Saturday, October 22, 2011

Top of the AMD E-450 class: Asus Eee PC 1215B

Asus popular 12.1-inch, 1215 chassis which has been home to a variety of Intel and AMD chips over the past two years. A few months ago, we saw this get the AMD C-50 Fusion APU. This basically gave it netbook like performance with boosted graphics capabilities. Now, finally gets what many have been hoping for: a AMD Fusion E-450 APU. This gives it the power of a true ultraportable laptop. The Asus Eee PC 1215B AMD E-450 also comes with USB 3.0, and a large 6-cell battery (Update: Some Asus Eee PC 1215B's do not come with a USB 3.0 port)

These specifications put the Asus Eee PC 1215B E-450 ahead of the popular HP Pavillion DM1, our own personal favorite, the Sony Vaio YB, and the most portable of the three, Samsung Series 3. It is the only one of the four to support USB 3.0 which is ten times faster than USB 2.0. The battery of the Asus Eee PC 1215B E-450 is also 20%-50% larger than its three competitors.


The other AMD E-450 ultraportables have 11.6-inch screens. The Asus Eee PC 1215B E-450 has a larger 12.1-inch (1366 x 768) screen, so it weighs in 3.2 pounds, which is actually the same as the smaller Sony Vaio YB and is lighther than the HP Pavillion DM-1. The Samsung is still the lightest at 2.7 pounds.

The other specifications are what you expect, 2GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, built in card reader and HDMI out. Priced at Php21,450 it is also wont cost you more than its HP, Sony and Samsung competition.

The only letdown is the operating system. The Asus Eee PC 1215B E-450 comes with Windows 7 Starter, like the Sony Vaio YB. The HP Pavillion DM-1 and the Samsung Series 3, come with the more feature filled Windows 7 Home Basic.

Still, if you are looking for a small, inexpensive 11 to 12 inch laptop, Asus Eee PC 1215B E-450 is the one to get.

32 comments:

  1. Hi, how do you compare this ASUS model to the new HP Pavilion DM1-4000 model with AMD E-450? Do you have a review of the said HP model? Thanks.

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  2. Unfortunately, I have not seen that yet here in the Philippines. There is a review at Laptop Mag of the US version here: http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/hp-pavilion-dm1-4010us-late-2011.aspx

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  3. Have seen the HP DM1 with E450 in CyberZone Mega during the weekend. As mentioned in the internet, it has a new chassis which I think is much better than the current model but I was a bit disappointed that it still has the old Radeon 6310 with the E350 and not the new 6320 version. Tried to confirm with the clerk if it was typo error but Octagon confirmed that indeed it is 6310.

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  4. Actually, saw these three netbooks (HP DM1 E450, Sony VAIO Y E450, and ASUS 1215B with E450 in CyberZone. They all look good! Better specs, goes to Asus. Flexibility goes to HP with the removable back plate for upgrading. Looks and design goes to Sony. This is just my opinion. This makes it hard for me to decide right now on what to get.

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  5. Great, great post! It’s something I have never thought about, really, but it makes a whole lot of sense. Thanks for sharing

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  6. this or eMachines by Acer eMD732-382G50Mnkk Core i3-380M?? i really can't decide whether E450 or i3? they are both 21k...

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  7. One issue is size. Do you want a 14-inch 5 pound or 12.1 inch 3+ pound laptop.

    For power, the i3-380M has more processing power that the E-450. The E-450 GPU has a bit more graphics power than the Intel HD graphics.

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  8. Some Asus Eee PC 1215B sold here in phil even has a dedicated 256 vram. I'm torn between this, HP and Dell (with 4GB ram).

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  9. I am partial to the Asus 1215b because of the USB 3.0 port.

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  10. how bout the its samsung e450 counterpart? what do you think is the best buy from asus, hp, vaio and samsung?

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  11. Wich is better this "new" asus (with E 450 and 4gb DDR3) or the HP dm1z with E350, I´m asking in terms of both power and battery life

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  12. In terms of power the E-450 is substantially faster than the E-350. On the battery, the Asus 1215B has a 5200 mAh battery, as against the 4400 mAh. The Asus 1215B a larger screen to power up though, still it should have better battery life than the DM1z.

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  13. it's a shame that i can't find an Asus 1215b e-450 processor here in Cebu. Even the Asus store only has the unit with the C-60 processor. I may have to go with DM1z if there is still nothing available by next month. oh well....

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  14. If you can get the newer HP DM1 4000AU, that also has a E-450 processor and comes with Beats audio.

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  15. Yeah but I think they are selling it with a HDD of 5200 rpm instead of the 7200 rpm of the previous model, is this a great step backwards or it does not really matter?

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  16. The 7200 rpm drive would be preferable as it is faster. A 5400 rpm drive has the advantage of being a bit less power hungry. Personally, I am fine with either a 7200 rpm or 5400 rpm HDD. Unless you do a lot of hard drive intensive work you probably would not feel the difference.

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  17. In Italy again nothing about Asus 1215b E 450. Or when? God bless you! by Nicola Facciolini.

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  18. There are a few stores who sell Eee PC 1215b(e450) with HOME BASIC here in the Philippines...in other countries they even have Premium or Ultimate i think.

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  19. Yup. The 1215B's here have varying specifications.

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  20. HI!which is better between these:
    asus eee pc 1215b amd e-450 or
    acer aspire intel core i3 380um

    Thanks!

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  21. The Intel Core i3-380UM has far more processing power than an E-450 but the E-450 should have an edge in graphics performance (although I doubt it is noticeable). If you are talking about the Acer Aspire 1830T, I would prefer than over the Asus 1215B.

    The newer Intel Sandy Bridge systems have faster graphics than an AMD Fusion based system. Unfortunately, Acer has not yet launched a successor to the 1830T.

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  22. Thanks for the quick reply. How about the acer 1830T in comparison with the Samsung series 3 305U1A?

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  23. The Samsung Series 3 is a very nice choice. It is very small and light for an 11-inch laptop. The individual keys on the keyboard a a bit small. An Acer 1830T should cost you a fair amount more (28K?). Between the two I prefer the Acer, but for the money the Samsung Series 3 is an equally good deal.

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  24. I should have asked it this way: How would you rank the three (best value for money)? Thanks again.

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  25. I should have asked it this way: How would you rank the three (best value for money)?

    Samsung series 3 305U1A
    Acer Aspire 1430 intel core i3-380UM
    Asus eee 1215B amd e-450

    Thanks again!!!

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  26. Though call, each has its strengths. If you want maximum portability the 11.6-inch Samsung Series 3 is the smallest and lightest of the bunch being almost as small as a 10-inch netbook. I see it going of below 20K these days and would assume it is the cheapest of the three. Personally, I would like larger keys.

    The Acer Aspire 1430 is basically a Acer 1830T with a different lid and lower capacity battery. It's 380UM processor has almost twice the processing power of the E-450's. I have seen this model only on the grey market selling for 22-24K, and am not sure what kind of warranty you will get with it. It will have the most processing muscle per peso by far.

    The 1215B advantage is the screen and some units even come with a USB 3.0 port. If you ar getting one as your main PC I would recommend this one because of the larger display.

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  27. hi roberto, just stumbled upon your blog a few days ago which got me thinking. i am from indonesia and the asus 1215b with e450 is selling for $360 without OS. i was earlier thinking of buying a barbones zotac zbox ad02 (amd e350) which is available for approx. $260 (without hdd, ram and os) to set up as a basic htpc. the amd e450 model (ad04) has been released but god knows when it will reach indonesia and at what price. after reading this blog, it got me thinking why should i not just get the asus 1215b with the e450?? it is almost the equivalent of the zotac zbox ad04 just minus the MCE remote and some audio out ports. the cost would work out to approximately the same (after buying the hdd and ram for the zotac barebones pc). the asus however would give the added flexibility of being able to be used as a notebook (on rare occasions if i ever need it).
    would love to hear your opinions roberto.

    thanks
    ash

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  28. I am not too familiar with HTPC's and what the drawbacks of using a laptop instead might be. I do not see any reason it would not work. E-450's play 1080p video flawlessly. The C-50/60 sometimes stutters a bit.

    Sorry. Not much help.

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  29. Hi, this model is currently hard to find with 6320 gfx? any ideas where i could get one? thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Unfortunately when the Asus distributor brings in E-450 1215B's, all brought in at one time usually have the same configuration. So what you will see on different retailers shelves will probably be all the same.

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    2. Check out the new stocks at Asianic. I think those might have 6320 graphics.

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