Asus Eee PC 1015T Review

Performance Analysis

The effect of 2GB of memory in the Eee PC 1015T is apparent in image editing, where a large amount of image files are being called, changed and converted. Clearly there's not enough RAM available to do all of that on the basic 1GB model.

In video encoding though, the caching wasn't an issue as the test is all down to CPU power and memory bandwidth, neither of which was in much supply. We expected the 1.3GHz CULV laptop to be faster, but clearly the dual-core Intel Atom still benefits from its extra threading in this instance.

None of the machines would complete our multi-tasking test though. It's not surprising or even expected from a netbook though - the Radeon graphics of the 1015T was capable of playing the video, but the rest of the system couldn't handle the compression and archiving of the large folder of files.


As for gaming performance, Minecraft surprised us in how playable it was, even with only 1GB of memory installed; the limited resolution game window suited the Eee PC perfectly. Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 both suffered from having only 1GB of memory and really needed the 2GB stick to be playable. Remember, there's only one SODIMM slot inside, so upgrading is limited.

With wireless and bluetooth disabled, and the LCD backlight on medium, the battery lasted an impressive three and a half hours of gaming in Minecraft, with the little fan whizzing away the entire time. A mix of basic web browsing and system idling yielded a little under seven hours of life. While these times aren't quite the 'all day' times we'd like, given the previous record of AMD systems, the battery life is pretty good.

Conclusion

Overall, we've got a mixed opinion of the Eee PC 1015T. It's frustratingly limited with the 1GB 768MB of usable memory it ships with, and spending extra cash on a 2GB upgrade while having to throw out that 1GB stick is rather annoying. It's even more frustrating that the system gets lumbered with half a ton of software bloat on top of its already resource-heavy Windows 7 OS.

On the other hand, a 2GB DDR3 1,066MHz SODIMM stick is just £25 or $40, and with it the Eee PC 1015T becomes a different beast that's responsive and much more pleasant to use. the Radeon HD 4250 GPU also means that you can do some light gaming on the netbook - it's not going to run anything too demanding, but Minecraft and old favourites are within its capabilities. The 10.1in size makes the 1015T an awesome travel companion. We already kill hours in Minecraft at home, so why not when we fly or take the train? (Assuming you're not in the UK.)

It's a shame the 1015T couldn't play every 1080p h.264 clip we tried, although it did handle 720p video scaled down to the 1,024 x 600 resolution display.

Our US friends can pick an Eee PC up for $400, which isn't bad, as the latest Intel Atom N550 dual-core netbooks are from this price and upwards, but Acer currently has its faster Athlon II K125+M880G netbook for the same price as the Eee PC 1015T. And the Eee PC requires a memory upgrade that you also factor into its price. While having more choice is overdue for netbooks, you've got to really want the extra graphics benefits to consider one of the new AMD Nile models.

• Performance
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• 7/10

• Features
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• 7/10

• Value
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• 6/10

• Overall
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• -
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• 7/10

Score Guide