The 1225C has its own set of perks and advantages, maybe the most obvious being the larger, HD screen, that will blend right in with the HD capable hardware platform. So let’s see what the 1225C has in store for us and if it’s truly a better and bigger version of 10 inch entries or it’s all muscles and no brains? Stay tuned and find out from our review and don’t forget to check out the lengthy video review Mike from www.netbooklive.com  did with a 1225C unit.

Spec sheet

The unit we’re going to talk about here is a pre-release sample, so the final configuration, which will be in stores a short while from now, might be a little different, but not very much so. The hardware platform will clearly be Cedar Trail, and there’s little to no chance Asus will change the processor type. Storage, system memory and other details are all quite standard, so this is quite the finite deal. Full spec list below.

• CPU: Intel Atom Cedar Trail N2800 @ 1,86 GHZ
• System memory: 2 GB of DDR3 RAM 1066 MHZ
• Storage: 500 GB HDD, 5400 rpm
• Chipset: Intel NM10
• Video: Intel GMA 3650 HD (640 MHZ)
• Display: 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 px resolution, glossy
• Connectivity: Wireless N, Fast Ethernet, Bluetooth 3.0
• Ports: 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0, VGA, HDMI, LAN, card reader, webcam
• Battery: 6 cell 5200 mAh 56 Wh
• Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium
• Size (mm): 296 x 200 x 35 mm
• Weight: 3.2 pounds

Unfortunately, the display comes with a glossy finish, which is a horrid experience outdoors. Also, you have 2 USB 3.0 ports, which is a good, balanced setup (might I say normal?) for 2012, as well as a more accomplished OS, namely Windows 7 Home Premium.

Build and design

The 1225C is made out of plastic, and can come in either a glossy or a matte finish. The glossy finish, while attractive and similar, from a distance, to the high end finishes on ultrabooks, is a definite fingerprint magnet and a problem for those using the netbook on a daily basis and at a high pace. Sure, you won’t have this problem at such an extent with a unit that’s not black. Or, ideally, you could go for one that’s matte, case in which you won’t have the smudge problem to begin with, but you’ll lose some of the glam.

The chi chi exterior will collect more fingerprints that a police station during spring break

On the bottom, the 1225C comes with a memory bay, which is kind of unnecessary, considering the RAM is glued on the motherboard. Alas, maybe Asus will release some versions that let you replace/upgrade the memory. The 1225C is part of Asus’s new Flare line, which means the netbook is slightly slimmer towards the edges, making you believe it’s ultra slim or something. Actually, it’s make believe, as the device weighs around the same as previous 11.6 and 12 inchers from Asus, namely over 3 pounds.

Keyboard and touch pad

Like the one on the 1225B, the keyboard on the 1225C is standard EEE Pc fair. Thanks to the extra leg room, the keys are properly spaced and large enough to avoid typos, although the keys themselves could have been a little more solid. The touch pad is accurate and smooth, although kind of small and short, so be aware of those ample multi touch gestures- you might end up on the space bar.

The click button is good and is not too noisy, although a right/left click setup would have been better, that’s for sure. Overall, the 1225C has a good keyboard and touch pad, but it’s not something we haven’t experienced before- actually, it would be tragic to go beneath this standard.

The keyboard is nothing to get too excited about...but at least is bigger than those on 10 inchers

Display

The display on the 1225C is glossy and doesn’t have an overall quality worth remembering. While the glossy finish, which limits the use to the laptop mostly to indoor environments, is usually tolerated because it’s balanced by good brightness and color quality, it’s not really the case with the display on the 1225C.

You’ll have a hard time adjusting the panel in order to get good image and when that happens, the result is nothing too impressive. But this is kind of the usual quality you can get on such a machine, though making the screen anti-glare could have soothed the whole thing a little for me.

Hardware and performance

The 1225C has the exact same hardware platform as the 1025CE, namely the N2800 dual core processor, winged by HD graphics and 2 GB of RAM. So how does the same platform deal with a bigger screen and a tougher OS? Well, sluggishly. Asus decided to think cheap and used the same new, but not very innovative hardware platform, which will not take you to the moon and back in terms of performance.

Actually, it might struggle to go round the corner. What we can hope is that Asus will offer an updated version of the 1225C running on Atom D series processors down the line (or something punchier, anyway), as right now you get slightly mediocre performance on the 1225C, and just because you can run (so and so) HD clips on it won’t cut it for long.

The 1225C doesn't offer anything on top of the performance of the 1025CE

Software

The 1225C comes with Windows 7 Home Premium and all kinds of media, office, internet and security software that’s mostly ineffectual, as they’re only trial versions. Thus, you might want to get rid of it, considering the relatively scarce resources the machine has anyway. On a brighter note, you get Asus Web Storage, which lets you store files securely, on a remote server and Asus’s Instant On!. This technology takes the mini laptop on and off sleep mode in just seconds, while offering around 15 hours of standby time.

Heat, noise, speakers

The 1225C runs on the less noisy and steamy Cedar Trail platform, meaning you won’t have issues with the netbook getting too hot or loud when venting. Still, this doesn’t mean that you won’t hear the airflow at all, but it’s definitely a step forward from the noisy laptops of yesteryear.

As for heat, you’ll be able to keep the netbook on your lap without a problem, even for a longer while, as pushing the 1225C to its limits won’t get the plastic chassis to burn- it will merely get warm.

The speakers are definitely better and louder than the feeble setup on the 1025CE, for example, but you’ll still need more decibel power and sound quality to use this as a fun station.

Battery life

Thanks to the low power platform inside and the 6 cell battery, the 1225C can run on a single charge for up to 6 hours in normal use conditions, including browsing, listening to music, working with text files, using instant messaging software and other simple apps.

Watching HD movies will deplete the battery faster, of course, in around 4-4.5 hours, but if you’ll take the brightness down and turn the WiFi module off, you might get a little more out of it. Of course, if you go minimal on it, you might get towards 10 hours of autonomy, but that means no WiFi, low brightness, no multimedia playback.

The 1225C is a good promise for the future- see you then

Price and availability

There are no confirmed prices out for the 1225C yet, but the N2600 powered version might go, considering the inside info provided by netbooklive.com, for about $420 in the US. If you’ll want the N2800 version, however, you’ll have to pay even more, probably over 450 bucks. If that sounds expensive, that’s because it’s really expensive.

Asus is probably trying to cash in on the fact that not many manufacturers are offering the Cedar Trail option on their netbooks, but as other companies will come forth with solutions, the price should go down, considering you’re not getting that much bang for the buck.

Final thoughts

The hardware on the 1225C and the 1025CE is the same, but the 1225C has to deal with a bigger screen and heftier OS, so the performance is sluggish. Indeed, you get an HD screen and bigger keyboard, but these advantages are not tremendously impressive (especially the screen), while everyday performance is quite modest.

Add to that an (anticipated) hefty price tag and you have the complete picture of a plan gone wrong, at least for now. Asus will probably update this model with a better hardware platform and lower price down the road, so for now you might want to stay away from the “buy” button.

Related posts:

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2. Asus 1225C vs Asus 1225B- fresh of the bus 11.6 inch EEE PCs for 2012
3. Asus 1225C 12-incher unveiled at CES, set to hit the market soon with a solid body and a high-res screen

In a time when netbooks seem like the old fashioned cousin you want to avoid calling at your 2012-2013 gadget fest, considering quad core tablets and 0.8 inch thin laptops are the new, the 1025CE is a fresh entry in this troubled niche, one that should be quite attractive for users on a tight budget or those looking for a basic portable computer.

Of course, what’s “basic” comes under scrutiny as new hardware generations emerge and the 1025CE has its perks, that’s for sure, including HD support, but is that enough? Stick around and find out from our review of the 1025CE netbook from Asus.

Specs

The 1025CE opens the 2012 fest and it surely has some fancy boots to strut around. The 10 incher is powered by Intel’s new N2800 dual core processor, but can be equipped only with 1 or 2 GB of RAM, at least in some territories. Full spec sheet below.

• CPU: Intel Cedar Trail N2800 @1.86 GHZ
• System memory: 1-2 GB of DDR3 1066 MHZ RAM
• Storage: 500 GB HDD, 5400 rpm
• Display: 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 anti-glare screen
• Video: integrated Intel HD 3650 graphics
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 3.0, Wireless N, Ethernet
• Ports: 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0, HDMI, VGA, LAN, card reader, webcam
• Battery: 6 Cell 5200 mAh 56 Wh
• OS: Windows 7 Starter
• Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Dimensions (in inches): 10.3” x 7” x 1.3”

Build and design

If it’s 2012, it’s Flare, as Asus decided to leave the Seashell standard behind and introduce a brand new concept, called Flare. Hints of this design are also used on the Asus ultrabooks and other Asus laptops out in force this year, so the new design shouldn’t surprise you that much if you’re an Asus fan.

The 1025CE comes with an all plastic exterior that’s a little bulkier in the middle and slimmer towards the edges, a trick that might make people think the netbook is slimmer that it actually is. It’s all about mimicking ultrabooks these days and the 1025CE does that honorably. The chassis is all plastic, as I said, but it fells very metal like when grabbed, so no resemblance to those wobbly netbooks that gave the budget category a bad name.

The Flare design comes with thinner edges and an all plastic body

Unfortunately, at least for the Central and East European Market, there’s no option to manually upgrade the system memory and you’ll have to settle for the amount the netbook has out of the box. This might be different in other territories, as it usually happens. Overall, the 1025CE is quite a handsome netbook if I can say so, upping the game a little in terms of design, as the Flare concept is definitely catchier than the rusty Seashell.

Keyboard and touch pad

In this aspect, things haven’t changed that much and you get a type of Chiclet keyboard used on 10 inch EEE PCs before. The keys on the unit we saw have a silver finish that makes the keyboard a little classier maybe, but might get dirty quicker, to be honest. Also, the keys are quite sturdy and a little taller than the usual setup on an EEE PC, thus making the typing a little more “consistent”, as the keys are less wobbly and have a longer travel.

As for the track pad, it’s responsive and smooth enough, although not very spacious. This is a problem most 10 inch netbooks have anyway, so you can’t really blame it on Asus, but rather this standard. The click pad is easy to use and is fairly responsive, although a clear, left and right mouse button setup would have been more up my alley.

The keyboard feels solid, with tall and sturdy keys

Display

What you get is simple and efficient, namely a 1024 x 600 matte display. That’s what you get on 90% of all 10 inchers anyway, so no reason to dwell too much on it. Still, it would have been nice for Asus to try to offer a slightly better panel, considering the newly added HD possibilities of this netbooks, which won’t be enjoyed thoroughly directly on the display, but rather on an external display via the HDMI port.

Having said that, for a mediocre panel, the one on the 1025CE behaves decently, having good viewing angles, while the bezel is made from a dark, matte plastic strip that’s less likely to gather smudges.

Hardware and performance

The most exciting thing about the 1025CE is the Cedar Trail N2800, running at 1.86 GHZ, chip inside. We talked about this new platform throughout 2011, waiting for Intel to finally release and see it in action, as it promised what Pine Trail processors couldn’t do: HD playback. Even so, don’t expect wonders, as the Cedar Trail platform is just an updated version of Pine Trail with superior video support and some improved cooling systems, stuff that might not translate into a massive performance boost in real life.

Actually, for now, there are no comprehensive drivers for the platform on the 1025CE, but what we could make out of it is that the netbook can stream HD content pretty decently, something you didn’t had on entry level netbooks before. As we said, don’t expect wonders in terms of overall performance, as having more than 2-3 apps running at the same time might choke this fragile little slugger, especially if you can count on only 1 GB of RAM. But still, the 1025CE is a step forward, even if not a big one.

Software

Like virtually any netbook out there, the 1025CE comes with Windows 7 Starter. Additionally, you’ll find enough bloatware to decrease the out of the box performance of the netbook, so it’s better if you get rid of them as soon as you buy the netbook. On a brighter note, there’s also Asus’s InstantOn! technology on board, which allows for ultra fast recovery from sleep mode, a feature we’ve seen on ultrabooks lately. Still, because of some driver issues, this function doesn’t work properly on the 1025CE, but some future update should fix this.

Ports, heat, noise and speakers

The 1025CE comes with, in addition to standard netbook ports, with an HDMI port and a USB 3.0 port, adding some flexibility to the experience. Also, in terms of connectivity, you get faster Wireless N and Bluetooth 3.0. Thanks to the Cedar Trail platform, the 1025CE doesn’t get very hot, especially on the top side, only the bottom being slightly warm after using the machine intensively.

The plastic bottom of the netbook doesn't get very hot in comparison with older generation netbooks

Somehow complementary, the netbook barely makes any noise, considering there’s not much to vent. The quiet profile also describes, sadly, the speakers, which have a rather low volume, although the sound quality is good. But if you want to use this one for soundtracking a party, you should have some external speakers available.

Battery life

The 1025CE is hailed as being able to run on a single charge for about 12 hours, but that’s not really the case. Using the netbook intensively will deplete the battery in about 6 hours, while light use and taking down the screen brightness under 50% will give it  little over 8 hours of autonomy. Still, the numbers are pretty good for a netbook relying only on its default battery and if Asus will offer an extra battery slice, you might get to 12 hours…and more.

Prices and availability

As the 1025CE is not yet available in stores, we can’t give you official pricing details for the US or Western Europe. A little further to the East, in Romania, the 1025CE will be available for the equivalent of 350 bucks, so this might be a decent rough estimate for how much the netbook will cost somewhere else too.

Anyway, soon enough the 1025CE will be less attractive than it is now, as other manufacturers will launch netbooks, so the 10 incher might go under the $300 barrier quite soon. Fingers crossed.

Final thoughts

You know what they say: the more things change, the more they stay the same. While the 1025CE has a few exciting features to brag about, on paper, like the new design and hardware platform, the actual user experience won’t change that much in comparison to that you could enjoy on 2011 netbooks.

The 1025CE- a good netbook, but there's room for improvement

Besides the still not fully supported, driver wise, HD playback galore brought by the new integrated graphics, the processing power, operating system and display are all strikingly familiar to the seasoned netbook enthusiast. And with a starting price of over 300 bucks, the 1025CE might not perform stellar at the box office, as many other netbooks (some of them still to come and boosting Cedar Trail goodies as well) cost and will cost less or offer better value for money.

As it stands now, the 1025C is a good netbook, no doubt about it, but it needs a touch here and there to make us fall for the 10 incher yet again. Stay tuned for an in depth video review, courtesy of our friends from netbooklive.com. Enjoy.

Related posts:

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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.

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And even though Asus’ s beautiful 11-incher has gone for sale for just a few days, we have the first product reviews already available, including two very comprehensive ones, from Anandtech and Cnet.co.uk.

In the following lines we will try to quickly summarize the reviews already available and to find out the UX21’ s strong points, but also its weak points. Furthermore, we will try to determine if Asus’ s first attempt at this kind of revolutionary product can meet the standards of its pretty pretentious price tag and also how it can compare with its strongest direct competitor, the 11-inch Apple MacBook Air.

Design and build

Like all ultrabooks released or scheduled for a release in the following weeks, the UX21 is supposed to be slim, light and thin. Unlike some of the ultrabooks, however, Asus’ s 11-incher is also pretty original in terms of design and manages to not just be another cheap MacBook Air copy.

The UX21 is light, slim and portable.

The aluminum unibody is sturdy and robust, yet elegant and smooth, while the chassis itself is pretty rigid. However, that is not a problem, because it helps the overall image of the ultrabook to be even stronger than it was supposed to.

In terms of weight, the UX21 is a winner, going for only 2.4 pounds, which is almost identical with MacBook Air’s weight, while the product dimensions are themselves pretty impressive. Asus’ s 11-incher is therefore only 0.7 inches thick and measures 11.7 and 7.7 inches in height and width.

Keyboard and touchpad

Probably the only small weak point of the Asus UX21 refers to the keyboard and touchpad, which are decent, but can’t compare with the ones featured on the MacBook Air.

The keyboard, therefore, while being pretty comfortable and well-sized, is not as accurate as you might want. Furthermore, the plastic keys feel a bit wobbly at times. Also, you can’t help but feel bad because Asus hasn’t made an effort and hasn’t made the keyboard backlit, as it is the case with the MacBook Air.

The keyboard and touchpad are not extraordinary, but they are decent nevertheless.

The touchpad is extremely large, sturdy, robust, but at the same time comfortable and smooth. The glass surface looks and feels great, but unfortunately there are a few quirks. For instance, you may encounter a few responsiveness issues, as well as a couple of problems with gesture recognition.

Screen, hardware and performance

The UX21 sports an 11.6-inch screen which is, in a word, perfect. The 1366 x 768 pixels resolution is high enough for great overall image quality, the colors are sharp, the brightness levels are great and the contrast is also more than decent.

In terms of performance, while it couldn’t be actually called a great gaming machine, Asus’ s ultrabook is fairly snappy and strong. The 1.8 GHz Intel Core i7 processor and the 4 GB of RAM make for a better system than that of the MacBook Air and you will probably notice a slight advantage in gaming, but also in surfing the web or running video content.

Whether you look at it from the front or from the back, the UX21 is a great piece of computer equipment.

In terms of storage space, the UX21 is once again great, featuring a solid state disk with a 128 GB capacity. And aside from providing all the internal memory you will probably need, this will importantly increase your booting speeds, as well as boost your battery life.

Battery life, connectivity, ports and others

According to the Cnet test, the Asus UX 21’ s battery managed to go for only two hours and a half on a single charge. However, that is a very demanding test and you are going to be faced in reality with probably around four or five hours of autonomy based on regular use. That is above average and is around what the MacBook Air can do these days.

In terms of connectivity and ports, things are more than satisfactory yet again, with the UX21 featuring a USB 2.0 port, a USB 3.0 port, a micro HDMI connector, as well as Wireless and Bluetooth 4.0 compatibility.

It pretty much can't get any thinner than that...

Let’s not forget to mention the stereo speakers as well, which are extremely competitive and offer an audio quality and clarity that is pretty rare at notebooks nowadays.

Pricing and availability

As we already mentioned, the UX21 has recently gone up for sale.

The base UX21 boosting a Core i5 processor, 4 GB of memory and a 128 GB SSD drive goes for $999, with shipping included inside the US.

If you need more power or extra storage space, the top version goes for $400 extra and offers a Cire i7 processor and 256 GB SSD, with the same amount of memory.

Both versions are pricey, but they are withing the limits imposed by the competition, including the Lenovo and Acer ultrabooks, but also the 11.6 inch MacBook Air. However, expect prices to drop in the next weeks or months as we get closer to Black Friday and the winter sales period, so better check the links above for the up-to-date price tags.

Final words

The Asus UX21 is clearly a great asset for the ultrabook niche, as well as for the entire current computer market. The 11-incher is extremely slim and lightweight, but also solid enough to look reliable.

The pricing could probably put you off, but all in all you get what you pay for.

The screen is great, the performance is well above average for an ultraportable of its kind and the battery life is more than satisfactory. There are a couple of problems with the keyboard and touchpad, but these aren’t that important and they are clearly not deal breakers.

All in all, the UX21 is undeniably great and Apple’s 11-inch MacBook Air should fear for its current leadership position.

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And even though the UX31 was made available for sale just a while back, the first product releases have already appeared. These are very encouraging, to say the least, with most of the reviewers calling Asus’ s 13-incher an almost perfect laptop.

Being targeted to compete against Apple’s great MacBook Air, but also against other slim and ultraportable laptops expected pretty soon, the UX31 has many strong points, but also a couple of weak points.

In the following lines we will take a quick look at both its advantages and disadvantages, trying to determine just how far from perfection this ultrabook really is.

Design and build

While we were expecting a slim, thin and portable laptop, the UX31 has surpassed all expectations in terms of design, being beautiful, fashionable, but also reliable-looking. The brushed-aluminum chassis, along with the circular spun-metal pattern on the lid are just two of the elements that make the 13-incher original and elegant.

The UX31's aluminum unibody looks and feels extremely strong and smooth.

Weighing in at just three pounds and measuring a mere 0.7 inches thin, the UX31 redefines portability, but somehow manages to be sturdy and robust as well. It’s true, it looks a bit like the MacBook Air here and there, but overall the design is chic, special and pretty innovative.

Keyboard and touchpad

Like its smaller sibling, the UX21, the most important weak point of the 31 is the keyboard and touchpad. The keyboard, on one hand, while being comfortable, accurate and pretty well-spaced, can’t compare with the one featured on the MacBook Air when it comes to one feature. The backlighting, present on Apple’s best seller, but missing from Asus’ s ultrabook.

The UX31's keyboard is large and comfortable, but has a couple of flaws.

The touchpad is itself decent, but not impressive, being large, good-looking and comfortable, but not that responsive from time to time or accurate.

Screen, hardware and performance

Probably the biggest ace up the UX31’s sleeve is the 13.3-inch display. This comes with a great resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels, which is much higher than the standard 1366 x 768 and even higher than the MacBook Air’ s 1440 x 900.

This will translate into incredibly crisp colors, as well as high brightness, contrast and viewing angles. You can run HD video content without any problem and the overall image quality is out of this world.

The display is one of the best you could hope to get on today's computer market.

In terms of hardware and performance, things are again great, with the UX31 being slightly better than even the MacBook Air. The second generation Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology, along with the 4 GB of RAM and the Intel UMA graphics card make for a very snappy system, capable of running a few demanding video games, as well as surfing the web at great speeds and playing any kind of multimedia content.

As for the storage space, you get a 128 GB solid state drive, which will provide you with enough internal memory to go around, but which will also up your booting speeds and boost your battery.

And talking about booting speeds, the innovative Asus Super Hybrid Engine II technology with Instant On will ensure a two-second resume of the notebook from sleep mode, which is pretty cool.

Battery life, connectivity, ports and others

According to the battery test performed by the guys at laptopmag.com, the UX31 managed to go for just under six hours on a single charge. That is pretty close to the autonomy found by Engagdet during their standard battery test and is well above average right now. We should also mention another cool Asus feature, which automatically backs up your data when the battery reaches a five percent charge.

If you are looking for thin and portable, the UX31 is the ideal choice.

In terms of connectivity and ports, you get pretty much all you could hope from an ultraportable and slim computer like this, including two USB ports (a 2.0 and a 3.0), micro HDMI, a mini VGA port for external monitor, an SD card reader, as well as Wireless and Bluetooth 4.0 compatibility.

Other features include an 0.3 megapixel webcam, but also a couple of great stereo speakers, which impress with great volume and above average bass.

Pricing and availability

The UX31 has gone up for sale only a few weeks back and is currently available for 1,099 dollars, with a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and 128 GB SSD storage. This is a bit more than what Intel planned when it first started to talk about ultrabooks, but is pretty decent nevertheless and is less than what the MacBook Air goes for at the moment.

However, more versions should be available in these next weeks and I’d expect the prices do drop as we get closer and closer to the Winter Sales period, especially during the Cyber Monday deals period.

No matter how you look at it, the Asus UX31 is brilliant.

Wrap-up

While it has its tiny flaws, especially when talking about the keyboard and touchpad, the Asus UX31 ultrabook has every chance of making a great impression in the computer market.

Being slim, lightweight and portable, but also sturdy and solid and featuring great technical specs, as well as a display like no other, Asus’s 13-incher is arguably better than Apple’s Macbook Air and it could well be the best ultrabook for the following months.

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The latest 11.6-inch netbook from Acer manages to keep it simple and uncomplicated, but also to satisfy the basic needs of a computer user. The price tag is more than decent, the performance is pretty speedy for a mini-laptop and it also runs HD content pretty well.

Enough chitchat though and let’s get down to our business of quickly reviewing this netbook’s design, keyboard, screen, performance and autonomy. We would also like to determine the target audience of this netbook, as well as point out some of its inherent weak points aside of insisting on its advantages and strong points.

Exterior and design

If there’s one thing that sets Acer laptops apart from other computers on the market today is the coloring of their devices. The AO722 is not an exception from that rule, being available in two different color schemes, ‘’aquamarine’’ and ‘’espresso black’’.

The design is one of the things that you will either love or hate at Acer's new netbook.

Both of these could be considered pretty tacky by business users, but students and youngsters in general might find this netbook’s design pretty hip. The aquamarine model is our favorite, the distinctive ripple design on the lid making the computer resemble water coming to life.

The AO722 is solid and sturdy, but manages to be pretty lightweight also. It is highly portable, weighing in at 3.2 pounds and measuring 1 x 11.2 x 7.9 inches.

Keyboard and touchpad

One of the biggest problems of netbooks nowadays is the lack of comfort offered by keyboards. Unfortunately, Acer’s new machine fails to solve this inconvenience, even though it features a full-sized keyboard.

This feels pretty cramped and uncomfortable, but on the other hand is extremely accurate and precise. The touchpad is well-sized for a netbook and accepts multi-finger gesture input. Also, it blends very well into the overall design of the mini-laptop, which is pretty nice.

Screen, hardware and performance

The 11.6-inch LCD LED-backlit screen is very nice, offering a more than satisfying 1366×768 native resolution. Even though we are not impressed by the glossy black bezel of the display, the colors are bright and the images are extremely crisp.

The Acer AO722 is probably one of the best budget mini-laptops of the moment.

In terms of hardware and performance, Acer’s new netbook is powered by a 1 GHz AMD C-Series C-50 processor with 2 GB of DDR3 memory. While the chipset itself is far from impressive, being less powerful than the AMD Zacate E-350, for example, the ATI Radeon HD 6250 graphics card with 256 MB of dedicated system memory manages to compensate a little and makes for an overall pretty snappy system.

You can’t hope to play new and demanding video games on this machine, but the HD video playback is smooth and satisfying. On the other hand, talking about multimedia content, the speakers are pretty poor, with flat sound quality and low volume.

In terms of internal storage space, the AO722 features a 250 GB SATA hard drive, which is pretty standard for a netbook with an affordable price tag.

Battery life and others

The 6-cell standard Li-ion battery featured by Acer’s 11.6-inch netbook should go for seven hours between charges, if we are to believe the producers’ claims. However, according to the Battery-Rundown test conducted by the folks at computershopper.com, the battery only lasted a few minutes over four hours, which is decent, but is under what other similar computers can do. On the other hand, based on average use, you should in fact get over six hours of autonomy, which should be satisfying.

In terms of connectivity and ports, the AO722 features three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA-out connector, a Kensington cable-locking slot, Ethernet, headphone and microphone jacks, a flash-card reader, but also full-size HDMI. This is more than you could hope to find on most mini-laptops right now.

The AO722 could be your perfect travel companion, with its lightweight and portability.

Pricing

As we already stated, a netbook’s popularity depends very much on its price and affordability. And while the AO722 has its weak points in other areas, when it comes to pricing things are almost ideal.

Acer’s netbook is available right now on Amazon for 279.99 dollars, which is a couple of bucks under the price of other similar mini-laptops on the market.

Wrap-up

Is this netbook light and portable? It definitely is. Is it affordable? Pretty much so. Is it snappy and fast? Well, the processor is not great, but it does run full HD content and that is certainly a plus. Aside from that, it features a decent battery and a large number of ports.

Overall, the Acer AO722 could well be considered the perfect device for students, both in terms of design and capabilities, and is also targeted on people who are on a tight budget and want to have a decent traveling companion.

For a more detailed review of the netbook and a closer look at what it can do, you can check out this following video review from netbooknews.com:

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Like other ThinkPads, this is a no nonsense laptop, aimed at professionals, and is in between the 13.3 inch category (which apparently became too big to handle by ultra portable fashionistas) and the 11.6 inch niche, which is too small and doesn’t sustain worthwhile productivity.

There’s no question that the X220 is an accomplished little PA, as Lenovo rarely misses the target with their laptops; still, let’s see if the X220 has new tricks up its sleeve or if it’s something we’ve seen before in terms of performance, design, battery life and other essential aspects. Stay tuned.

Specs

The X220 runs on a second generation Core i7-2620M processor and can have up to 8 GB of RAM. Also, you can choose between a standard LED display or an IPS one. Full spec list below.

• Processor: Intel Core i7-2620M, 2.7 GHZ, 3.4 GHZ with Turbo Boost
• System memory: up to 8 GB DDR3 RAM
• Video: Integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics
• Display: 12.5 inch, 1366 x 768 px resolution, LED backlit display/IPS
• Storage: 320 GB HDD, optional SSD
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
• Ports: USB 2.0, USB 3.0 (only with the Core i7-2620M version), card reader, audio jack
• Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth
• Battery: 3/6/9 cell battery
• Features: HD web cam, fingerprint reader
• Dimensions: 12 x 8.1 x 1.25 inches
• Weight: 3.4 pounds

Build and design

I’m almost tempted to jump this section, as the X220 looks exactly like any other ThinkPad released since IBM’s stunt so many years ago. If it wouldn’t have been for the ultra contemporary features- USB 3.0 port, IPS display, slimmer profile, you could honestly say this is a vintage laptop running on a 933 MHZ Pentium II processor.

You have the same, simple black finish, made out of plastic. It’s a great finish, nonetheless, as it’s both tough, very well assembled, being also quite classy and sombre, in that way that goes hand in hand with corporate entourages. The only downturn is that the palm rest bends a little if you press really hard, but under normal working circumstances, you wouldn’t have to do that kind of thing.

The bezel around the display has a rubbery finish and won’t catch fingerprints. A good aspect of Lenovo’s slightly out fashioned approach to design is that there’s no glossy surface that might turn your laptop into a dirty mirror.  The 9 cell battery version weighs around 1.7 kg, which is very decent for a pimped up machine. It’s a very light package considering the big battery, and considering the fact that it delivers performance equal to large laptops, it’s a great trade off.

The X220 has a black, rubbery chassis

The 12.5 incher hosts enough ports. On the left, you get a USB 3.0 port, D-sub, Display Port, a USB 2.0 port, Express Card and wireless switch, while on the right there’s the SDXC card reader, another USB 2.0 port (with sleep and charge functionality), Ethernet, audio jack and Kensington lock.

Keyboard and touch pad

As expected, you get a classic keyboard layout, with large keys. And when I say large, I mean large, as Lenovo’s designers found a way to put in a full size keyboard. Keys are indeed great, don’t flex and have the same quality we’ve come to expect from any Lenovo ThinkPad. There’s also a little treat, rarely seen on such a small laptop, a row of media control keys, namely volume up and down and mute mic.

The touch pad is larger than the ones on older ThinkPads and has a slightly textured finish, which helps you to have fairly accurate touch input. The left and right mouse buttons are now positioned on the bottom of the surface, without being separated from the rest of the surface. But maybe you won’t have to use them too often, as the red dot is there and feels snappier and more precise than ever.

Display

The screen is one of the highlights on the X220. You can go for a stock LED display or, for an extra $50, you can opt for an IPS display, the same type used on the iPad 2. This solves all the problems related to poor viewing angles and as you know, this is a problem on so many laptops. If you tilt the screen a little, objects lose detail and the corners get covered in some sort of plague like black hue.

It’s not the case with X220′s IPS option, as even tilting the display back 180 degrees gets you great viewing angles. Also, the screen is matte, which means there won’t be any glare being reflected on the screen, so you can use the machine in broad daylight or in a very well lit room. The only downturn is the rather limited resolution of 1366 x 768, which although is good enough to run HD videos, might prove insufficient to run full screen apps with a high level of detail at an acceptable level.

Even tilted back a lot, the IPS display offers great viewing angles

Hardware and performance

The base X220 model comes with a second generation Core i3 processor, while the top version has a Core i7-2620M CPU. Although a 12.5 incher, the X220 hosts full voltage Sandy Bridge CPUs, which offer much better performance than ULV solutions like Atom processors, for example. These processors can deal with any kind of apps, so a mix of browsing, working, media playback (even HD) and some light gaming is easily handled by the laptop.

There’s no dedicated video card, mind, but the integrated solution can deal with older games pretty good and newer titles might run on lower details. You can add as much as 8 GB of RAM and there’s an optional SSD drive to install, together or instead of a classic HDD. An SSD is much faster than a HDD and also requires less power to run.

The Windows Experience Index is 5.8, determined by the on board graphics. The CPU ranked 7.1 and storage 7.6, but this was with the SSD inside. Overall, the X220 offers a very solid experience, being very fast and not choking on apps, even if you’re a hardcore multi tasker. This is also caused by the decent software configuration.

Besides the OS, there aren’t many pre installed apps, namely bloatware, that just consume system resources without giving anything in return. There’s Lenovo’s Thinkvantage Toolbox, that gives you access to a bunch of apps dealing with power management, security, storage and more, which is actually very useful if you want to fine tune the performance of your machine.

Noise, heat, speakers and other features

The speakers on the X220 are modest and will take you through a conference call, but that’s about it. Don’t count on them for FLAC playback or gaming. You’re better off with a bunch of decent headphones or a nice little travel audio system. The X220 is a pretty quiet and cool laptop. Considering it has a full voltage CPU that needs proper venting, it gets rarely noticeably hot and the fan is not very noisy, as it can be easily covered with light chatter or some music.

The X220 packs a 720p web cam, which should prove sufficient for decent video calls. Also, it packs a couple of interesting security features, like a fingerprint reader that can also boot the laptop without pressing the power button, hardware encryption and a tracking service for stolen/lost gadgets.

Yep, that's a perfect keyboard.

Battery life

The X220, packed with the 9 cell battery, can go on a single charge for more than 7 hours. This was achieved with a balanced Windows profile, which takes in more power when needed, but spares the battery when dealing with less demanding apps.

Basically, if you’re going to use the X220 for browsing, working with documents, some music and clips and other productivity apps, you should be good to go for about 7 hours. However, if you want to keep the price and weight down, there are also 3 and 6 cell versions available, which will offer significantly less autonomy.

Prices and availability

The base X220 model, packing a Core i5, second generation CPU, normal display, 3 cell battery costs around 940 bucks, while the top version, including a beastly Core i7 CPU, 4 GB of RAM, 9 cell battery and IPS display ticks at around $1200. It’s pricy, but Lenovo’s machines are usually like that.

Final thoughts

The ThinkPad X220 is yet another great entry in Lenovo’s line of professional computers. But, unlike other business oriented machines, it’s smaller, 12.5 inch, and lighter than most business laptops out there. Under the hood, you get a full power dual core processor and enough RAM and storage to go on with your work without feeling the hardware limiting your work.

Of course, for this you’ll have to pay good money, more than you would pay for some 13.3 inch laptops, like the U36SD. But if you’re already in love with Lenovo’s top notch build quality, great performance and, at least regarding the X220, great portability, then the decision is already made. And that is buy, buy, buy.

 Photos and video: www.gadgetroad.com

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The U36SD has a Core i5, 2.3 GHZ processor, a glossy 13.3 inch, 1366 x 768 display,  6 GB of RAM (4 for the basic version), a 640 GB HDD and the Nvidia GT 520M video card, as well as Intel on board graphics. You can switch between the two in order to preserve battery using Optimus technology. The laptop has a pretty slim profile, 0.76 inch, being thinner than other 13.3 inch slim machines, like the Lenovo E220S and MacBook Pro, but failing to outmatch the MacBook Air or Samsung 9 Series.

The notebook’s magnesium chassis is a nice touch, being both sturdy and light. Less impressive is the glossy display and bezel, which will have to be cleaned quite often of smudges, stains and other. The keyboard is standard chiclet and has a plastic finish, which makes it a little noisy and causes some flex. As for performance, the Core i5 dual core processor (with 2.9 GHZ Turbo Boost), 6 GB of RAM and a newer Nvidia video card is a setup that should prove more than enough for most tasks, including gaming, video processing, HD playback and more.

The U36S has a magnesium chassis and matte finish

As for battery life, the tested unit was able to go for about 6 hours on a single charge, while in power saving mode, with Wireless off and working only with simple apps, like text editors. Anything more than that will make the battery meter go down much faster- running HD content with brightness at 80% will deplete the battery in about 4 hours.

The one major flaw of the notebook is that it gets hot pretty fast, but if you intend to keep it on a desk most of the time, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The laptop will cost a little under $1000, with the base models being even cheaper. It’s not a bad price at all, but considering that right now everybody is thinking at Ultrabooks, offering “conventional” laptops at a lower price seems like the right move.

Update, the U36SD is now available in stores and it already got a small discount going, for around 950 bucks.

Stay tuned for a couple of demos and hands on videos with the U36SD. Enjoy.

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The exterior of the PX is virtually identical with that of the PE. The netbook is made from plastic, with a rubbery finish on the lid, which offers a very good grip and won’t catch many fingerprints.

The netbook will be available in white, blue, red and black. On the bottom, you get a less classy plastic finish, which offers access to RAM, but unfortunately not to the HDD. The finish on the lid is used also for the palm rest and around the keyboard, while the bezel around the screen is glossy black, indifferent of the color scheme of the entire machine. The keyboard is standard chiclet, resembling those on other Asus netbooks.

The keys are not very large, but there’s enough space between them to avoid typos and they have a softer finish than most keys on entry level netbooks. The touch pad is large enough in the context of a 10 incher, and there’s enough room for multi touch gestures as well.

The display on the 1015PX is a matte screen with a 1024 x 600 resolution, which means you’ll be able to use it also in brighter rooms or out in the sun.

The matte screen helps you using the netbook also out in the sun

The 10 incher is powered by Intel’s latest dual core processor for netbooks, namely the Atom 570, which has a clock speed of 1.66 GHZ, being one of the best chips available now for ultraportables. Some say it’s the best, but we shouldn’t forget about AMD Fusion chips.

The N570 is fast enough for daily tasks and paired up with 2 GB of RAM and a 250 or 320 GB hard disk drive will move pretty fast. So if you’re the type who has two browsers, a music player and God knows what else opened at once, the netbook will not choke and will be pretty smooth.

It’s not the same with video playback. There’s no problem with 720p, but if you want to run a 1080p video stored locally, you’ll see some choppy frames here and then. This should also indicate that this is not primarily a gaming netbook, so keep it very light on that front. But Atom processors are usually better at multitasking rather than multimedia playback, so it shouldn’t come as a shock that it can’t handle demanding graphic applications.

THe rubbery finish on the back assures a very good grip

In terms of ports, you’ll get the standard netbook fair, including USB ports (2.0, of course), VGA, headphone, mic, card reader. There’s no 3G on this one, instead you get the mainstream WiFi N, blue tooth and Gigabit LAN.

The netbook comes with Windows 7 Starter and a bunch of additional software, which are kind of expendable, so you’d better get rid of them and thus increase the overall performance of your netbook.

Battery life is pretty standard, with about 6 hours on a single charge if you keep it simple, and about 4.5 hours if you’re going to watch videos continuously. The 1015PX will be available in Europe for around 350 euros, and when it will finally make its way to the US, it will probably cost just under $400.

Update: The 1015PX is already available in stores and it goes for around 300 bucks, with a discount available online. Pretty good price for one of the best 10 inchers of the moment.

Sure, this is for the 1 GB version, but it’s still a good buy, considering the sturdy and functional design, as well as the latest dual core Intel Atom it packs.

More details about this 10 inch laptop in the Asus EEE PC 1015PX review here.

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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 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.

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