ASUS1215n vs. 1015pn. can't decide

[nitenichiryu1]

Hello everyone,

I am torn between the asus 1215n and the 1015n. I've checked the specifications for both and was wondering if anyone had any experience with the 1215n vs any of the other 10.1" (since the 1015pn JUST released, it isn't likely someone has had a chance to toy with it yet).

I definitely like the portability, battery life (advertised as 10, so probably 7-9 hours in real-world use) of the 1015pn and the fact that it has optimus and bluetooth, but one of the things setting me back is the 1024x600 screen and windows 7 starter.

the 1215n definitely has the better screen resolution at 1366x768, bigger screen, but suffers from less battery (about 5:30 hours is what reviews show, but this seems decent..) and no bluetooth. It also has windows 7 home premium and a slightly larger keyboard.

Oh, and I'm coming from an ASUS 1001p-pu17. I love it, but i want to be able to do a little more with my netbook, and optimus definitely helps in this area (no serious gaming, but definitely in for the HD streaming/watching).

Are there anything else that i should be considering? is the battery life of the 1215n going to seem like a severe drop from my 1001p or when compared to the 1015pn? I would consider CULV or a full powered laptop, but right now my absolute max for my budget is sub $500.

Thanks everyone for your help/advice!

 

[nitenichiryu1]

bump.

 

[nitenichiryu1]

It seems not many have experience with the 1215n, and most definitely not the 1015pn. How about how the 1215n might compare to the AMD neo k125 chips? Anyone have any insight here? Thanks again!

 

[ed21x]

the amd k125/325 are much better than the atoms + intel graphics in all respects. However, the integrated graphics that come with the core i series perform about as good as the Ati Radeon 4200 integrated graphics.

I would personally steer clear of the 1215n and 1015pn due to the PCIe1x limitation that hinders the ion2 from reaching anywhere near its full potential.

in this form factor range, you can get an Acer 1830t or Asus UL20FT, both of which are about $100 more expensive, but will get you a true processor that will blow away the atoms/kXXX processors.

 

[nitenichiryu1]

Thanks for the advice. I was looking at both the UL20ft and the 1830t momentarily, but ultimately what steered me away was that extra $100 increase in price. My budget is pretty tight right now, but it seems like my best bet is to wait unless one of these machines substantially drop in price. If only CULV was a tad cheaper...

 

[PingSpike]

The video in the i series is strange. From looking at 3dmark it seems to do as well as the 4200 (particularly vantage, where it appears to trounce the 4200) but in games the story is different. As near as I can figure, since the i series video is on the processor they actually share processing resources. When (mostly) only doing rendering like in 3dmark there isn't much CPU usage...but it games they two priorities start to step on each others toes.

I don't think this was any deliberate effort by intel to deceive. I think they just designed the cpu to improve video playback which is where there are legit complaints against them for basic PC use.

 

[nitenichiryu1]

I don't plan on doing any serious gaming. I mostly want it for the ability to do the HD streaming/playback and for the slightly bigger screen (if i go with a 11.6/12" model). I'm satisfied with the day to day performance of my 1001p, but as I'm giving it away, I do want something with a little extra kick.

A part of the reason I'm debating the 1015pn, 1215pn, and a possible neo k325 machine is the performance vs. battery life. It is nice having the netbook lasting anywhere from 7 to 9 hours, so I'm wondering how much of that am i willing to sacrifice for that "extra kick" in performance.

 

[Zap]

I was looking at both the UL20ft and the 1830t momentarily, but ultimately what steered me away was that extra $100 increase in price. My budget is pretty tight right now

If budget is that tight, I'd say suffer with your 1001P until you save up the extra $100.

A part of the reason I'm debating the 1015pn, 1215pn, and a possible neo k325 machine is the performance vs. battery life. It is nice having the netbook lasting anywhere from 7 to 9 hours, so I'm wondering how much of that am i willing to sacrifice for that "extra kick" in performance.

Seems to me that netbooks with 12" screens max out around 6 hours of battery life. Also, the AMD Neo will have a bit less than that at best, and much less at worst.

 

[nitenichiryu1]

If budget is that tight, I'd say suffer with your 1001P until you save up the extra $100.



Seems to me that netbooks with 12" screens max out around 6 hours of battery life. Also, the AMD Neo will have a bit less than that at best, and much less at worst.

Thanks for your input, Zap. I definitely have a bit more thinking to do since the 1001p will be leaving my hands shortly as i have a buyer.

 

[fatpolomanjr]

nitenichiryu1, I've sent you a PM.

The 1215n I think has better graphics performance compared to the 1830T, and probably handles streaming HD content better than Intel HD Graphics with the Intel ULV processors. I have the i3 version, and streaming 720p still occasionally skips frames (on the 720p Big Buck Bunny clip) although it is entirely watchable. The same clip is unwatchable when streaming from youtube at 1080p, unfortunately.

EDIT: Apparently this only happens on youtube Fullscreen. It runs perfectly 720p and 1080p when not on fullscreen; others say it is likely a problem on my end, so I'm looking into taking care of it.

However, HD playback from a hard drive, say, is perfect. Battery life is not the claimed 8 hours, either, but more like 6 (according to Battery Bar).

 

[xSauronx]

Hello everyone,

I am torn between the asus 1215n and the 1015n. I've checked the specifications for both and was wondering if anyone had any experience with the 1215n vs any of the other 10.1" (since the 1015pn JUST released, it isn't likely someone has had a chance to toy with it yet).

I definitely like the portability, battery life (advertised as 10, so probably 7-9 hours in real-world use) of the 1015pn and the fact that it has optimus and bluetooth, but one of the things setting me back is the 1024x600 screen and windows 7 starter.

the 1215n definitely has the better screen resolution at 1366x768, bigger screen, but suffers from less battery (about 5:30 hours is what reviews show, but this seems decent..) and no bluetooth. It also has windows 7 home premium and a slightly larger keyboard.

Oh, and I'm coming from an ASUS 1001p-pu17. I love it, but i want to be able to do a little more with my netbook, and optimus definitely helps in this area (no serious gaming, but definitely in for the HD streaming/watching).

Are there anything else that i should be considering? is the battery life of the 1215n going to seem like a severe drop from my 1001p or when compared to the 1015pn? I would consider CULV or a full powered laptop, but right now my absolute max for my budget is sub $500.

Thanks everyone for your help/advice!

going from an Eee 1000ha to an acer 1830t was...great, even just as far as screen size goes. having the higher res screen is *so* much nicer if you intend to actually do things with the notebook. if you just want to casually browse now and again the smaller one is tolerable, but i wouldnt care about battery life...if it was between 1024x600 for 8 hours, or 1366x768 for 5 or 6, id go for the latter every time.

after an hour on the 10" i had i would start to get annoyed, and it was way too cramped to really do anything productive on.

 

[nitenichiryu1]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. These are all things I haven't thought about yet. at least not to the fullest extent.

 

[Zap]

after an hour on the 10" i had i would start to get annoyed, and it was way too cramped to really do anything productive on.

That's why I no longer have my netbook. Just the slight bump to 1366x768 resolution and a CULV dual core CPU made for a huge improvement in usefulness.

 

[jvisaria]

I have also been looking at the 1215n.. folks complain about the bus speeds to the ION2, but as long as it does 1080p video without a hitch I am on board....I travel a lot so being able to use the HDMI to watch on an LCD TV in my hotel rooms is a big deal.
That being said, it was originally supposed to have an N550 atom, Bluetooth 3, and USB 3... all under $500, and none of those made it to the US version. I will just continue to wait for all of that in one package before I take the plunge.

 

[nitenichiryu1]

Yeah, I know how you feel jvisaria. I am in need of one right now, too, but it would have been nice if it at least had bluetooth 3...not to mention, AMD's Zacate looks like it is worth waiting for with its sub $500 market. AMD might be a winner here, but waiting for it is hard.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Not really sure about US market but I'll bet 1215n approaches the price of i3 laptops. At this price range I don't care how good ION 2 compared to the i3 integrated GPU when Atom sucks so bad. Which means 1215n is a ripoff.

 

[PingSpike]

Yeah, Intel has kind of constrained their netbook offerings so much that you get to the point where you might as well just dig up an extra $50 and upgrade to a better processor. I guess if you really need battery life, but the CULV aren't a ton different in this regard are they? And many of those had 12" screens versus netbooks. But for me at least, I look at the atom units with ion and wish it was a core 2 based...so then I look back at AMD units.

I used to think there probably wasn't much difference between 10" and 12" but after going to the store...well, the 10" would just not have the same usability for me due to keyboard and particularly screen resolution.

 

[nitenichiryu1]

I definitely agree that there are usability issues when it comes to the screen resolution and keyboard. It seems like the only way to get culv+optimus is by coming up with an extra $300-$400, and of course by then, yes, there are fully powered i3 models in that range. Otherwise, you're stuck with atom+optimus or culv+integrated hovering the same price range. Having a sweetspot in the market for the latter of the two would be nice, but that might be a little too hopeful.

 

[Zap]

It seems like the only way to get culv+optimus is by coming up with an extra $300-$400, and of course by then, yes, there are fully powered i3 models in that range. Otherwise, you're stuck with atom+optimus or culv+integrated hovering the same price range.

What's wrong with CULV+IGP? Gaming with ION will be severely CPU limited anyways, so you can't really expect it to be a magical tiny gaming notebook. Also, with more CPU power, a CULV won't need to GPU-offload for HD media.

 

[nitenichiryu1]

What's wrong with CULV+IGP? Gaming with ION will be severely CPU limited anyways, so you can't really expect it to be a magical tiny gaming notebook. Also, with more CPU power, a CULV won't need to GPU-offload for HD media.

Oh, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with CULV+IGP, I'm just in a situation where I do need something sooner than later since I currently have no machine (1001p sold and gone), and not enough funds for a CULV. I don't need it to as a gaming machine, i'm just looking for something in the 11.6 -12" range that has that extra graphics kick for HD and the occasional game that fits my current budget. That unfortunately puts me in atom+ion/k125 territory. Now, if a ul30vt or something similar all of a sudden dropped 100 or so dollars, I'd bite .

I really do appreciate your perspective on this topic, Zap. I think I'm just in a peculiar situation where I can't comfortably make a decision that is more "right" than the other.