Hi
everyone, Mike here and in this video we’re going to talk about the
Asus EeeBook X205TA / X205, which is a brand new compact laptop selling
for only $199 (actually, it’s
even cheaper now than initially announced).
There are a few other notebooks that go for around the same amount of money these days, like the 11 inch Acer
Chromebooks.
But this one comes with Windows 8.1 and that allows it to run most of
the software you’re already familiar with from your other computers.
Well, at least to some extent, as the X205 is not a power-horse, not by far. But we’ll get to that in a few second.
First
though, check out the specs sheet, so you’ll know what to expect from
this laptop, and also the video review, if you don’t feel like reading
the block of text
The X205TA is not yet available in stores at the time of this post,
but the unit I’ve tested is pretty much identical to what you’ll be able
to buy in a few weeks.
| Asus EeeBook X205TA spec sheet
|
| Screen | 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 px, TN |
| Hardware | Intel Atom BayTrail-T Z3745D CPU and Intel HD graphics |
| Memory | 2 GB RAM |
| Storage | 32 GB flash-storage |
Connectivity
| Wireless N, Bluetooth |
| Ports | 2x USB, micro-HDMI, microSD card reader, proprietary PSU, headphone jack |
| Battery | 38 Wh |
| OS | Windows 8.1
|
| Size | 288 mm or 11.3 in (L) x 196 mm or 7.7 in (W) x 18 mm or 0.70 in (H) |
| Weight | 954 g (2.10 lbs) |
| Others | stereo speakers, available in several colors, webcam |
Hardware and daily use
The EeeBook X205TA is primarily meant
for light everyday activities. It can then handle browsing between a
couple of different tabs, watching video content and listening to music,
editing some texts and maybe some pictures as well. It can run
Microsoft’s Office suite (does come with a Trial version of Office that
requires activation and the final release versions will include a 12
month Office 365 Personal license) and software like Adobe Photoshop if
you want to, just make sure you’re not going to ask too much out of it,
as it will choke easily if pushed.
And that’s because this EeeBook
is built on an low-power high-efficiency hardware platform, with an
Intel Z3745D processor, bundled with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage,
which can actually become a problem quite fast. Both the RAM and eMMC
storage are soldered and NOT upgradeable.
The thing is you’re not
left with a lot of spare space after having Windows installed (roughly
14 GB), so Asus definitely had to cut a corner here to meet the low
price tag. And that leaves you with two options: either use the included
cloud space offered for free in Asus’s WebStorage environment, or
expand the storage space with the help of a microSD card.
To be frank, I was a bit disappointed this laptop does not support
standard sized SD cards, that would have been useful for downloading
pictures from my cameras while on the go, but that’s probably not such a
big deal for most potential buyers.
Overall though, the X205 is a fairly capable little fellow and it can do a lot of things for you.
The
daily experience is enhanced by the loud and punchy speakers placed on
the belly, but towards the front of the chassis and by the fact that
this runs completely noiseless, since it houses no fans and no moving
parts inside.
The Wi-Fi chip is fairly capable of well. It can’t match my Internet
speed, going to only about 30 Mbps near the router, but at least the
speed and signal strength don’t drop away fast as you step a bit
further. I was able to stream 1080p video content with no buffering and
download all sorts of things of the Internet without feeling slow, and
in my book that’s good enough for a computer that only sells for $199.
The
laptop’s belly has no cooling cuts in it, and none are in fact needed,
which leads to a simple and beautiful design. You can take it apart by
unscrewing the 12 or so regular Philips screws that hold in place and
that gives you access to the internals.
I was hoping to be able to upgrade the storage, but there seem to be
no dedicated storage stick like on some of the other mini-laptops I’ve
tested, so there’s no way to up the 32 GBs through a hardware upgrade.
At least none that I can tell of, and that’s a bit annoying, as the 32
GB of space is hardly sufficient for a Windows 8.1 laptop. You could try
to go the Linux road. I planed to try Ubuntu or Mint on this myself,
but my Linux knowledge is virtually null and I did not have the time to
do it this time. Hopefully in the next few weeks.
One final thing I
was looking to mention here are temperatures and performance under
load. The X205’s case remains cool under light use and the temperatures
won’t reach for the stars when running the Prime95+Furmark stress-test
either. You can see the numbers in the pictures below.
Keyboard and trackpad
The typing experience is not bad on the
X205 and is helped by a fairly good keyboard and a nice typing
position, thanks to the roomy palm-rest and the laptop’s low profile.
The
keys are firm and offer decent travel and feedback, for this size range
of course, but they do feel a bit cheap to touch, plasticky. And
besides these, the layout is vertically cramped, as Asus opted for
shorter rectangular keys and not the square keys I was expecting, and
the arrow keys are small, just like on the older Asus EeeBooks launched a
few years ago.
The shorter keys do leave room for the spacious
palm-rest mentioned before and an oversized trackpad, which I do
appreciate. In everyday use though, the latter proved occasionally
erratic and moody, although it worked alright most of the time. But
sometimes ti double clicks all by itself or sends the cursor flying to
the edges, and these mostly happen when you put the computer under a
heavier loud than it can handle.
Even so, this is one of the few
aspects where the X205 needs extra tweaking. Luckily, the jumpy cursor
is usually a software problem and could, at least in theory, be
addressed by future drivers updates. We should hold our judgement for
further reviews, just keep the potential issues in mind.
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