Don’t panic. I’m not changing the scope of UMPCPortal. We remain focused on ultra mobile computing solutions of 10 inch and below with a target weight of 1KG and under. What I did do today though is to go out of that range to buy in an interesting platform and a potential solution for myself. The Lenovo S205 11.6 inch laptop.
The Lenovo S201 is available now and includes the AMD Fusion platform based on the Zacate 1.6Ghz dual-core CPU. I want to get a feel for the performance / watt ratio of the platform and to think about how small a design could be made around this solution.
I’m also taking the next step in my Ultra Mobile Video Editing project for which 1.4KG of video editing solution is actually very lightweight. If I couple this with the new features I have on the Nokia N8, we’re talking about a 1.6KG 720p recording and editing suite. That’s 400gm lighter than my previous camera and netbook solution!
The other reason I bought it is because of my changing requirements. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has taken away all the social media activity I used to do on my netbook. It’s now my first port of call for email, for news updates and even for short-form blogging, image editing and uploads. I rarely use the netbook now so I can afford to think about optimising for the things I really need out of a laptop.
Video editing Requiring performance, battery life and screen resolution of 1366×768 minimum (for many applications)
Long-form typing
Desktop PC for day-to-day work
1.4KG is about 200gm more than the average netbook and the increased footprint isn’t going to worry me on the few occasions I am out and about with it. As I mentioned above, in my work at expo’s, conferences and events, I’ll actually be better off if I can slot the N8 in as my video camera.
The cost is interesting too. Last week I was upgrading a €299 Acer Aspire One Netbook with about 120 Euros worth of operating system and RAM enhancements that the Lenovo offers for €399 out-of-the-box!
Today I’ll be unboxing the Lenovo S201 and videoing it with the Nokia N8. I will attempt to edit the 720p video on the Lenovo and you’ll hear fairly soon if it was efficient or simply too slow. Watch out for the video and some first-thoughts later.
Update 1: Rendering out a 720p, 4Mbps video right now and it looks to be using 16.5W (screen-on 30%, wifi on. 14w with radios disabled and screen off ) and taking 4x real time to process. I’m using Windows Live Movie Maker for the first test. Importing 720p into Movie Maker required downconversion for the editing process too. That takes up a long time so i’ll be looking for an alternative software solution that doesn’t have that input conversion stage.
Thanks to Ndevil for the tip on the S201 which was available in my local Conrad Electronics Shop this morning.
Thanks to NDevil.com I have a Toshiba NB550D in my hands for a few days while they have my Asus Aspire One 522. Having just spent a lot of time with the 522 with testing and upgrading, its the perfect time to compare it with another AMD Brazos device.
The first thing I noticed as I pulled the NB550D out of the box was the weight, the construction and the rubberised finish on the back of the display. It’s about 10% heavier than the Acer Aspire One 522 but that weight brings a feeling of quality and sturdiness; The 522 feels somewhat flimsy in comparison. The rubberised finish on the NB550D is nice, clean and grippy although I wonder how long it will be before it starts to wear and peel. The covering appears to be well baked-in but you never know.
Turn the device on though and there’s really not much difference at all. Of course I noticed that the screen wasn’t 1280×720 but having pumped the PPI up on the 522 last week, the font size was exactly the same and there was scarcely a difference, in fact, with a slightly higher contrast and colourful screen, it even looked slightly better than the Acer when playing back a 1080p video. It will depend on your eyes of course. Young eyes will get more of a benefit from the 522 though and if you’re running a standard Windows font-size, you’ll immediately notice web pages that extend beyond the default browser settings.
Apart from that, there’s very little difference in real-world usability. Boot-time is comparable. Application startup time is comparable and I was unable to even spot any differences in the CrystalMark tests I did.
The only thing I can really call out as a significant difference, apart from the weight and size, is the keyboard. That’s important to everyone and it needs to be said that the NB550D keyboard is better than the one on the Aspire One 522. Not only are the keyboard mechanics better but the mouse buttons are easier to use too. They’re more ‘clicky’ but because they are separate, individual buttons, there’s less stress in using them. The 6-cell battery also lifts the device to a nice typing angle too. If you need a netbook for typing, this is something you’ll have to consider carefuly.
More notes:
Access to memory and hard disk is provided through an removable panel. Note that with the right operating system, these netbooks can support 4GB of RAM.
Speakers. While i’m impressed with the loudness and quality of the harman/kardon speakers, especially with the Dolby Audio Enhancer, turned on, I wonder just how important these are. Netbooks aren’t generally used as desktops where one can enjoy a little background music while one works and the speakers aren’t good enough to fill a room with quality sound.
Bluletooth is limited to version 3.0 profiles and comes without ‘HS’ (high-speed over Wifi) support
No USB 3.0 – The three USB ports are version 2 compatible
Wifi signal is acceptable.
Battery The 61Wh battery is nearly 30% bigger than the one on the comparable Acer Aspire One 522 (47wh) and results in a significantly longer battery life. Idle drain and in-use drain appears to be close to some of the best netbooks we’ve tested so you really should expect 6-7hrs of real-world battery life from this. When you consider this with the build-quality and good keyboard it adds up to make quite an interesting workhorse.
Video performance is as expected, impressive. Expect HD content to work without issues and, through the HDMI port, you’ll be able to view the full glory of 1080p content on an external screen.
The NB550D is not an ultra-light netbook but it offers a good balance of performance, build-quality, battery life and keyboard without any major showstoppers. An HD screen, BT3+HS, USB3.would be nice to have but for 330 Euros it’s ultimately a good value, good quality netbook and another good show for AMD.
Personal thoughts on Acer Aspire One 522 vs Toshiba NB550D
I’m loving the more solid build of the NB550D over the Aspire One 522 and, I’ll be honest, the speakers do impress me. The 61WH battery adds a seriously usable extra dod of battery life and I’m finding the keyboard really easy to use. It doesn’t have BT3.0 or the HD screen of the Aspire One and it is 100gm heavier but these features don’t carry the same ijmprotance that a keyboard and battery life do. Either of the devices are good choices but I think I prefer the Toshiba NB550D for the sort of work I’m doing…but not enough for me want to change from my original choice of the 522.
Intel have dominated my mobile device choices for nearly 5 years but all that has changed in the last 4 months. Today, my ultra mobile PC retires and my netbook gets an upgrade.
For the last two, years my main computers have been a Quad-Core desktop that I use for hosting live sessions, podcasts and some video editing, and two mobile devices. The Gigabyte Touchnote Convertible Netbook has been my laptop and a Fujitsu U820 (actually a Japanese version U/B50N) ultra mobile PC has been used as my hot-desktop (as shown in this article.)
Today, the two mobile PCs drop away and are replaced with an AMD-based netbook solution and an ARM-based tablet. The Acer Aspire One 522 and Galaxy Tab have become my mobile device choices which means there is no longer a ultra mobile PC in my life.
The Fujitsu U820 had previously been my ultra mobile computer for expo’s and conferences and I remember using it successfully at SXSW in 2009. Over the last 5 months though its usefulness has waned because the Galaxy Tab has taken over. It fits *my* usage patterns a lot better. I sacrificed some ‘Full Internet Experience’ for weight, battery life, location, social networking apps, built-in camera, always-on and 3G. I talked about this ‘changeover’ last year. It’s now happened.
The Touchnote was still working well and I had no problems with it. After 2 years it’s proved to be rugged and capable but when the Acer Aspire One 522 came along last week it gave me so much more, in less weight and cost. Now that the Tab has taken over ultra-mobile duties to an acceptable level, there’s also no need for the U820.
I’ll miss the touchscreen on the Touchnote but I’m getting better battery life, more processing power, way better HD and graphics acceleration and my 4GB RAM, SSD and Home Premium upgrade are adding to the experience i’m getting from the Acer Aspire.
The Acer Aspire One 522 is now my daytime desktop as well as my lightweight notebook.
What happens next?
As 7-inch tablets get better and better with improved software, faster processing engines and higher quality connectivity there’s more and more that can be done on them. I’m already creating articles, emails, Tweets, IM and images but I see improved video and camera hardware and software coming too. I see accessories that could help the tablet become a unit that everything could be done on if needed. I would have no problem whatsoever using a solution like this for a week if weight and energy restrictions demanded it. The need for an ultra-light netbook is reducing for me. Having said that, the requirement for a PC with a keyboard doesn’t drop away completely.
7-inch screens aren’t comfortable for rich content generation and editing so I still see the need for a netbook or notebook for ‘bum-on-seat’ activities. What I see happening is that my netbook will get taken up a notch into a 11.6 or 12.1-inch territory that allows me to improve my video work. It’s a project I’ve already started. That could happen very soon as the Asus Eee PC 1215b nears availability.
Smartphone load drops.
As for the pocketable device in my life, I’m finding I use a smartphone less and less now. Dropping back to a 3.5-inch or even 4-inch experience for Internet and social networking activities is painful and I’d rather take the Tab with me than have a large smartphone. My smartphone is now a voice, sms, MP3, USB storage and emergency internet device. The N8 fits in so well here because it also has a stunning camera that allows me to photoblog with ease.
Because of my tablet use, I don’t expect to be putting much load on my smartphone any more and the list of requirements changes totally.
Intel’s next netbook move.
I confess that I didn’t have a lot of faith in AMD’s Brazos solution but they did it. They’ve made a classic disruptive move which will change the face of the netbook forever and, unless Intel repond quickly, take share away from Intel in the low-cost computing market. Well-known features/keywords like ‘HDMI’ and ‘1080p’ that are recognizable to the man on the street will differentiate AMD from Intel and where the price is the same, there’s little to think about. Games are also possible on AMD netbooks and it leaves little room for Intel to play in when it comes to Cedar-Trail. They’ll have to increase the CPU power (1.66ghz dual-core is a nice figure that looks better, and performs better than the AMD 1.0Ghz solution) and add their thermal monitoring to allow overclocking on a core-by-core basis. 2.0Ghz ‘Turbo’ will be worth seeing. They’ll also have to add the 1080p capability from their Menlow and Moorestown platforms. To beat AMD they will need Wireless Display and hardware-accelerated H.264 and WMV encoding features to help with video format conversion. Longer battery life is a must and this is something Intel is highly likely to deliver with amazingly low quiescent states and very tightly-coupled wireless solutions. Given the likelihood that they will have a lower platform TDP and enable a smaller motherboard size, Intel solutions are likely to be thinner and lighter.
Can Intel enter the always-on tablet space?
AMD appear to be a long way off from having a soft/hard stack that satisfies the requirements for an ultra mobile computing device but I still see big opportunities in the near, 1-2 year timescale for Intel. 2011 truly is just the start of a new era of multi-device computing and Intel have been working on developing solutions to hit all areas of the market for the last 3 years or more. Wi-Di (wireless display), hardware security, thermal monitoring, overclocking and Intel Insider are features that could really add something to a mobile platform and as we look towards higher processing platform capability (including faster busses and rich connectivity) Intel do have an advantage, especially where screen and wireless connectivity take the lions share of the battery drain. As for always-on, their Moorestown and Medfield hardware, coupled with their software solutions, appear to have that covered. Android for consumption; MeeGo for a cross-over Linux-based solution. Windows for a full, pro-computing solution. They have had serious problems getting a partner to make a compelling device but lets talk about this again after the MeeGo conference in May and the Nokia MeeGo product which could also air at that time.
And don’t think I haven’t forgotten about all the advantages that come with having a traditional mobile PC soft and hard architecture. USB host, multitasking user interface, mouse-over, business software, security, multi-user, extended display, remote desktop, upgrades and hacks, printing, ad-hoc Wi-Fi and a thousand other features that you forget about until you need them. If anything, my desire for high quality, flexible productive systems has gone up in the last months and this might sound strange but since the Japan disaster last week, I’ve been looking at mesh networking and emergency computing again and find that an X86 ultra mobile PC would be the best place to start. To that end, I’ll be loading up the U820 as my emergency computer.
Note. All my computing solutions have been paid for by my company and are not sponsored in any way. Runcore, however, supplied the SSD that i’m using in the Aspire One 522.
Out-of-the-box, the Acer Aspire One 522 is a very decent netbook. 3D graphics and HD video support out-pace anything that’s built on an Intel platform and with a dual-core 1Ghz CPU that challenges the dual-core Atom at 1.5Ghz AND keeps the battery drain down to impressive levels, a 1280×720 screen and a reasonable build quality you have something of a bargain at 299 Euros but I wanted to see just how much I could get out of the Aspire One 522 if I pimped it out with a RAM, storage and OS upgrade. The results have been impressive; But there’s a limit.
The Acer Aspire One 522 is built on the AMD Brazos platform with the Ontario APU. The CPU is a 64-bit part and supports 4GB of RAM. In the standard build, however, it is delivered with 32bit Windows Home Starter, and 1GB RAM. Even with a RAM upgrade it is OS-restricted to 2GB of RAM usage. Clearly an upgrade to Windows Home Premium 64bit with a clean install over 4GB of RAM is the easiest way to enhance the device. I spent about 125 Euro on a Home Premium license and a 4GB RAM stick to achieve that but before I did, I took a Runcore Pro IV 64GB SSD (2.5 inch SATA) worth $150 and dropped it in with a copy of the standard OS build. If I was to recommend just one upgrade, this would be it. The SSD cuts boot times and application startup times in half and gives the system a much better feel all-round. Lets take a look at the results using a CrystalMark test suite.
Using CrystalMark 2003 (a simple, easy-to-run suite that I’ve been using for 5 years) I tested the stock system and came up with a respectable score all-round.
In comparison, a Pinetrail based netbook (Single-core 1.6Ghz) will turn in about 25K and a dual-core N550-based system like the Samsung N350 gives a similar 35K score but most of that score comes from the CPU. A 1.6Ghz dual-core Atom-based Asus Eee PC 1015pn due to be launched soon clocks in at an impressive 45K. While the AMD-based system is good, it’s not class-leading.
By dropping in the SSD though, the HDD score goes through the 100MB/s barrier and really gives the system a boost along with the scores. Here’s the CrystalMark score after the SSD upgrade and the replacement of 1GB RAM with a 4GB stick (2GB enabled in Windows Starter.)
I was surprised to see that some of the CPU scores went up so much after the disk and memory swap and I was unable to repeat the 8270 ALU score at a later time but the important thing here is the jump in disk performance. You can see the ‘HDD’ score at 14648 and the sequential read speed at up to 108MB/s which is about double that of the original disk.
How Do you Upgrade RAM and Disk on the Acer Aspire One 522?
Before I show you the results for a fresh 64-bit Windows Home Premium install (which frees up the full 4GB of RAM) let me show you how to take apart the netbook to upgrade it. The video shows my early attempt at taking apart the device so please take note of the annotations because you don’t have to remove the outer casing screws, you don’t have to remove the two rubber feet and you don’t have to disconnect the keyboard. Be careful of the keyboard catches too. I have already broken two of mine and I’ve seen a report from someone who broke all of them meaning the keyboard would have to be stuck down permanently with glue or tape.
Statistics are all well and good but how does the device perform in real life with a fast SSD upgrade? In the video below I show the boot-up time and startup times for some common applications. On average, boot-up and application start times are cut by half which is a huge, huge difference.
Upgrade to Windows Home Premium 64-bit (and full 4GB RAM usage)
This part of the upgrade is useful on many levels. Importantly, you get to make a fresh install of the OS without the pre-installed services and software from Acer. Secondly, Windows Home Premium opens up more Windows 7 functionality including Windows Media Center, Aero and Themes and, importantly here, the ability to access more than 2GB of RAM.
The license cost me about 85 Euros (OEM License) and installation was made on a clean SSD from an external USB DVD drive.
Drivers for the various Acer Aspire One 522 models are available here and can be copied from a USB stick (the Wi-Fi, LAN and SD card don’t work on initial Windows 7 install.)
After install you should see this in the system settings.
Final Performance Check.
With Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, 4GB of RAM and the Runcore Pro IV SSD installed, here’s a rundown of performance reports starting with the impressive disk scores which rise 30% above the 2GB, 32bit scores.
Yes, that’s a 138MB/s transfer rate, on a netbook! Importantly, the small block read speeds are excellent.
Final Crystalmark score (Note: This is a 32bit test)
The two results were taken at different times with different Windows 7 themes.
Battery life, Noise, Heat
No differences in battery life, noise or heat were noticeable after the upgrade. There may be a measurable difference in battery life but I estimate no more than 5% gain under full-usage scenarios. Note that on the Aspire One 522, the fan is on nearly all the time. It’s relatively quite but audible in a quiet room.
4GB vs 2GB
Having 4Gb of RAM available on a netbook is somewhat of an overkill and any applications that might require such memory are also going to require more CPU processing power than is available on the platform. The recommendation would be to buy a 2GB RAM stick although the small extra cost and zero additional effort of buying a 4GB stick means you might as well do it anyway! Remember that hibernation will be much slower with 4GB of RAM than with 2GB of RAM.
32bit vs 64bit
I’m not seeing clear, end-user advantages yet on the system build here but clearly there are some 64bit-capable programs that might take advantage of it. Cinebench 10 returned 1390 points with the 64-bit version compared to 1290 with the 32bit test a 7.5% improvement. More testing is needed here and through my ultra-mobile video editing project, I should get some more results.
Windows 7 Starter vs Windows Home Premium
At over 80-euros to enable an extra 2GB of RAM, themes and a media center, it seems a little excessive and is something that needs to be considered carefully. A clean install of Windows 7 Home Starter on a fast SSD could be a better choice unless the user is looking to get every last drop of capability out of the system.
HDD vs SSD
There’s no question that the SSD upgrade brings the best end-user improvements. SSDs can be lighter too but the user needs to be careful not to choose a slow SSD (some aren’t built for speed.) I’m currently using a Runcore Pro IV that was loaned to me.
Lightweight SSDs.
I’ve got a 32Gb SSD here (Sandisk SDSA3AD-032G loaned by Tegatech) that weighs 9gm. Thats 100gm lighter than the pre-installed solution and would bring the weight of the 522 down to under 1.1KG which is impressive given the CPU, GPU and battery life. Worth considering.
Alternatives and weight considerations
After the upgrades, the device returns much better performance but there are alternatives out there. The Asus Eee PC 1215PN with dual-core 1.6Ghz CPU and Nvidia Ion platform offers excellent CPU and graphics performance and we expect it to be available with 2GB and Windows Home Premium (as the 1.5Ghz version is) for around the 450 Euro mark. Add the SSD to this and you’re at the same price with a much better performance. The weight is the same although you don’t get the 1280×720 screen.
Looking at 12 inch devices it will be interesting to see how the 1215n and 1215b compare. Weight is 200-300gm more but performance gets a big boost. The EeePC 1215b is said to be available for 450 Euros and, it the end-user is happy with 300gm more weight, could be a better buy.
If the user is looking for a good value 10 inch device with HD screen and future upgrade steps, the Acer Aspire One 522 represents a very good deal indeed.
Will I keep the Acer Aspire One 522?
I’ve been impressed at the ability of the AMD Brazos platform to go to 4GB RAM and 64-bit Windows. The disk controller also responds well to a fast SSD. Overall, the ‘balance’ of CPU and GPU power is also good. The advantage of going to 4GB RAM is, however, a little over-the-top for a device that really can’t be used for high-end memory intensive work that often requires high-end CPU power. What would make more sense is 4GB RAM in the higher-end Brazos platform with the dual-core 1.6Ghz ‘Zacate’ CPU and the higher-clocked GPU. If that platform can be down-clocked to a similar 1Ghz rate with the same power requirements as the 1Ghz Ontario part you will have an interesting power-efficient platform with a relatively wide dynamic range of processing capabilities. Unfortunately there are no Zacate-based device with the E-350 (Zacate) variant so you’ll have to look at 12 inch solutions with higher screen power requirements and a weight of 200-300gm more. If 300gm is acceptable to you then taking a closer look at the Asus EeePC 1215b will make sense. I’m expecting better battery life and more processing power than the successful Intel-based 1215n making it a top-candidate in its class. I will use the 522 for the time being now though as going back to the single-core N270-based Gigabyte Touchnote is not an option but when the 1215b is available, it will be at the top of the list for my next purchase and test.
Component and cost details
Aspire One 522 299 Euros (Germany)
SSD Runcore Pro IV 64GB 2.5 inch SATA (Loaned for test by My Digital Discount) $139.99
Memory Corsair CMSO4GX3M1A1333C9. 4GB single module. 45 Euro
OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit English OEM 83 Euros
There’s one thing that was clear from last nights live testing of the Aspire One 522 I’m the worst person in the world to demonstrate 3D games. Interestingly though, that’s because I never have devices that can play games. In the last 5 years we’ve seen just a handful of mobile devices that can play games and the fact that I was thrown into Half-Life 2 and Unreal Tournament demos shows that the Acer Aspire One 522 is quite unique and an indicator of where netbooks are going next. We tried hard to find showstoppers and major issues, design problems, heat and noise or anything that would confirm that this is a cheap device but no, after 3 hours, it was clear that the Aspire One 522 is a real bargain and a true upgrade option for those with first or even second generation netbooks.
Highlights and Lowlights
1080p playback via local or YouTube works flawlessly on-screen (1280×720) or via HDMI
In normal use, this is a 6 hour working device with a 3-hour gaming capability, 5 hours or more video playback and up to 10 hours with radios-off in low-power use as a text-entry device.
No heat or noise to speak of although the fan is constantly spinning and can sometimes be heard or felt through the chassis.
The Hard Disk seems to be a bottleneck in some situations
Mono speaker just about does its job
The glossy screen appears to be a little washed out compared to high-end displays
Wifi reception is better than average
No USB 3.0 or charging USB port
Plastics very thin
Access to memory and HDD is easy. Upgrade to 4GB is possible (Only 2GB available in Windows 7 Starter)
Gaming needs more testing but viewers on the live session seemed very excited!
Battery life / weight ratio is very good
A word of warning though, in terms of CPU processing power, there’s not a lot of difference here between the Intel Pinetrail platform in single or dual-core variants. in a pure-CPU video rendering test we saw the Aspire One coming in at 15% faster than a Intel N450 CPU which puts it between the N450 and N550 in terms of processing power. Compared to first-gen netbooks, that’s a great improvement but its far from mainstream.
It’s the ‘balance’ of CPU, HD Video and 3D that works so well with the Acer Aspire One 522 (and, we suspect, other Fusion C-50 APU -based devices) and if Intel don’t one-up the C-50 with Cedar Trail in a significant way, they will lose a good percentage of netbook sales. At €299, there’s very little room for beating AMD on price.
So here are the three videos we made during the 2.5hrs online last night. As usual they are captures of the low-quality stream but I’m sure you’ll get a lot out of them. Thanks again to everyone that joined and helped-out in the live session. Spread the word this is how reviews should be done!
Part 1 – Overview and first impressions.
Part 2 – Heat, battery life, video performance, browsing tests
Part 3 – Video testing, webcam, high and lowlights, Crystalmark test
Sometimes gadget purchases go from zero to ‘own’ in a very short time. That’s how it was today as I assessed devices for the Ultra Mobile Video Editing series and checked out the Acer Aspire One 522. It’s an AMD Fusion device running on the C-50 APU at 1Ghz. CPU performance, as we’ve already determined, is lower than the dual-core Atom N550 CPU but there’s a trick or two up its sleeve when it comes to video playback and 3D graphics performance because the processing platform includes a Radeon HD6250 GPU. The whole AMD Fusion package is also tuned for low power consumption making it compete in the netbook power envelope but with better capability.
I’m not convinced the Aspire One 522 will help me achieve my goal of 720p editing on a lightweight, low cost computer but at €299 and with a need to research what AMD are doing with Fusion it makes sense to buy it. When your local store has it in stock and there aren’t many reviews out there already, it adds up to a must-buy for this blogger! Update: Liliputing is also testing the 522 right now.
Acer aren’t regarded as a high-end product builder as they tend to build to a price. Quality does suffer and I’ve experienced it first hand. Others will report similar experiences but out of the box, the Acer Aspire One 522 appears to be an absolute bargain. I seriously don’t think I’ve ever had this much computing power in my hand for so little money and it looks good and feels good too. It even weighs under 1.2KG which, for a netbook with a 6-cell battery, is class-leading. 1080p playback? No problem (*1). A hi-res 720P screen (1280×720) is included too. Long battery life? You’ll clearly have trouble getting less than 5 hours out of this and I’m sitting here now with 43% battery left after 4 hours of on-and-off testing. 3D performance will blow any Intel-based netbook out of the water. Even the build quality seems better that you’d expect for this money.
As I write this, I’ve had no showstoppers so far. BUT – I’m only into the 7th hour of ownership here so beware, there could be issues. Don’t get over-excited about the CPU or GPU power too. It’s good for a netbook but nothing like a low-end notebook. A 3D Mark 2001SE score of 5959 is good for a netbook but I seem to remember that my 5-year old Ti4200 graphics card would pull in 12K on that test. For 300gm and 200 Euro more you can get something much, much more powerful.
A glossy screen with less than 768 pixels in the vertical (important for some software installs) a fan (barely audible) and a disk that, like other netbooks, seems to slow down applications load times are the only things I want to complain about so far. In reality, that’s not a bad hit-list and I’m feeling confident that when I put this through our live, open review, it will come out looking good.
LIVE OPEN REVIEWof the Acer Aspire One 522 is planned for Tuesday 8th March at 2100 Berlin Time [Other times here]. Join us at UMPCPortal.com/live for video, chat and your chance to ask questions and watch everything happen live. Nothing is covered-up!
If you’re looking at the top end of the netbook sector for an upgrade on your 2-year old netbook and thinking about stepping out of the Intel netbook restrictions for screen res, memory and operating system you’ve probably heard about the AMD Fusion-based EeePCs which we saw and tested at CeBIT last week.
The Eee PC 1015b offers a single or dual-core C-series (C-30 or C-50) processor while the Eee PC 1215b offers the C-50 or the 1.6Ghz 18W TDP version, the E-350 which should blow away all Intel Atom options including the nettop-focused D525 variant. Official weight for the 1015b is a reasonable 1.3KG but we’re estimating the 1215b at a rather heavy 1.5KG with its 6-cell battery.
View the video below for our hands-on at CeBIT
The only thing missing was the price and availability but for US markets, we’ve now got that information through the Asus Campus Life Blog. According to them, the Eee PC 1015B (with C-30, 1GB, 250GB HDD) will be available for just $289.99 and the 1215b with the C-50 (and the same RAM, HDD) for $379.99. The 1215b with the E350 will come with a larger 320GB HDD and 2GB RAM for $449 making it very competitive with other non-Atom solutions.
Look for these Netbooks in April. 10-inch models will be available white, black, blue, and red. 12-inch models will be available in black, silver, and red.
The ASUS Eeepc 1215B might be outside the 10 inch and 1KG limit we generally apply on UMPCPortal but there’s a few things to note. 1 This could be one of the lightest, and cheapest devices you could use for mobile 720p video editing and 2 The technology could filter into high-end, if quite large, UMPCs.
I didn’t get a chance to do a Crystalmark test for a quick overview of the system performance but I did check out the Windows performance score. The CPU is the lowest of the scores, pegging the index at 3.8
