9.5 Hours of Battery Life; Windows 7 Starter Operating System (32 bit);
Description
Embrace mobile computing in style with the new ASUS Eee PC 1015PN. The 1015pn packs the latest ATOM CPU from Intel, the Dual Core N550, which consumes less electrical power yet has more processing power than its predecessors, allowing the 1015pn to get up to 9.5 hours of battery life. Dedicated graphics from the NVidia Ion 2 graphics processor provide stutter-free viewing of HD content, and an HDMI port provides a convenient connection to a TV or LED monitor. With built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, users can stay connected wherever they go. The 92%-scaled ergonomic keyboard and Multi-Touch touchpad make it a breeze to type and navigate through content. The 1015pn's 250GB hard drive and 500GB of free webstorage provide a wealth of storage and backup capabilities. The 1015pn also features a chiclet keyboard for added style and comfort.
Product Details
Product Length:
10.31 inches
Product Width:
7.01 inches
Product Height:
1.43 inches
Product Weight:
2.76 pounds
Package Length:
12.4 inches
Package Width:
10.0 inches
Package Height:
2.8 inches
Package Weight:
3.75 pounds
Average Customer Rating:
based on 72 reviews
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: ( 72 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 39 found the following review helpful:
Best netbook out at the moment (December 2010) Dec 13, 2010
By E. Parker This netbook has the footprint of an iPad, but it is about an inch thick at the thickest point. I thought the tapered design would be a hindrance, but it actually makes the netbook easier to pack away in my backpack. You will want a case for it because it looks like it will easily pick up scratches and dents if left to tumble around in a crowded bag.
As a result of the high performance features of this netbook, the battery life suffers a bit. I can easily get 6 hours when only browsing the internet and doing office work, but if I watch videos I get about 2.5 hours. A word of warning: don't let flash apps sit idle in the background, they will drain the battery.
The ten inch screen is bright and clear. It has a matte finish which is superior to the glossy screens so commonly used because they look good on the sales floor. The screen could stand to be more evenly backlit. The unevenness is more pronounced in dark applications (and movies) and won't be noticeable in bright rooms or with most desktop applications. The resolution is adequate for most web sites and office 2007 can be displayed with no issue (over-sized ribbon and all). If you are an older individual, you may need reading glasses to read the screen since the fonts do look a little small.
The keyboard and touchpad are among the standout features of this netbook. The keyboard has a visually appealing chicklet design and is adequately sized for comfortable typing with my average sized hands. I came to this netbook from a desktop replacement laptop with a very large keyboard and the learning curve has been short. The touchpad is also much more spacious than that of competing netbooks and is about 3.5 inches diagonally (about the size of an iPhone screen). It also supports multi-touch gestures making acts like scrolling and zooming easier.
Performance is another place where this model really shines. The dual core processor makes it feel almost as zippy as my core 2 duo laptop. I can run MS Office and Google Chrome without problems. I am considering a ram upgrade but the default 1 gig has served me well so far. The Nvidia Ion graphics allows me to watch Hulu and Netflix without any apparent lag even when in full screen.
A quick word on Windows 7 starter; the only feature you will really miss compared to home premium is the ability to change the background (the default is innocuous but quite boring). A free program called "Oceanis Change Background" solved my problems and saved me from a $70 upgrade.
EDIT: As stated by another reviewer, replacing the ram is scary. Use two flat-head screwdrivers and work along the edge of the ram bay toward the center on the side facing the two USB ports. When you get there, twist gently to pop open the ram compartment. DO NOT try to open the ram bay from the other side (facing the HDMI port), it WILL break if you go the wrong way.
Also, for those who are partial to Linux, this laptop is a bad choice. The hard drive comes formatted with all 4 primary partitions in use. Also, Linux has poor support for the dual graphics setup. There are workarounds, but they are cumbersome. I would recommend the 1015PEM if you want to use Linux.
47 of 52 found the following review helpful:
Excellent base Oct 27, 2010
By J. Kennpo Just got this netbook a few days ago and I must say, out of the box, it's pretty disappointing. First off, Windows 7 Starter. This computer was not meant to be used with this extremely limited os. You're definitely going to want at least Home Premium in order to get Optimus (automatic graphics switching) working. Second, only 1gb of ram. I don't think I really need to explain why this is a shortcoming.
Good thing I already had my Windows 7 upgrade from my old laptop. First thing I did was a clean install of Windows 7 Premium in order to get rid of all the asus bloatware and get Optimus working. First of all, this computer plays excellent video out of the box. You'll read lots of hardcore PC people grumbling about the exclusion of a true HD screen, but I honestly saw no problem with the current screen, considering how small it is.
Installed Firefox (my web browser of choice) and kept getting hang ups on this computer. Firefox has become quite a resource hog over the years (this is the price you pay for top-notch extensions). Decided that I really needed to upgrade the ram on this to its max (2gigs). Installed the new ram and now this computer is absolutely great. Did a non-scientific test run with the battery with normal web browsing and quite a bit of video watching. The battery lasted about 6-7 hours before hitting 5% capacity.
Installing the extra ram was a real problem, in my opinion. There's a little plug on the bottom and under it is a single screw to get access to the ram. It all looks nice and simple at first, but then you spin the screw and realize that only that one edge with the screw pushes up. You can pull at the little door but it doesn't budge. I had to take my little flathead screwdriver, along with a huge leap of faith with my brand new computer, and slowly work my way around the door, hoping it would completely unhinge at some point and pop off. The door felt like it came crazy close to snapping in half at a couple points but then I managed to work it off. Taking a look at the bottom half of the door explains the situation much more clearly. Asus, for some inexplicable reason, has decided to put unnecessarily tight teeth on every side of it to hold it in place on the computer. They could have done great with hooks on one side and screws on the other, like most laptops. So modders beware! Prepare for extreme fear, and possible hardware breakage, if you decide to upgrade that ram. I'm actually kind of glad the ram is maxed out at 2gb, because that means I'll never have to take that door off ever again.
Overall, this computer is awesome out of the box for a light user, but is also an excellent base if you're looking for a fairly powerful netbook and are willing to invest a little extra into it.
UPDATE: This computer HATES firefox. It's been running better since I upgraded the ram, but I still get quite a few hangups. I'd recommend Chrome or Opera, these browsers show no such problems. Also, buyers should probably know that this netbook, with its increased horsepower and small footprint, overheats like crazy. Picked up a Thermapak heatshift pad and this thing works wonders, but don't expect to be running HD videos non-stop for hours unless you're in an ice cold room.
22 of 23 found the following review helpful:
Good netbook but... Dec 28, 2010
By S. Pellenz
"Wonko55"
First of all, I do like this netbook. I got it for my wife and she is very happy with it. For such a small device it is rather powerful and seeing HD videos up to 1080p run (almost) flawlessly from a netbook is rather impressive.
So, why only three stars? Simply put, it is too expensive. I did not even bother to switch on the computer before changing the 1GB memory module for a 2GB Crucial one (the one recommended by amazon). Fortunately that worked fine for me but I read other reviews where this exact combination of computer and memory module caused problems. Finding the right RAM for a netbook does not seem to be as straightforward as it should be, regardless of manufacturer. Furthermore, I immediately wiped the hard disk clean of the useless Windows 7 Starter edition and Asus' bloat ware. The hard disk comes partitioned in four partitions. Tow visible ones for Windows and data and two hidden ones for Asus' proprietary little OS and the recovery partition. The proprietary OS is supposed to save you time to boot Windows if you just want to e.g. check quickly something on the internet. However, it is way too slow and the partition just a waste of space. So I repartioned the hard disk and put Windows 7 Professional on the computer in order to get Optimus running - one of the main reasons to get an ION netbook. Again I got lucky because it worked without a problem. But there are countless threads on various forums on the internet of people that can't get Optimus working on this computer after installing a real Windows 7 distribution.
In Europe this computer is optionally sold with Windows 7 Home Premium and 2GB RAM, i.e. at a slightly higher price tag you get a computer that works fine out of the box. After installing the RAM and Windows 7 Professional my wife's 1015PN was more expensive than Asus' more powerful 12in ION netbook. I was aware of that before ordering the computer and chose the 10in version because my wife liked the smaller form factor, plus a 12in screen kind of defeats the netbook idea. However, considering its shortcomings I would not recommend the 1015PN without reservations.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
How to get Optimus working on your 1015pn Jan 09, 2011
By John Barber Great netbook, great battery life, limited OS, should come with 2GB of DDR3 installed by default.
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I've noticed people are having some difficulty getting Optimus working on this netbook after installing Windows Home Premium or better, so, here's how I did it.
You'll need three* files to get Optimus to work. The latest nVidia Verde drivers, the ASUS Graphics Switch utility, and the Intel Graphics driver from the ASUS 1015PEM laptop (for some crazy reason ASUS doesn't provide them on the 1015pn page, so we get them from it's ION-less twin instead).
nVidia Verde Drivers: [...]
ASUS Graphics Switch Utility: [...]
Intel 3150 Drivers from ASUS 1015PEM: [...]
I'm not sure if these have to be installed in a certain order... but probably not. If they do, I installed the nVidia drivers first, then the graphics switch. Once the graphics switch was installed, and I'd rebooted, I ran the graphics switch and told it to run in Optimus Mode. Rebooted the computer, and it booted on the Intel card, which wasn't yet installed. Installed the Intel driver, rebooted, and I had Optimus support. You can see it when you go into the nVidia control panel and click on 'View'. There will be two options that are only available with Optimus, which include "Add 'Run with graphics processor' to Context Menu", and "Display GPU Activity Icon in Notification Area. You can enable both these options if you'd like, but they're not required for Optimus to be working.
PC Wizard 2010: Processor Global Performance: 71,431.09 Marks Cache and memory Global Performance: 50,919.00 Marks Memory Global Performance: 5,257.32 Marks Video Global Performance: 134.00 Marks (Not sure why this was so low. It was comparable to a reference Intel 945??) Hard Disk Global Performance: 90.00 Marks CPUIDMark System: 12,783
Half Life 2: Lost Coast - Performance Test: Average Framerate 32.28 FPS (35.91 FPS when CPU overclocked to 1.729 GHz using SetFSB)
Battery Eater: ~ 4:05 uptime with only the ION enabled (not Optimus) while running the Battery Eater test. CPU: 936 BEmarks Video: 5589 BEmarks RAM 3696 BEmarks HDD 2791 BEmarks
I plan on updating this review with more benchmark results in the near future.
* It's possible that you may need to install some of the other ASUS utilities from the 1015pn driver page, including but not limited to the Super Hybrid Engine Utility and ASUS Live Update.
** All benchmarks are ran on Super Performance Mode with 1GB of RAM, at default settings for each benchmark.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Memory Upgrade Jan 04, 2011
By JK The Asus 1015PN is a good choice for someone looking for a small reliable netbook for email and internet access. I am writing this review so that everyone knows, and understands, not to buy the 2Gig memory upgrade recommended by Amazon. Do your self a favor and go directly to the Crucial web page, enter the manufacturer, product line and model number. Buy the memory stick that they recommend and you will not have any problems. The price is right and delivery was quick and painless. The hardest part is getting the access panel off so that you can remove the 1 Gig stick and install the 2 Gig.
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based on 72 reviews
Best netbook out at the moment (December 2010) Dec 13, 2010
By E. Parker
Good netbook but... Dec 28, 2010
By S. Pellenz
"Wonko55"
