- Intel Dual Core Atom D525 (1.8GHz); Nvidia ION 2 graphics with 512mb dedicated video memory
- 12.1" WXGA (1366x768) LED screen; 2GB DDR3 RAM (2x1GB), 4GB Max
- 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM); No Optical Drive
- Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System (32 Bit)
- HDMI out; Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n; 10/100 LAN; 0.3MP Webcam
Product Description
12.1"/1366x768 (WXGA)/Intel Dual Core ATOM D525 CPU/2GB DDR2/NVIDIA ION2/250GB HDD/No ODD/Windows 7 Home Premium/802.11 bgn/10/100 LAN/0.3M Pixel/HDMI out/57W/h battery (up to 6 Hrs)/Included: +500GB Internet Storage/1 Year Global Warranty, (6 months for battery)/BlackAmazon.com Product Description
HD-enhanced Entertainment with NVIDIA Optimus Technology
With more HD content available now than ever before, you need a netbook t... Read More About This Product >>
4comments:
The Asus 1215n is a great value for someone that needs a basic netbook/laptop to take anywhere. It has a decent processor, nice case, monitor is sharp and the price is right. There is one thing about this Asus (and some others from the past) that I just don't understand. The entire case has to be taken apart to access the HDD. If you are planning on putting an SSD in here you better take your time and know what you are doing. The clips that hold the top plate on are extremely weak and can break very easily. For many people the entire reason for buying one of these it to throw some more RAM and an SSD in and have a pretty quick and inexpensive solution to high end laptops. Unfortunately Asus does not seem to care about this. While other companies are making it easier to access HDD's they seem to be trying to bury them from people. If they offered customization this may make sense as a business plan. I have an SSD on hand but I am not sure I want to take the chance and break a bunch of clips. I have been building computers for awhile and have taken down several laptops but these clips just seem too brittle to deal with.
If you do not plan on replacing the hard drive it is a good deal. Still waiting for USB 3.0 though, which I believe was on the European version of this model.
Rating: 3 / 5
Arrived DOA. Never would boot to the windows desktop. The screen said it had an error, then tried to fix the error, then failed to fix the error, and asked me to reboot. I did this several times with no success. I RMA'd the netbook to Amazon for an exchange. Hopefully I'll be able to write a review of the netbook if the replacement works ok. BTW I think Amazon has a good RMA process. Quick, easy, and no hassle.
Rating: 1 / 5
After checking around, I found the 1215 comes with no OS disc (as well as no CD/DVD player, per the specs). Therefore, if you need to reload the system at some point (which you probably will), you must purchase an external CD player, and, I was told, "request a recovery disc from the manufacturer". Whoa!
So, if (when?) your OS needs reloading, your 1215 may be sitting dead in the corner for some time. Not good if you are a student taking classes, a businessperson, a busy parent, etc. Asus' website and tech support can be a confused mess (from past experience in dealing with them), so it is questionable how easy it will be to get that "recovery disc", which likely will wipe out all your data with a complete hard drive overwrite (rather than letting you simply 'refresh' Windows, like a regular Windows install disc would let you do). As a footnote, unless you are a real techie, you don't want to attempt to reload only the OS from a typical "restore" disc - it is an involved process. Ultimately, this problem is the fault of Microsoft and their monopolistic software licensing policies.
I was on the verge of buying this nice little computer, until finding out how this "cost cutting measure" of no OS or recovery disc could leave me mired in the swamp of tech support hell, potentially leading to ownership of a $500 paperweight for some indeterminate period. (I don't know if other netbooks are like this as well, since this is the only one to date that had enough power to consider purchasing.)
Rating: 3 / 5
I have been researching this machine rather extensively. Through manuals and forums, ASUS and other ASIAN OEMs have a terrible track record of support and supplying recovery disks. The entire process is driven through a recovery partition which is fine per-say, but there is no program to make recovery disks. So it makes it difficult to bear all the bloatware the machine comes with.
there is a way to fake it out by restoring to a usb drive, changing the hard disk, and then restoring again from that drive. It is buried in the support forums.
Having returned an ACER laptop for this practice, I refuse to buy this machine for the same reasons. Unfortunately this is becoming an industry trend and I am going to be forced to deal with it, and end up purchasing a full windows license. I continue to search for alternatives.
I believe there are ways to download a copy of windows and take the oem's xml configuration and turn it into a windows 7 oem disk, but its complex and I've never mastered it. I just returned the machine for the aggravation. I am now looking at a system76 machine that runs Linux. At least if I have to buy the windows license I can rest easier knowing I haven't paid for it twice.
Rating: 2 / 5
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