gadget maniac | ASUS Eee PC 1015PEM Dual Core Atom Netbook Released
It has been a while since we’ve seen a new ASUS Eee PC netbook release, but recently the company that first brought us the idea of the netbook is back with the first of two new releases that both aim to push the boundaries of what is normally considered to be a netbook by including Intel’s latest N550 Dual Core Atom processor.
In the last few years we have slowly seen the netbook evolving away from just a portal to access the web, but essentially small laptops being able to do more and more of the functions that you would expect of it’s larger brothers for a significantly smaller price, and the 1015PEM netbook just pushes that a little bit further.
With a 10.1” 1024×600 screen the 1015PEM sits at the larger end of the netbook range (remembering that the original Eee PCs only offered 7”) but still manages to retain the small frame that makes netbooks truly portable, something massively boosted by the fact that the battery will offer up to 11.5 hours of battery life which brings the Eee PC back up to the forefront of the best netbooks are offering by allowing you to truly use them all day.
But as I have already mentioned that’s not really the special part about this new release: the 1015PEM is one of the two new releases from Asus that are the first in the market to sport the latest Intel Atom 550 dual core processor beating the Acer Aspire One D255. Which makes them not only faster than the host of netbooks that use the N270 (which if you own a netbook that is the most likely processor it’ll have) but at least 23% faster than the relatively new N455.
The result of this? Well it’s fairly obvious to be honest: it will open up new doors of programs that netbooks will be able to run, and whilst Asus themselves have some fairly boring suggestions (such as the “power-hungry” Flash) the option to watch HD YouTube videos and play games made in the last decade will be much more viable!
But moving onto the rest of the netbook and the first nice surprise is the inclusion of both the ‘Windows 7 Starter’ and ‘Express Gate’ operating systems that mean that you can have the functionality and just general all-round usefulness of Windows whilst also being able to quickly boot up using ‘Express Gate’ to quickly access the web/media if needs be.
As already mentioned the Eee PC offers a surprisingly long battery life of 11.5 hours – made possible thanks to the aptly named ‘ASUS Spure Hybrid Engine that helps conserve energy – along with both Bluetooth and USB 3.0 that are roughly 8 and 10 times faster respectively than the previous versions.
Needless to say it includes WiFi capabilities (it would kind of defeat the object of a netbook if it didn’t) although disappointingly there is no mention of 3G, and an equally disappointing 0.3 megapixel webcam, but on the bright side there is a multi-touch touchpad and it looks pretty much just like every other ASUS netbook: small, slim and stylish.
Finally the ASUS 1015PEM offers both 160 and 250GB storage options and 1GB RAM (although there is a maximum of 2GB) and a range of White, Black, Blue and Red colours for which I respect Asus a lot: firstly the colours are sensible, secondly they add an element of fun and finally, and most importantly, they aren’t stupidly named!
Priced at £279 the ASUS 1015PEM will be available from a whole host of retails front this week, and one can imagine they will sell very well in the pre-Christmas market as they are, to put it simply, ASUS back to their best.
No comments:
Post a Comment