Find Out Why the Asus 1015px Is a Super Little Netbook That You Must Own

In this article I shall be reviewing the Asus 1015px netbook. If you're not sure to what a netbook is let me explain. What is a netbook? Netbooks are described as being small, lightweight and inexpensive laptops. When they were first introduced in 2007 they were less expensive that your usual laptop and they also had less computing power. Fast forward to 2012 and technology has advanced and so have and the Asus 1015px netbook is a great example of this. Netbooks usually omit features that take up too much room and the biggest example of this is that netbooks don't have optical drives. This allows netbooks to be much smaller in size and weight. Some people may find this a disadvantage, I don't however as most software or files are available via digital download these days. Netbooks also have different operating systems from Laptops and other computer systems. For example the Asus 1015px netbook has Windows 7 starter as an operating system. The reason for this is because netbooks often have lower spec hardware compared to desktop computers. What is included with the 1015px netbook? When opening the netbook box you will find the following items:

• Power Cable
• Asus 1015px Netbook
• Asus 1015px battery
• User Manuals and warranty form

  The first thing that I noticed when I opened the netbook box was the power cable. It is different from most power cables as it is in a strange shape, having said that I do like it. The power cable feels well-built and has a blue LED light on the side of it that tells you when your netbook is charging. After noticing the power cable it was finally time to check out my new netbook. I first had to peel off a lot of the protection that came with the device. Once this was done I inserted the 1015px battery and turned the netbook on to set it up. The setup of the netbook took around 10 minutes maybe less. USB ports, Jacks and everything else The Asus 1015pc comes with 3 USB ports which are useful if you're the type of person who likes to do work while on the move. You can save, open and edit documents on your way to work with the 1015px and then save them to your USB pen and no one will know any different. This is also a good idea for students looking to get last minute work/revision done on a deadline. A shared headphone/microphone jack is also present along with a SD card reader which allows you to upload your images taken direct from a digital camera. Netbook web browsing You may want a netbook for carrying out work or homework while commuting or you simply may want a device that allows you to connect to the internet while you're out of the house, whatever your reason you will be glad to know that the web browsing capabilities of the Asus 1015px are good. I didn't think that the device would hold up to high definition web videos but it sure did. Watching 720p HD videos on YouTube wasn't a problem for this little netbook. Full 1080p HD videos also displayed but the results weren't brilliant but that was expected. Other web browsing such as checking emails and social networks worked fine and this was a relief because it will now make every day commuting much more enjoyable for me. One thing that lets this netbook down is the poor webcam and if you're looking for a netbook with a good built in webcam then you may want to think of purchasing an additional webcam to go along with this netbook. The 0.3 megapixel webcam is very poor and I really think Asus shouldn't have bothered to include it. I for one don't use webcams so it is not a problem for me, but if you're dead set on getting one then don't expect much from the built in one on the Asus 1015px. The 1015px Keyboard Netbooks have smaller keyboards than laptops and desktop computer keyboards and initially I was put off by this so when my netbook arrived I was eager to try it out. The 1015px keyboard is smaller like I was expecting but the difference between netbook vs. laptop is minimal at best. The Asus 1015px has good quality keys and I got familiar with the layout very quickly. So if you're looking for a netbook or a laptop don't let a smaller keyboard put you off because honestly there's not much of a difference. Asus 1015px Touchpad The touchpad on this netbook is of a similar size of many laptops that I have used, I liked this because it meant I didn't have to adjust my workflow to using this netbook. The touchpad is responsive and has two parts to it. The left hand side navigates the mouse and the right hand side allows you to scroll up and down the page while web browsing or working within documents. IPhone users will also be glad to know that you can zoom in and out on a page using the same "pinching" technique as you do on the iPhone. Underneath the touchpad is the left and right button key and out of the entire keyboards layout this is the function that I dislike the most. I don't dislike it because it's only one button I actually like that but I dislike the quality of the plastic used. It may seem picky but the plastic button just feels cheap, it also wobbles a little. All the other keys feel and look nice but the biggest one that stands out looks out of place. The Speakers The speaker system on this netbook isn't great and I didn't expect them to be as most netbooks don't have quality speakers on them and there are a few reasons for this. One of the reasons is that netbooks primarily aren't built to be entertainment systems. Their built to allow people to carry out work on the move. The second reason is to save space. Netbooks save space by putting the speakers on their underside. This underside is what rests on your legs and this leads to the sound being muffled. You shouldn't be put off by this though because if you plug in a pair of head phones into the headphone jack I found that the audio quality was good up until the maximum volume where the sound became a bit fuzzy. Battery Life The main reason why I purchased the Asus 1015px netbook was because of its long life battery. Asus, Amazon and various other retail outlets all have the battery life at 11 hours. This is one of the highest battery life on the market and I personally needed this because I am often out of the house for long periods of time. From testing I can tell you that you won't get 11 hours of usage out of this laptop and it's more like 9 hours. From various tests of using different applications you can see battery life performance below.

• Watching Multimedia - 7 to 8 hours
• General Web Browsing - 9 Hours
• Office work - 8.5 hours

  With Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched off I still couldn't reach the 11 hours of advertised battery life, so I was a little disappointed but having said that 9 hours of work on one charge is more than enough for me. How the Asus 1015px holds up against others Compared to other Asus models, this is how the 1015 battery life compares. (Higher value means better)

• 1005HA - 8.5 Hours
• 1018P - 8 Hours
• 1215N - 7 Hours
• 1011PX - 4.5 Hours
• 1015PX - 11 Hours

  As you can see, the 11 hours above is much higher than any of the other netbooks in its category. Obviously all these numbers should be taken with a pinch of salt because there is no true way of knowing how long their batteries actually last without getting my hands on them all and testing them. It is also worth noting that some of the netbooks mentioned above are far more expensive than the 1015px yet they have a smaller battery life. Asus 1015px Cooling system Generally any computer that goes on your lap causes a heat build-up. This is usually because the ventilation is poorly designed. I don't know if the 1015px has a good ventilation system or that the size on the netbook makes a difference but I have noticed that little to no heat comes from this netbook. The fan is also very quiet and I find this a bonus because I do a lot of my work on public transport and having a noisy computer wouldn't be welcomed among the other passengers. Overall Performance When purchasing the 1015px netbook I didn't expect it to run the latest video games at the highest frame rate but I also didn't want the netbook to be slow when running multiple programs and thankfully it isn't. The 1.66GHz duo core processor allows me to edit images, listen to music and write up reports with ease. This is all I wanted the netbook for and it performs these tasks without a problem. I do recommend upgrading the RAM on the machine to 2GB, it's a simple process that takes less than 5 minutes to do and it's also very affordable. The RAM upgrade is well worth it in my opinion and allows the 1015px to run more efficiently. The small cost of upgrading the RAM makes me wonder why this netbook doesn't come with 2GB of RAM as standard and I think this is something ASUS really should look into. Positives of the 1015px netbook

• Light Weight
• Nice Matt Design
• Great Battery Life
• Big hard disk drive (250gb)
• Good performance

  Disadvantages of the 1015px netbook

• No direct access to hard drive. This means you won't be able to upgrade the hard drive without taking the bottom of the netbook off. You probably won't need to upgrade it though as the hard drive has a good amount of storage on it.

• Rubbish webcam

• Windows 7 starter operating system. The windows 7 operating system isn't great and in my opinion is more like windows light but having said that it does the job.

  Final Conclusion Overall the Asus 1015px is a great little netbook that has a solid build and good performance, along with a big hard disk and a duo core processor that tackles everyday tasks efficiently. If you want a netbook that has a great battery life, allows you to browse the web and carry out work on the go then I highly recommend the Asus 1015px netbook.

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