mean that the screen of the VX6S could be able to show 3D content. It would be the first mini laptop to be be able to display 3D content and it would a nice first from Asus. But more probably, the VX6S will be able to play 3D content via the HDMI port, on a proper 3D TV. We’ll just have to wait and see Asus’s live demo of the 12 inch notebook, which seems to be a pretty decent entertainment and gaming machine.

The Asus Lamborghini VX6S

Other specs include a 500 GB hard disk drive, Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi N and Windows 7 Home Premium as an OS, with a maximum of 4 GB of system memory and probably 2 straight out the box. The battery seems to be a 6 cell, 58 Wh juice maker. For now, there’s no info about availability or pricing, but it’s good to see Asus put together a kind of premium 12 inch machine, with very good graphics in comparison with ION machines they previously released.

Switching between on board graphics and the dedicated chip will not be done automatically on the VX6S, but this is compensated by the range of apps and games that will probably be supported by the hardware of this exciting new 12 inch machine. We’ll let you know more about it as we get updates from Computex. Stay tuned.

Best 12 inch mini laptops – top picks of the moment

Mark — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 14:23:05 +0000

The 12 inch format for laptops is basically a hybrid, being halfway between a 10 inch netbook and a 14-15 inch regular laptop.

This might seem as only a comparison in terms of size, but it’s also accurate when it comes to performance, as 12 inch mini laptops tend to have better hardware and are overall superior machines to netbooks.

They are closer to laptops, but are way smaller, of course, being a compact and highly portable productivity solution. In comparison with netbooks, who can mostly deal with regular apps (like word processing, browsing and the occasional videos), some 12 inch mini laptops can deliver good performance for video and photo editing, serious multitasking and even some gaming.

Sure, like with all categories of computers, the 12 inch form factor has to offer something for every type of user and budget and hopefully this article will help you choose your own 12 inch mini laptop from the list below, a list of what we consider the top picks n this class, based on our experience with them, but also reviews posted online by experts and regular users like you guys.

See the list of best 12 inch mini laptops below.

Asus 1215N – classic Eee PC design and great performance for $479

The 12 inch mini laptop looks like a 10 inch Eee PC netbook from Asus, even coming with the notorious Seashell Design. The laptop has a 12 inch, 1366 x 768 display, which is a very good resolution for displaying HD video. The processor comes from Intel, namely the dual core Atom D525, having a clock speed of 1.8 GHZ.

The CPU is also optimized to take in less power than many other dual core processors and has an architecture that will avoid most power losses in the circuitry. The laptop comes with two graphic cards, namely the integrated Intel graphics and Nvidia ION graphics. The ION graphics can deliver perfect 1080p playback, some gaming and video editing, while the onboard video card is much more energy efficient.

The computer comes with 2 GB of RAM, a 250 GB hard disk drive and Windows 7 Premium. The keyboard and multi touch track pad are similar to those on other EEE PC entries, while the battery is said to last for about 4 hours on a single charge. There’s also a HDMI port for connecting the laptop to a bigger display and Wireless N, which is a technology five times faster than standard WiFi.

Asus Eee PC 1215N

Asus 1215B- a great netbook for HD playback for $449

The 1215B is powered by an AMD Fusion APU, namely the E-350 Zacate chip. This APU (accelerated processing unit) is both a dual core processor, running at 1.66 GHZ and a HD video card, able to play HD video and is compatible with DirectX 11. The setup is not as good as on the 1215N, as the onboard Radeon HD 6310 can deliver HD video, but can’t deal with gaming and other video intensive tasks at the level of the ION graphics.

Other features include a 1366 x 768 LED display, 2 GB of RAM and a 320 GB hard disk drive. There’s also a HDMI port for outsourcing video on a bigger and better display, as well as the usual suspects, like USB ports and WiFi. The 1215B can go for about 8.5 hours on a single charge and runs on Windows 7 Home Premium.

This mini laptop is a good choice if you’re moving a lot and like watching HD videos on the go, while also being able to do some work thanks to the dual core processor and fair amount of system memory.

Asus 1215B

MSI Windpad U270- a multimedia 12 inch netbook packed with many additional features

The U270 has the same processor and graphics as the 1215B, namely the Zacate E-350 dual core processor and Radeon HD 6310 integrated video card. The laptop can support as much as 8 GB of RAM, so multitasking will be very enjoyable on it. You can choose between two storage options, 250 and 320 GB, while the display is pretty standard for this class, namely a HD ready 1366 x 768 screen.

The laptop has a USB 3.0 port, which can offer 10 times the transfer speeds of a 2.0 port. Also, there’s a HDMI port, 2.0 USB ports and a HD web cam, able to record 720p video at 30 frames per second. The laptop boosts a couple of MSI proprietary features, like the Eco engine, that helps reduce power drain and a face recognition app for enhanced security.

MSi Wind U270 has a film coating that protects the netbook from fingerprints and smudges

Asus UL20FT - tough, metal covered netbook with great processor performance for $549

The UL20FT is a classy and lightweight 12.1 inch laptop, which can deliver great performance on the go. It‘s only 1.1 inch thick and comes with an aluminium brushed finish that keeps fingerprints away and makes the laptop much tougher. In terms of performance, the 12.1 incher matches what bigger machines have to offer.

It has a Core i3 dual core processor, assisted by 2 GB of RAM and a 320 GB hard disk drive. The screen has a 1366 x 768 resolution, which is good for watching HD videos and high resolution photos. There’s also a web cam for video calls, a HDMI port for watching videos on a bigger screen and a battery able to go on a single charge for about 6 hours.

It’s a very well balanced mini laptop and considering it weighs only 1.4 KG, it’s a very good buy for those looking for office and entertainment performance in a package that’s easy to carry around.

Asus UL20FT

Lenovo ThinkPad X201 – classic ThinkPad experience on a more compact machine starting at $909

If you’re a fan of the ThinkPad series, look no further. The X201 has all those features that made the series so popular (including the red dot) and also delivers stunning performance for a 12 inch machine. It comes with a Core i3 or i5 processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 250 GB hard disk drive and a 1280 x 800 resolution display, which looks great when playing HD videos.

For that you have the Intel HD graphics, which is a good solution for watching videos and surfing the web, as well as for some light gaming. The OS is Windows 7 Home Premium and the computer comes with a 4 cell battery, as well as WiFi, blue tooth and ports like USB and SD slots.

Lenovo ThinkPad X201

Conclusions

The mini laptops we’ve talked about in this article can all deliver very good performance when it comes to video playback and multitasking, surpassing netbooks when it comes to productivity.

Still, they are ultra portable computers and are very easy to carry around, being the perfect solution for demanding users on the go.

We mentioned a couple of different options, from the affordable Asus 1215B to the all mighty ThinkPad X201, a dream for every mobile enthusiast. Thus, each of you can pick between these devices, based on your needs and budget.

As you can see, there aren’t a lot of laptops in this list, as the 12 inch segment is not as crowded as others. But notebooks in this class do provide the best ratio between portability, performance and price, so you won’t regret getting any of these.

Of course, your feedback and input is greatly appreciated, so don’t hesitate and leave a reply via the form below.

Asus 1215B EEE PC reviewed – a big boy with a mighty heart

Mark — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 18:41:35 +0000

The 1215B is the natural evolution of the 1215N, which was not a bad netbook at all, but considering how fast the market evolves and shifts these days, you can’t really linger in one place for too much. And there are some expectations from this one, as it uses one of the new and very appreciated platforms for netbooks, namely the AMD Fusion platform. But let’s take it slow and talk about what we notice about this one when just looking at it.

Like its predecessor, the 1215B has a seashell design and the finish on the lid is plastic, but that soft, almost rubbery one we really liked on the 1215N. The little guy doesn’t look bad at all from the outside, although the lid might be a fingerprint magnet, but can you name more than a couple of netbooks which are not? The keyboard is standard chiclet and there seems to be enough space between the keys to avoid typos and the actual keys are large, although they have this plastic feel- something more soft might have been more comfy.

The touchpad is the same as the one the 1215N, which means pretty standard stuff, but built in such a way that everybody can use it without much of a problem. The single mouse button is easy to use and large enough not to miss, even if you’re not looking at the keyboard. The 12.1 inch screen has a 1366 x 768, which might attract some light if you’re in a very sunny room- so this is mostly an indoor netbook only.

The keyboard is standard Eee PC layout and feel

Now, let’s see what lies beneath the classic Eee PC skin. The 1215B is powered by the AMD Fusion E350 Zacate dual core APU, running at 1.66 GHZ. The processor comes with integrated graphics, in this case the ATI HD 6310. The graphic card comes with support for Direct X11 and is HD capable, something you don’t get on just any netbook. You can even have a go at some gaming, but there will be some limitations in terms of detail level and frame rate on newer titles.

Nevertheless, it will deliver a rich multimedia experience, be sure of that-and if you want to enjoy it on a bigger screen, there’s a HDMI port for that. System memory is 2 GB DDR3, which is a welcomed factory standard, considering so many netbooks come with only 1 GB straight out of the box. If you want to max the slots, you should know you can go as much as 4 GB- which you should, considering that about 400-500 MB can be required by the graphics card.

The lid is black with a plastic, rubbery finish

There’s a 250 GB 5400 rpm HDD, but there’s the option to go for a faster, 7200 rpm version or just switch to a SSD drive.

Read Reviews

The battery of the 1215B will hold for as much as 5-6 hours, on a regular session of browsing, music, using text editors and even watching some movies. This is a good autonomy, I might say, and we can thank the Brazos architecture for this.

The 1215B comes with Windows 7 Home Premium and a bunch of other stuff on top, most of them trial version- your decision if you’ll keep them or not. The Asus Eee PC 1215B has a starting price of $449 (for the 2 GB RAM version), but you can find it on Amazon discounted and with Free Shipping included. See link for details and also pictures and review from those who bought one of these EEE PCs already and shared their views on them.

Pretty slim for its size, the 1215B will fit in most bags and won't hold you back from running after a bus

The 1215B is a fine netbook, packing probably the best type of processor we have right now for netbooks, as well as keeping true to the Eee PC design and affordable pricing. It can handle most of the tasks a modern user can throw at it, and the good battery will offer some sought after autonomy.

More details in the review of the Asus 1215B here.

Asus Eee PC 1215P is out in force in Germany

Mark — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 07:50:38 +0000

Good news for the Eee PC following in Germany and Austria. From November they’ll be able to get the Asus Eee PC 1215P for around 450 euros (that’s about 625 dollars), which makes it an interesting gift idea aimed at high school or college students.

For that money what you get is pretty solid: a dual core 1.55 GHZ Intel N550 processor, a integrated GMA 3150 graphics controller, a 250 hard drive and, surprisingly for current netbooks, 2 GB of RAM from the box. The system runs on Windows 7 professional and Asus brags about a 7 hour long battery life. We’ll just wait and see.

Judging from the info available at www.liliputing.com, what really would have set apart the 1215P from the competition would have been a dedicated video chipset in order to fully fuel up the good specs and the 1366×768 display. With the onboard graphics you won’t be able to do very much, so smooth browsing, office tools and reasonable multitasking is what this model is eventually all about.

Besides that, you get some standard stuff, like a 0.3 MP camera, 10/100 Ethernet, 3 USB ports, a VGA port, headphone and mic jacks on the side and a card reader. Oh, and you’ll also get 500GB of Asus Webstorage (good luck in filling those with archived tweets and photo galleries snapped from Facebook).

Asus Eee PC 1215P

Considering the lack of a dedicated graphic card, the Windows 7 Professional seems there only to punch up the price a little and justify the above standard 2GB of DDRAM3. Most of what you can do with the current line up of the 1215P would work also on a cheaper Windows 7 Starter version.

Asus 1215N runs Starcraft 2, Modern Warfare, Bad Company and others

Andrew — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 16:25:18 +0000

Hey guys. With the Asus 1215N on its way soon, I’m sure you all want to know if this machine can actually play some games.

Well, Mike At netbooklive.net tested a couple of games on this machine, including Starcraft 2, Annon 1404, Fifa 10, Call of Dury Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield bad Company 2. What’s the verdict? Well, better see for yourself.

I’ve only got the clip with the SC2 experience, you can see it below.

As you saw, the game is playable. That’s a 4 player map and a 2×2 game, with quite developed bases and a couple of tens of units for each player. And you still get around 20 fps on average, on 1280 x 720 px resolution, with medium details. Sounds good for me. OK, that’s not enough if you want instant and ultra precise response for your actions (like a Pro player would), but remember that the 1215N is not actually a gaming laptop, but an Atom powered computer.

Still, it is the best gaming netbook on the market right now. And you do have to consider the fact that drivers are still immature, thus performance will improve when we’ll see some improved drivers from Asus. And we should soon, as this device already sells on some European countries and should soon land in UK, De and US.

Via netbooklive.net

Asus 1215N gets reviewed and appreciated

Andrew — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:59:41 +0000

Hey guys, I just managed to get my hands on the Asus EEE PC 1215N an gave it a review on netbooklive.net . As you probably know, the 1215N is a 12 incher which packs some powerful hardware, including a dual-core Atom processor, 2-4 GB of DDR3 memory and latest generation Nvidia ION graphics with Optimus management system.

These features make it pretty potent for a netbook, being able to run all kind of multimedia content, both self-stored or streamed, some modern games and all you daily applications. Don’t expect wonders from it, but one thing is for sure: this mini laptop can multitask and is no longer sluggish when running multiple applications simultaneously like other computers on the Atom platform do. Having Optimus means you also get better autonomy than the previous generation of this device did, the 1201N, thus expect up to 6 hours of life on a single charge.

There are also some changes in terms of design, materials and layout. Details about these and the performances of this netbook are available in the Asus EEE PC 1215N review here. Some video reviews are available there too and comments and opinions are greatly appreciated.

: New Asus 1215N got reviewed – plenty of things to like

Asus Lamborghini VX6 – luxurios looking 12 inch mini laptop

Andrew — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:04:20 +0000

Asus pairs with Lamborghini to create their most luxurious laptops, with fancy design, great quality materials and most of the time, top notch performance. I say most of the time, because there’s a new device, the 12 inch Asus Lamborghini VX6 and this one is Atom powered, thus… will act more like a buffed Skoda than a true Lambo

I mean fine, this Asus will bring the dual-core Atom D525 CPU and 4 GB of memory, plus Nvidia ION2 chip. So graphics will do fine, but in everyday applications you’ll see the drawbacks of this configuration (which is of course the low power Atom CPU). And this is a shame. We’ve already seen 12 inch or even smaller devices announced with at least Core i3 ULV processors, why on Earth would they pick Atom for their mini laptop which is supposed to be their fastest? Why?!?

12 Inch Asus Lamborghini VX6 with flamboyant looks

Of course, in terms of looks and build quality, there’ almost nothing not to like about the VX6, although the design is too sophisticated for me, I proffer more classic casings.

I like that the Vx6 will come with Bluetooth 3.0 and USB 3.0, a very good HD 12.1 inch display and a full-size chiclet keyboard. However, I see no HDMI output on this machines, based on the available pictures, and this would be a bummer.

All in all, the Asus Lamborghini VX6 is an interesting machine. Will be great for multimedia, will run HD content and even some modern games. And will certainly catch everyone’s attention with its aspect. Unfortunately, putting an Atom processor kind of ruins it all. Especially since it’s surely going to be pretty expensive.

Via Tech in Style

Asus UL20FT – powerful mini laptop in the 12 inch class

Andrew — Sat, 29 May 2010 14:30:04 +0000

For me, 12 inch mini laptops are the best you can get if you want a computer light and portable, so you can easily carry it around when traveling, but also one that is powerful enough to run all your daily applications and even some multimedia content when needed. The UL20 series from Asus meets all these demands, while looking very good in its aluminum shell and being quite affordable.

The Asus UL20FT is the latest device offered by this constructor in the 12 inch class, scheduled to enter the market sometime in the near future. Asus plans to update the current series with the new Intel hardware. Thus, the UL20FT will be built on the ULV Arrandale platform and there will be a couple of CPUs for you to choose from, with the most powerful probably the Core i3-330UM clocked at 1.2 GHz. Add improved graphics (still integrated), 4 GB of memory and 500 GB storage, plus windows 7 Home premium as OS and 6 Cell batteries capable of providing autonomy of 8+ hours and you get an idea of how good will this new 12 incher be.

We know nothing of pricing and availability for the Asus UL20FT for now, but more details should be available soon. Also, we have no pictures of it to show you, but considering the strategy Asus used for the Arrandale UL30JT, I’m pretty sure this UL20FT will be nearly identical in terms of design to the existing 12 inch UL20A.

I for one am curious to see the level of performance improvements offered by this notebook when compared to the current generation, UL20A. And also am eager to see how much extra money we’ll have to get for it, as the existing version goes for around $500 these days.

So stay tuned, more details will be added, as I’m keeping my eyes on this Asus UL20FT and you should too if you plan to get a portable laptop this year.