Asus Eee PC 1215P- a 12 inch mini laptop for on the go productivity

The Asus EEE PC 1215P is part of the yet still ambiguous group of 12.1 inch mini laptops, considered by some to be some sort of overgrown netbook and by others a trimmed version of a normal laptop.

Either way you look at it, we’re talking about an ultra-portable machine, with a good hardware setup that can deal with basic tasks better than most 10 inch netbooks out there, and not being very far off the performance that a 14 or 15 inch laptop can offer.

In terms of design, the 1215P is not very spectacular. It has a plain, black plastic finish on the back, which is fortunately matte and will not attract too many fingerprints over time.

The keyboard is of course bigger than the one on a 10 inch netbook and Asus put the extra real estate to good use; there’s enough space between the keys in order to avoid typos and overall typing is a good experience on the 1215P. The touch pad is also quite large and comes with support for multi-touch gestures and a single mouse button.

The computer has a 16:9 format and a 12.1 inch screen

The display of the 1215P has a 12.1 inch diagonal and a 1366 x 768 resolution, which is pretty standard for a bigger screen. On a 10 incher, that is a luxury resolution, but on a 12 inch screen is kind of normal. The good aspect about the screen is that it comes with a matte coating, like many netbooks or mini laptops these days.

The 1215P has a dual core, Intel Atom N550 processor, each core running at 1.5 GHZ. The N550 is actually better at saving power than single core versions from Atom, namely N450 and N455, so expect very good autonomy.

The dual core processor deals with multitasking much better than a single core chip, not to say that it has better support for video and graphic intensive applications. Sure, it’s not the performance you get from a Fusion chip for example, but it’s still powerful enough not to experience those stuttering usually associated with Atom chips.

The large keyboard is easier to master than that of a 10 inch netbook

There’s also 1 GB of DDR3 RAM, but you can upgrade to 2 GB. The storage capacity of the mini laptop is 250 GB, the hard drive having a spin speed of 5400 rpm. The machine comes with USB ports, SD card reader, audio jack and a web cam on top of the screen. In terms of connectivity, there’s WiFi and blue tooth, which should be enough for just browsing the web and streaming videos.

The 6 cell battery is said to last for about 8 hours on a single charge, but that’s a little too optimistic, as the numbers come from factory tests, which usually tend to glorify the machine. In normal use, you’ll probably get around 6-6.5 hours of autonomy, which is anyway pretty good.

Unlike many ultra-portable computers, the 1215P is powered by Windows 7 Home Premium instead of Windows 7 Starter. Home Premium comes with some extra features in comparison with Starter and offers a more wholesome and fluid experience.

The overall keyboard plus touchpad design is identical to other Asus mini laptops

The better OS and good hardware is not necessarily reflected in the price, as the 1215P comes for a very decent price of $375, being just a little more expensive than single core, 10 inch netbooks. And of course, it can deliver similar performance to high-end netbooks, not to say it’s a more comfortable experience when it comes to typing and working on a bigger and better screen.

Overall, this is a good choice if you need a fast and reliable mini laptop for working on the go. Keep in mind though that this is not a gaming mini laptop and HD videos will probably work, but with some hiccups.

Tags: 12.1" netbooks, Asus, Intel Atom N550

Last updated: March 29, 2012 | Published: May 9th, 2011 | See the comments or add yours!