The much awaited Asus Eee PC 1215N is now available for pre-order on ExcaliberPC. It’s priced $499 and comes with the following specs:

• Intel Atom D525 (1.80GHz) Processor
• Next Generation NVIDIA ION Graphics
• 12.1″ WXGA (1366×768) LED Display
• 2GB DDR3 Memory
• 250GB Hard Drive
• High-speed 802.11n
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Preloaded

The Eee PC 1215N is the first netbook model to feature the Nvidia Optimus technology which helps to prolong battery life by automatically switch between integrated and discrete GPU.

via: Netbook News

Good news for those who have been desperately waiting for the Asus Eee PC 1215N — this model of netbook which features an 1.8GHz dual-core Atom D525 CPU, Nvidia ION 2 GPU, and Optimus technology, will be released on around 23rd of August, according to Engadget. Even better, the Eee PC 1215N is expected to sell under $500.

via: Engadget

The Asus Eee PC 1005PE has been one of the best netbook for this year. The one biggest drawback of this netbook however is the glossy display that cause reflection when being used in a bright environment. Asus is now announcing a new netbook model called the Eee PC 1005PX which has the same basic design and specs as the 1005PE, but with a matte display which should resolve the reflection issue.

Besides the glossy display, Asus has made a few minor changes on the 1005PX compared to its predecessor. First, it has 2 USB ports instead of 3; second, it has a 48Whr 6-cell battery instead of 63Whr found on the 1005PE; and third, it lets consumers to select up to 320GB of storage space. Other than that, the 1005PX has the all the same specs as the 1005PE: 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 processors, Intel GMA 3150 graphics, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, etc.

via Liliputing

While the Asus Eee PC 1201PN is the first netbook in the market to incorporate the next generation Nvidia ION (aka ION 2) GPU, it does not come with the much awaited Optimus technology — a feature that enable the automatic switch between integrated and discrete GPU to save battery life.

Specification of the Asus Eee PC 1201PN:

• Intel Atom N450 (1.66 GHz, 512 KB L2 Cache)
• Nvidia ION 2 graphics platform
• 12-inch WXGA (1366×768) LED screen
• 2 GB DDR2 RAM, 2 x SODIMM Slot, 4 GB Max
• 250 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM) + 500 GB Free Web Storage
• Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System (32 Bit)
• HDMI and VGA out; Bluetooth; Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n; 0.3 MP Webcam

It’s quite a disappointment for many people for the lack of Optimus technology which has been advertised as one of the feature to come with the ION 2 platform on this netbook. So does the 1201PN still offer a good enough balance of multimedia muscle and battery life without Optimus?

Review Summary

The external design, keyboard, and touchpad of the Asus Eee PC 1201PN is pretty much the same as its predecessor, the 1201N. Both the keyboard and touchpad are comfortable to use.

In terms of performance though, the Asus 1201PN is slower than its predecessor (according to PCMark Vantage), which is expected since it has a single core N450 Atom processor while the 1201N has a more powerful dual-core N330 processor. Laptop Magazine noticed some delays when starting video calls in Skype and when opening the AT&T Connection manager software they installed. The overall daily computing tasks run smoothly with no problem though, even with multiple application opened simultaneously.

The next generation Nvidia ION graphic does provide slightly improved graphic performance. Both the video transcoding test and 3DMark 06 benchmark done by Laptop Magazine on the 1201PN gives a better result compared to the 1201N. Playing 1080p video from local hard drive goes smoothly, even on a 32-inch Samsung TV through the 1201PN’s HDMI port. Streaming video from Hulu in full-screen however will still stutter, according to CNet.

For the battery life, the Eee PC 1201PN last 4 hour 33 minutes on continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi test, and 3 hours 57 minutes on video playback battery drain test — both of which are 40 minutes longer than its predecessor.

Conclusion
At the same price ($499.99) as its predecessor, Asus is offering the Eee PC 1201PN as a new 12.1-inch netbook model with longer battery life and better graphic performance, but less processing power. Whether you should opt for the 1201PN or the older 1201N model depends on which side of features are more important to you – processing power or battery life + graphic performance. You may also wait until September this year when Asus launch another new model (1215N) which combine a dual-core processor with the next-gen Nvidia ION with Optimus technology.

Video Review

Video review of Asus Eee PC 1201PN from CNet:

Source: Amazon, Laptop Magazine, CNet

While the release date of the Asus Eee PC 1201PN has been delayed to June, the folks at Notebookcheck have already got a chance to test and benchmark it. The results? It beats all netbooks to date in terms of graphic performance. It scored 3098 in 3DMark05 which is much higher than the 2143 on the older Eee PC 1201N. The gaming and HD video playback tests also shown pretty good result, although it struggled a bit with HD flash video in full screen mode. In terms of battery life, the 6-cell battery can last for between 3 to 6.5 hours, depending on what you do with the netbook. You can check out the full test result from Notebookcheck.

If you are one of those who are eagerly waiting for the release of the next generation ION based netbook, here’s a bad news — both Acer and Asus will be delaying the release of their new ION based netbook to the market.

According to Engadget, the Asus Eee PC 1201PN will first ship first to Asia and Europe in late May, and then to the US in June. The Acer Aspire One 532g, another “Ion 2″ based netbook is also delayed until early June.

Source: Engadget

The Asus Eee PC 1018P is one of the upcoming netbook model from Asus that has been shown off at CES 2010. While this netbook model is yet to be released, you can view some of its photos on flickr. Compared to the current generation of Asus netbook, there are quite a number of improvements, including Atom N455 / N475 processor, USB 3.0 ports, DDR3 RAM support, matte display, and a brand new design with a brushed metal lid.

via Netbooked

The Asus Eee PCc 1005PR is now available for pre-order on Amazon for $399.99.

If you still remember, the Asus Eee PC 1005PR is the HD version of the Eee PC 1005PE. The internal specs and external design of the 1005PR is mostly the same as the 1005PE, but it has a higher resolution 1366 x 768 display, and includes a Broadcom Crystal HD decoder card that will enable smooth HD video playback.

Here’s the rundown of Asus Eee PC 1005PR specs:

• Intel Atom N450 (1.66GHz, 512KB L2 Cache)
• 10.1-Inch Color-Shine 1366X768 WXGA LED Display
• Intel UMA graphics with Broadcom Crystal HD Accelerator
• 1 GB DDR2 SODIMM memory, Max Capacity 2 GB
• 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) + 500GB Free Web Storage
• 802.11 b/g/n; Bluetooth
• 0.3MP Webcam
• Chiclet Keyboard
• Up to 11 Hours of Battery Life
• Windows 7 Starter Operating System

Find out more about the Eee PC 1005PR on Amazon.

Still remember the Asus Eee PC 1005PE-PU27 that we mentioned earlier? It’s now on sale at Amazon and is available for $354.22.

The Asus Eee PC 1005PE-PU27 is a newly released model. In terms of specification and features, the Eee PC 1005PE-PU27 is exactly the same as the 1005PE-PU17. The only difference is the lid, which is a matte black slightly rubbery material that will help to keep smudges away.

The current sales price of the 1005PE-PU27 is almost similar to the 1005PE-PU17, which is definitely a great deals as it attracts no finger prints and it appears it would scratch less.

Asus recently announced that they will be integrating USB 3.0 for various ASUS products which include all N series notebooks, the Eee PC and Eee Boxes, motherboards, digital media players, and AIO desktops. The 3 Eee PC netbooks that Asus will be integrating with USB 3.0 are: 1015P, 1016P, and 1018P.