Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
The Asus Eee PC 1215N definitely offers a boost in performance compared to your average netbook. However, if you're looking to do little more than browse the web, send emails and edit documents, you would undoubtedly be better off opting for a smaller, cheaper alternative such as the Acer Aspire One 533 or MSI Wind U160.
It's also worth remembering that larger, more powerful laptops can be picked up at this price, such as the 15-inch Acer Aspire 5551, but you'll obviously lose out on portability.
We liked
Undoubtedly the Eee PC 1215N's greatest asset is the combination of a dual-core Atom processor and Nvidia's Ion graphics. Anyone hoping for a massive boost in performance will be left disappointed, but it's far better at multitasking compared to single-core netbooks, and its enhanced graphics capabilities means it's a dab hand at smoothly playing back HD video.
The seamless switching between integrated and Ion graphics is also impressive, as is the ability to manually configure which programs should take advantage of the more powerful, but battery-sapping Nvidia chip.
We also liked the 12-inch display with its higher-than-average 1,366 x 768 pixel native resolution, making it perfect for watching HD video. And with the included HDMI port, it can quickly be hooked up to a larger HD TV to display Full HD 1080p video.
The 2GB of memory is also a welcome addition, allowing Windows 7 Home Premium to smoothly run multiple applications.
We disliked
It's not all good news, though, and the Eee PC 1215N has its downsides. The most obvious is the price. Although you get a reasonable amount for your money, it's a fair bit more expensive compared to 10-inch netbooks.
We felt the keyboard and trackpad could be improved on, with the worrying amount of flex on the keyboard being the main issue. The 250GB is also a bit measly, and something closer to 500GB seems more appropriate on a premium netbook such as this.
Verdict
The Eee PC 1215N certainly isn't a bad effort from Asus, but it occupies something of an uncomfortable middle ground between bog-standard netbooks and fully fledged laptops. The performance increase over standard netbooks is definitely there, but it's not massive.
That said, if you're after something small and light, and find the current crop of netbooks don't quite meet your power expectations, the Eee PC 1215N would be a good choice.
Follow TechRadar Reviews on Twitter: http://twitter.com/techradarreview
