Asus Eee PC 1215N Review

The Eee PC 1215N is Asus’ second-generation netbook in the 12-inch category. This sleek, ultraportable laptop is powered by Intel’s newest dual-core Atom processor and NVidia’s ION 2 platform. Check out our full review after the jump.

The Eee PC 1215N follows the same form factor and design as the first models though this one has a combination of silver and black metallic finish (the non-glossy matte finish both on the lid and the palm rest makes it finger-print resistant).

Following the Seashell line of Asus, the 1215N features a slim and sleek design that looks like a clamshell and tapers towards the front.

Inside, the full keyboard comes with a chiclet-type keys spread across evenly. Below that is the large trackpad with the same finish as the palm rests and separated only by two thin silver groves on both sides. The glossy silver button is not separated for the left and right clickers and feels a little harder to press down.

The screen is 12.1″ across and has a glossy finish which allows for a brighter and crisper reception but can become a problem when used in the outdoors or against bright light sources due to glare.

One odd thing about this model is that Asus changed the socket size of the plug (made it smaller, near the size of the old cellphone sockets) which makes it un-interchangeable with other Asus netbooks. The webcam also has a physical sliding cover to turn off/on the camera.

For an ultraportable, the Eee PC 1215N has a pretty impressive specs in the netbook category. Only drawback is that maximum amount of RAM you can have on this unit is still 2GB (a limitation of the Atom platform). See complete specs below.

Asus Eee PC 1215N specs:
12.1″ display @ 1366×768 pixels
Intel Atom D525 @ 1.8GHz (dual-core)
NVidia Ion 2
2GB DDR3 RAM
250GB/320GB HDD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 3.0 + HS
HDMI port
2 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0 ports
SD/MMC card reader
6-cell 5200mAh battery
Windows 7

The NVidia graphics (475MHz core speed) has 512MB dedicated DDR3 RAM while the embedded Intel GMA 3150 has 256MB memory. It’s a little disappointing they only included 250GB of HDD in here when smaller 10-inch netbooks come in 320GB already.

As for the netbook’s performance, Windows Experience Index gave it a base score of 3.3 for Windows Aero performance while the Atom N525 1.8GHz CPU only got a sub-score of 3.5 (still way lower compared to a Core 2 Duo SU7300 1.3GHz at 4.0). The sub-score of the NVidia ION 2 looks good though at 5.6.

The unit can play full HD movies easily including 10180p videos on YouTube HD. The graphics can switch between the NVidia ION and the Intel GMA 3150 to conserve power or boost performance when needed.

Battery life on the Asus 1215N is good enough but not very impressive either. On regular use, it can do around 4 to 5 hours and BatteryBar rates it at just around 4.25 hours as well. Good thing Asus was able to upgrade the battery capacity from the previous 4400mAh to 5200mAh on this series. The battery extends a little bit at the bottom and not at the end so it gives the netbook an advantage with heat dissipation.

The Asus Eee PC 1215N is now selling in select stores with a suggested retail price of Php28,995.