Asus Eee PC 1201T with AMD NEO

We know that there are like a million and one versions of the Eee PC already. In fact, they’re so darn confusing (with very little variations between versions) that even I tend to forget which iteration of the Eee PC is made up of what processor and other parts – and I’m the one writing on the Asus Eee PC-themed blog here.

Anyway, the Asus Eee PC 1201T is yet another seashell-themed netbook. It may sound like a bad thing, but believe me, we need Asus to manufacture more seashell Eee PCs. The main difference of the Eee PC 1201T from the other seashell netbooks is that the Eee PC 1201T has an AMD Neo MV-40 CPU and ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics, as opposed to the usual Intel Atom processor-powered netbooks like the Eee PC 1201N, 1201HA, and 1201NL.

Does it actually perform well against its Intel Atom-powered brothers? Let’s see the review done by Yugatech, as recounted by Liliputing:

  • The Eee PC 1201T comes with the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium (most other models have the 32-bit version).
  • The computer has a Windows Experience Index of 3.1 (with the graphics notching the lowest score and the CPU weighing in at 3.2). By comparison, the Eee PC 1201N has an Index of 3.3, with a 4.3 graphics score, but a 3.3 for the CPU.
  • HD video appears to be a mixed bag, with the Eee PC 1201T playing 1080p HD video locally without a problem, but struggling with 720p and higher resolution Flash video.
  • Battery life was pretty sad, with the computer lasting about 2.5 hours with a 4400mAh battery.

Batterly life alone seems to be a dealbreaker. I’d rather stick with Intel Atom for now. What about you?

Macbook air clone runs OS X

Macbook air wannabees are probably a dime a dozen. Everytime I visit a computer shop, there seems to be another Macbook air knock-off that promises to be the thinnest and lightest computer I’ll ever use. Okay, then, good for you guys. But they’re all running Windows, so you know, it’s kind of a dealbreaker. I mean, if you’re going for a Macbook air clone, then you just have to go for the full experience, right?

This Chinese computer manufacturer created yet another Macbook air knockoff that not only inherits the original’s good looks, but it also has almost-identical packaging! M.C. Gadget says that the box is indistinguishable from the ones produced in Cupertino. Also, the packaging is really convincing. If it wasn’t made from plastic – instead of aluminum, like the original – it may even fool a lot of people. More »

Leeenux Linux hits version 2.0

If you’re on the lookout for a lightweight Linux installation that would be perfect for your Asus Eee PC – especially if you’re unluckily stuck with the really old Eee PC 701s – try Leeenux Linux. The weirdly-named lightweight Linux distribution is made mainly for Asus Eee PCs with 7″ screens, but that doesn’t mean that other netbooks can’t use it as well. The developer boasts that everything works out-of-the-box, and that every new release uses less resources than ever. The amazing thing about Leeenux is that when it’s installed, it only takes 1.2 GB of storage space, so if you have the 2GB surf models, you’re going to have some space left on your Eee PC. More »

Asus Eee Box EB1501 – unboxing video

We’ve all heard about the Asus Eee Box EB1501 before, but now there’s an unboxing video floating all around the net. You see, I’ve been looking for a great desktop computer that can replace my battered 7 year old machine, and it looks like the Eee Box EB1501 is a good contender. It’s got pretty good specs, and to top it off, it’s relatively cheap.

In case you don’t remember, the Asus Eee Box EB1501 is a tiny desktop computer that sports a dual core Atom 330 processor, NVIDIA ION graphics and a slot-loading disc drive. The specs of this nettop are: 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, 6 USB ports, HDMI, eSATA, and S/PDIF ports. The disc drive is a DVD burner. There are versions of the Asus Eee Box EB1501 that actually has a Bluray drive in place of the DVD drive. I’d like to get my hands on one of those.

More from Engadget:

With that fancy disc drive, NVIDIA Ion under the hood, and considerable aesthetic improvements, the Eee Box EB1501 has seemingly little to do with the Asus Eee Box of yore. So, is it as stunning in person as it is on paper? The folks at Blogeee.net have unwrapped the thing and stood it on its fancy metal stand, and they seem to be digging it — of course, their impressions are written in French, so we can never be entirely sure. Now if only Asus could work in an internal Blu-ray drive we’d be set!

Now you can watch the unboxing video below:

The Asus Eee Box EB1501 comes with Windows 7 Home Premium, and it costs around $479.

How to upgrade the Eee PC 1201N hard drive

Netbooks, particularly the Eee PC (duh), are great. You can take them everywhere, they’re relatively fast, and they’re good enough to allow you to finish your tasks without crashes. However, I’m not a big fan of their storage options. Either you get a really fast SSD that contains only around 32 GB of storage, or a hard drive that has 250 GB of storage, but only has 5400RPMs. Now if you’d like to have a hard drive with 320GB and 7200RPMs, check out this video posted by Netbook Reports.

What are the advantages of upgrading your hard drive other than the obvious storage gains, you ask? Netbook Reports answers that:

In addition to being faster over the stock hard drive, it also offers a 16MB cache to help load larger files faster, and also includes:
Low power consumption – With technologies like IntelliSeek, which calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption and SecurePark, which reduces power by parking the heads during low power idle mode, this drive delivers 5400 RPM-equivalent power consumption in a 7200 RPM drive.
Quiet – In a notebook drive, silence is golden. WD’s exclusive WhisperDrive combines state-of-the-art seeking algorithms to yield one of the quietest 2.5-inch hard drives on the market.
Reliable – ShockGuard technology protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks during shipping and handling and in daily operation.

What do you guys think? Is the tutorial sufficient enough or do you think there’s more info or facts you can share with us? Tell us about it by leaving a comment!

“God Mode” on Windows 7

Running Windows 7 on your Eee PC and confused at all the changes Microsoft put in the operating system? Yeah, I know the last operating system you used was Windows XP (and you actually tried out that Linux sorcery for a couple of days, but you couldn’t figure out what the heck a “terminal” meant) and you don’t like all this fancy eye candy Bill Gates put into your computer. You’d want your computer to be less confusing, thank you very much.

Capture

Maybe this might interest you then. It’s a little secret for Windows 7 users, called “GodMode” it’s basically a folder where all system configuration shortcuts are contained. Yes, it even beats Control Panel, believe it or not. It’s a bit overwhelming to figure out, and I’m using it now on my Windows 7 machine and I don’t understand half of what’s in that folder. But I like having one easy shortcut to control EVERYTHING on my computer. I don’t like hunting for solutions or Googling where to change this obscure setting when it’s all, you know, in one big easy to find shortcut on my Documents folder. More »

Asus spotlights two new e-readers

Asus finally is starting to leak the details of its upcoming e-book reader, and I was pleasantly surprised to see not just one but two e-book reader models are coming out for our favorite computer manufacturer. After having no e-book readers to show at the CES, we’re seeing two e-book readers from Asus, and honestly, I’m impressed.

The two e-readers are called Asus DR-570 and the DR-950. What’s the difference between the two, you may ask?

The Asus DR-570 (pictured on the right) will be a 6-inch color OLED e-reader, will play back Flash video, includes WiFi and 3G, and supposedly can last for 122 hours on one charge under “real world conditions.” Those specs are possible because of its 124 x 170 x 8.8-mm / 200-g footprint, 4GB of onboard storage with SDHC expansion, 512MB of SDRAM, and 1,530mAh battery. I don’t know if the final version will also include that picture of Jessica Alba, but that will be a welcome development. More »

Asus Eee PC 1201NL

I know, Asus is known as the kind of brand fragmentation, but the Eee PC 1201NL looks like a good deal. The Eee PC 1201N is a pretty good netbook, which is super-fast and has a dual core 1.6Ghz Intel Atom 330 processor and the NVIDIA ION chipset.

The 1201NL, however, seems to be destined for the budget netbook department. From Eee User:

It seems that this new arrival from the Asus Eee PC 1201 range, which might be better known as the Seashell range, carries a single core Intel Atom N270 1.6Ghz processor and the NVIDIA ION chipset and will feature Windows 7 Starter instead of Windows 7 Home Premium, which could be found in the 1201N.

But that is where the differences stop between these two siblings. In all other aspects, the 1201N and the 1201NL carry the same foundation of features, such as the popular chiclet keyboard, HDMI-out and 12.1 inch display at 1366×768 resolution.

If you’re looking for a netbook that’s cheaper than the rest, but is well made – heck, it’s an Asus, what else do you expect – go for the Asus Eee PC 1201NL. Sure, you’re going to sacrifice some computing power, but I don’t think it’s going to be that bad. If you ask me, the 12.1-inch screen more than makes up for it. Your netbook’s going to be way bigger than the others squinting their eyes just to read the text on this post with their 10-inch screen!

That said, I’m wondering how Asus is going to position the 1201NL. What do you guys think?

Asus on Android and Chrome smartbooks: we’re still thinking about it

androidnetbook

Asus apparently has no plans yet to make a Google Chrome OS or even an Android smartbook. Back at CES, a lot of devices by different computer manufacturers were running Google Android, and somehow Asus isn’t one of them.

Were they burned with the Xandros OS experience and now they’re not even attempting to create a smartbook that doesn’t run any Windows flavor at all? Remember, smartbooks are running on an ARM chipset, which makes installing Windows on it impossible. More »

The Asus Eee Keyboard is Expensive

eee

I was looking for a nice, cheap nettop to replace my five-year old desktop. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but it really is dated and sluggish. And since I use my laptop as my primary computer, the nettop would actually just serve as a secondary computer for my family members who just surf the net, do projects on the word processor, play games on Facebook and the occasional Popcap game, and require nothing else from their computers. More »

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