ASUS Eee PC 1201N Dual-Core ION Netbook Review

A Closer Look

The ASUS Eee PC 1201N features the elegant seashell design of previous Eee PCs. As we have pointed out in previous articles, the glossy finish is notorious for collecting highly visible fingerprints, but other than that is very eye-appealing. The 12″ 1366×768 WXGA LCD screen is a welcome increase in screen size for netbooks and will no doubt be a key feature that will make this netbook stand out to other buyers as they decide which netbook to purchase.

The keyboard is nearly identical to ASUS’ other seashell designed netbooks. However, since the ASUS Eee PC 1201N features a larger foot-print with its 12-inch screen, ASUS was able to add an extra row of keys down the right side of the keyboard and slightly increase the key size.

The touchpad, which ASUS has now used on a number of their netbooks and notebooks, has a series of indentations setting it apart from the rest of the laptop. I am fairly neutral on this, although I must admit that it is very easy to feel where the touchpad is without having to look for it. The left and right mouse buttons appear as one long bar at the bottom of the touchpad and are fairly easy to use.

At the top of the LCD screen is a 0.3MP webcam that has become a staple of nearly every netbook currently out on the market. One of the major benefits of using a netbook is its highly portable form-factor and being able to video conference with friends, family and co-workers on-the-go!

Here is a picture of the front of the ASUS Eee PC 1201N while closed. From this angle, you can get a nice idea of how glossy and clean the finish of this seashell netbook is.

On the left side of the ASUS Eee PC 1201N, we have a D-Sub VGA display port, DC power input, exhaust vent, USB port and HDMI port. Thanks to the NVIDIA ION graphics built into the 1201N, the HDMI output is also another key feature that sets this netbook apart from the rest.

Along the right side of the Eee PC 1201N is the MMC/SD (SDHC) memory card reader, USB port, headphone and mic jacks, another USB port, RJ-45 LAN port, and a security port that allows the laptop to be secured to a fixed object with a 2mm metal cable.

Here is the bottom of the ASUS Eee PC 1201N. As we can see, we do not have access to the hard drive, so upgrading or replacing the hard drive will be a challenge.

Here we see the Eee PC 1201N’s 6-cell, 63Wh lithium ion battery. The advertised battery life off a single charge is expected to be roughly 5 hours for idle.

Here we have removed the access panel to expose the 2 GB of DDR2 memory included in the ASUS Eee PC 1201N netbook. The NVIDIA ION graphics share this memory, so the OS does not have access to all 2 GB.