Asus Eee PC Seashell 1201N

Pros

The Asus Eee PC Seashell 1201N comes with plenty of modern features including large display screen, modern dual-core atom processor and has great gaming graphics for a Netbook.

Cons

The Asus Eee PC Seashell 1201N struggles with its battery life and the touchpad here also is a bit awkward.

Introduction

All the modern Netbooks are capitalizing on two modern developments and that is the Nvidia Ion GPU and Atom processors. Now, what the Nvidia Ion GPU does is that it provides the Atom-powered notebooks great muscle strength and makes them a hard to resist netbooks for the consumers. The same is the case with Asus Eee PC Seashell 1201N but instead of using the new “Pine Trail” Atom N450 processor it has the seldom used dual-core Atom Processor. Generally used in set-top small form factor machines and desktops, the Atom N330 makes Seashell 1201N potent of performing multitask in a way which Netbooks usually never do.

With its decent keyboard and 12 inch screen in addition to its Nvidia Ion graphics and dual-core processor, this Asus Seashell Netbook looks more of a potent mini-laptop than a Netbook. Although, the Asus Eee PC Seashell 1201N exceeds our expectations of a standard Netbook, but it shouldn’t be confused for a dual-core ULV thin-and-light laptop and is still not as fast as we want under heavy work conditions. And the most saddening part here is that both a discrete GPU and a dual-core CPU reduces its battery life. But on the contrary it’s hard to find a Netbook as good performing as this for just $499.

Design

The overall design for Asus Eee PC Seashell Eee PC 1201N is just as most of the recent Eee PC models and has got a black curved case with a lustrous shine and smooth surface.  Although, the size of PC 1201N places it with the Lenovo IdeaPad S12, for being more of a compact laptop than a Netbook. But unlike the S12, the battery for Eee PC 1201N series is more integrated below and doesn’t have any hanging bulge. Apart from the keyboard, the only other feature that you will see inside this Asus Seashell Netbook is a control toggle and the power button.

Although, this Netbook will never be confused for a full-grown laptop, but still this Netbook is far more potent and satisfying than many other ultra-compact notebooks. The island-style keyboard for the 1201N, is comparatively smaller than the standard, especially at the edges, but is really comfortable and won’t cause any problems even under the prolonged use. But the same can’t be said by the touch pad, and we aren’t fond of the lustrous surface of the touchpad is flushed with rest of the palm rest and can only be distinguished with the help of little mottled dots which adds texture. Even the chromed plastic bar button is hard to operate and due to its rocker type nature you will have to press precisely on either left or either right of the bar.

The Nvidia Ion graphics processor, in the this Asus Seashell Netbook calls for a high-quality speakers and screens, and that’s exactly what we get here and the 12.1 inch lustrous screen of the system  has a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, which is normal for the high-end notebooks and gives ample amount of screen space to the system. The brightness and colors for the system are really sharp, but not as sharp as we’ve seen on Lenovo screens, but still better than the average. The speakers are being positioned under the base and offer sufficient volume for comfortable listening and enjoying videos without headphones. Located just above the screen is its 0.3 megapixel Webcam, which offers satisfactory performance for any use.

System Configuration

Price: $479.00 – $491.99
Manufacturer: Asus
Part Number: 1201N-PU17-SL
Notebook type: Budget, Netbook
OS Provided: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Display Type: 12.1 in TFT active matrix
Display Features: LED-backlit, Glare, Zero Bright Dot

Processor: 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N330 Dual-Core
System weight: 3.2 lbs
Dimensions (W x D x H): 11.7 x 8.2 x 1.3  inches
RAM: 4GB, 1066MHz DDR3

Built-in Devices: Bluetooth antenna, Stereo speakers, Wireless LAN antenna
Supported flash memory cards: SD Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, SDHC Memory Card
Graphics Processor / Vendor: NVIDIA ION Shared video memory (UMA)
Input device type: Keyboard, Touchpad
Software: ASUS Super Hybrid Engine, Microsoft Works, Microsoft Office (60 days trial)
Audio: Headphone/Microphone jacks, Speakers
Optical Drive: None

Performance

The Nvidia Ion processor of 1201N is a GPU and we’ve seen it in many other Netbooks and hence know that it can have a significant impact on the game play and video quality. The same is the case with Asus Eee PC Seashell Eee PC 1201N and as far as the video playing capability is concerned the 1201 can play video much faster than several other Atom-Powered Netbooks, and the same can be said about the gaming capability as well. Even the multi-tasking capability of Asus Eee PC Seashell Eee PC 1201N is slightly better than many and the only laptops that exceeds are the high-end laptops. So the Eee PC 1201N scores high in our performance test and comes out as a handy potent Netbook.

But the battery performance for the system is a major problem and with its six-cell included battery, the system delivered ran for time period which was less than many other laptops.  Though, the poor battery performance could be attributed to its Ion processors, but still is a problem anyway.

Support

The Asus Eee PC Seashell Eee PC 1201N is backed by a regular one-year guarantee for the Netbook and for the battery there is a six month warranty, on top of it there is an additional 30 day guarantee on the screen quality for the system, it ensures protection against dead pixels. Driver downloads and telephonic support is also available on Asus’ website 24*7.

Word from the Experts

The Asus Eee PC Seashell Eee PC 1201N clearly is one of the very few netbooks with Nvidia Ion graphics and a dual-core Atom processor and these two inclusions makes it one of the fastest Netbook, which is suitable for business and well as home multitasking.