Even back in the days when netbooks where the next hot piece of technology, there was a lot of debate whether bigger than 10 inch mini laptops are actually called netbooks or not. Back them I decided to call 11.6+ inch devices budget ultra-portables, and with that in mind, today we’re going to talk about such a computer: the Asus EEE PC 1225C.
This is a close relative to the EEE PC 1225B we tested a couple of weeks ago, but while that one came with AMD hardware, this one is built on Intel’s CedarTrail Atom. It’s in fact the same platform you’ll find on smaller 10 inch netbooks these days, that’s why we could say the 1025C is a “bigger netbook”.
In this post we’re going to take just a quick look at the laptop, as I unbox it (there’s a video bellow) and share some of my first impressions on it. Of course, since this laptop is not yet available in stores, we’re dealing with a pre-production sample, thus some of the final features might be slightly different. And, knowing Asus, they will offer different configurations based on your country, so the 1225C you might find at your local Best Buy (or whatever) might not be 100% identical to the one here.
— Update: You should also check out my full review of the Asus EEE PC 1225C that I posted here on the site in the meantime.
Anyway, let’s see what we’re dealing with here. The 1225C is an 11.6 inch budget ultra-portable, part of the new Asus EEE PC Flare line. It looks identical to the 1225B I tested before, with some exceptions: the test unit I got comes in Black and offers a glossy finish for the lid cover. A plastic glossy finish, the kind that catches fingerprints and smudges like crazy. On a first look though, the plastic feels like it’s somewhat treated against scratches, it feels more metallic than the plastic on the old Asus EEE PCs used to feel (like on the 1215N, if you remember that one), but this might be just a mirage.
The Asus EEE PC 1225C is a bigger Atom powered netbook
The bottom is covered in that textured plastic we knew from the Asus 12xx series before and the sides come with chromed edges, a trademark of the EEE PC Flare line.
Opening the lid, you get the black metal interior, a full-size keyboard and a glossy screen. My unit get’s the US keyboard layout, with the bigger left SHIFT, but you still get that extra column of keys in the right, which I for one resent. The trackpad is not the one I saw on the 1225B, but an over sized version of the trackpad present on the 1025C/1025CE Flare lines: that means that it has a physical click button, but we’ll have to wait and see how good the touchpad and the button are during everyday use. I’ll let you know in my review.
The glossy hood is a no-no for me
Inside, this test unit of mine comes with an Intel Atom N2600 processor, 2 GB of RAM, 320 GB HDD and Windows 7 Home Premium, but to be frank, I’m surprised Asus din not squeeze at least a faster N2800 processor in there. I mean, they put the N2600 on their cheapest netbook, the X101CH, they could have put something better here as I’m pretty sure this one is not going to cut it, performance wise. We’ll see.
More details in the unboxing video bellow:
All in all, I knew the 1025C was going to be an underpowered mini laptop and I don’t dig the glossy hood and display. However, I was actually expecting it to be cheap, but based on what I know right now, I was wrong. The 1225C is expected to land in my country by late March and it’s only going to be about $30 cheaper than the 1225B (the equivalent of $30 here). That would lead to a price tag of $400 -$420 when it reaches the States, and while having that Atom platform inside will ensure long battery life (once again, we’ll see if this proves true or not), I doubt many will turn towards this unit, when for only a bit of extra cash you can get the faster, matte and overall better unit, the Asus 1225B.
But look for the review, it should come by late next week, and by then I’ll be able to tell you more about this Asus EEE PC 1225C.
Update: Here’s the review for the Asus 1225C, with video, benchmarks, pictures and all the goodies. Check it out!
Expected underpowered, did not expect expensive as well
Anonymous
February 16, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Uh, Mike, Asus offers the 12xx models with different configurations. Just like how the 1225B will be coming with either a C-60 or a E-450. The 1225C will be coming with different ATOM chips as well.
The N2600 is just the first production Intel released and why you’ll be seeing more of them than N2800 right now, but there will be versions with the N2800 as they become available.
While also don’t forget the D2500/D2700 options coming out as well. So just like the previous 12xx series models Asus will be providing a range of options and many of them will be using the same model number.
Along with different casing colors of red, white, silver, black, and
blue for the series that will all have a different finish, and also Asus
opts between Matte and Glossy screens for the Intel systems but the AMD
models are strictly Glossy as another difference.
The only thing not certain yet is whether Asus will produce a model with discrete graphics and if they do whether it will be a Nvidia or a AMD solution.
While pricing may be a factor of present low supply of Intel chips, because of the delays, and the higher costs of hard drives that’s driving pricing up throughout the market. Prior to the hard drive shortage and issues with drivers causing delays the original price estimates were significantly lower than we’re seeing now. So pricing may get lower in a few months as things stabilize.
Mike
February 17, 2012 at 12:22 am
Yes, i am aware of the multiple configs, and i was planning to write more about this in the review, didn’t want to get into more details right now. But you’re right, I shouldn’t be that harsh on the lid cover.
But the price, well, over here the 1225c with n2600 and no USB 3.0/Bluetooth is going to cost 1899 lei, while the 1225B with all those plus AMD E450 will cost 1999 lei. So there’s just little reason for anyone to buy the 1225C (except for the battery, but that won’t help if the device is sluggish, at least not in my eyes)
Anyway, over here, the 1225C will only come with N2600, which is odd. I’m confident in the US it will ship with N2800, plus other future options. As for the D series versions, I’m not entirely sure those will come out on the 1225C or on a different model? Remember how many 1215s used to be, they will have a bunch of 1225s as well for sure. But to be frank, I knew about this model since November and I was quite sure it will ship with D series Atoms. Seems i was wrong.
As for the one with dedicated graphics, I wonder whether they’ll go for what they have inside the VX6S, D2700 + AMD graphics. Knowing that in the past, the 1215N and VX6 shared the same platform, that could be the case here. However, my friends at Asus couldn’t tell me anything about such a product yet.
Oh, and one more thing, are you 100% sure there will 1225Cs with matte displays ? From waht I’ve been told, Asus only has glossy 11.6 inch screens right now, while the 10 inchers have matte and glossy ones, based on model.
Anonymous
February 17, 2012 at 1:29 am
Not 100% sure but they are suppose to get matte 11.6″ as well but it may be later in the year. Asus isn’t going to be too set in the specs as like many other companies they plan on getting ready for Windows 8 and that will cause quite a few changes.
For example, Intel put 64bit drivers for Windows 7 for the new GMA on the back burner because they are focusing on making sure the drivers for Windows 8 will be ready on time. So priorities aren’t for what is coming out now.
For the D-Series, yes they will come out for the 1225C, the “C” is just for Cedar Trail just like “P” in previous series was for Pine Trail. Other letters are just for enhancements like “N” for Nvidia, “E” for Extended of Enhanced (like the difference between the 1025C and 1025CE), etc. Just look at how they named the 1201 and 1215 models for comparison.
In terms of performance, remember even the N2600 is a dual core and at 1.6GHz it falls between the old N550 and N570, which provided decent performance for running Windows 7 properly and edged out the C-50 for CPU performance. While the N2800 at 1.86GHz is around the performance of the older gen 1.8GHz D525.
The 1.65GHz E-450 should edge even the 2.13GHz D2700 out for CPU performance but not by that large of a margin. Even the E-450 is still considered a netbook range processor and you’re looking at easily triple or more its performance before entering into the ULV Core i-Series range.
So the main reason to get AMD would be the much better graphics but Intel systems may still provide good enough for most users level of performance. There have already been demonstration of Cedar Trail systems handling dual 1080P video output for example. So it can definitely handle HD content well enough.
The main thing that may hurt Intel though is the lack of GMA driver support, since lack of 64bit drivers excludes using more than 4GB of RAM and it’s still a long way before proper linux drivers become available. Though that may all clear up by the time Windows 8 comes out.
In Intel documentation there is also mention of higher clocked chips that may come out later. Like a 1.7GHz N2650, 2GHz N2850, etc. and supposedly only a 0.1W increase to max TDP for each. So Intel may boost its offering along with Windows 8 to help buy them time to get the 22nm Silvermont out next year.
Mike
February 17, 2012 at 10:50 am
Well, I’m looking forward to see how is this 1225C gong to handle HD playing. I wasn’t allowed to test it properly on the X101CH due to those pesky NDAs at the time.
Bottom point, you’re right, for most the 1225C might be enough, especially if Asus puts a faster processor and makes the whole thing cheaper.
But I still don’t think people actually know what to expect from Atom processors. I get a lot of emails from people complaining their netbooks are slow, mainly because they’re pushing them too hard. And sometimes they tell me that they knew the small netbooks are slow, but didn’t expect the bigger ones to be as well (in some discussions on the 1215P). That’s why I think it would have been smarter to have a faster atom in there by default.
Cause right now, I feel this series is going to be very confusing for the average buyer, having to pick between different configurations, with both N and D series processors.
Anonymous
February 17, 2012 at 11:33 am
Unfortunately, that’s nothing new for netbooks. People have been over estimating them since they first came out and even the AMD Fusion models can be over estimated.
Though the coming confusion from when ARM laptops start competing with netbooks is when things will get really problematic.
People are already confused on why Windows 8 for ARM will not be exactly the same as Windows 8 for x86.
Since the average consumer is still woefully unaware of how the market works and what to realistically expect from both the technology and costs.
Like look how people are reacting to the Amazon Kindle Fire. Way too many people are thinking that if Amazon can produce that quality of a product for $200 that it should become the benchmark by which all other tablets have to be judged.
Some even argue that a $200 ARM laptop could compete directly with Ultrabooks! Just to show how crazy some opinions are getting.
Anyway, you have anyone really confused about these Eee PC models then just direct them to the Eee User Forum for some advice from fellow Eee PC users.
Mike
February 17, 2012 at 12:25 am
Oh, and about those inflated prices, if they are somewhat caused by the more expensive HDDs, that should be the case for the 1225B as well. So I’m not necessarily saying the 1225C is expensive per-se, just that it’s too expensive when compared the the 1225B.
And yes, you’re right about prices going down, that always happen, especially on Amazon, but I was referring to the list prices, so those that might be interested in this product know what to expect when they become available.
Anonymous
February 17, 2012 at 1:08 am
I wasn’t just referring to the increased hard drive costs but also the limited supply of Intel chips. Remember they were delayed and only recently started shipping to manufacturers. So prices may drop more in the coming months for Intel systems than they otherwise would.
Though there is also the factor that for USB 3.0, AMD models just need the DM3 version and its included but for Intel ATOMs they are still using the NM10 Express Chipset and that lacks a native USB 3.0 controller and so they have to add one to provide that feature and that means added cost as well.
ryan
February 18, 2012 at 1:49 pm
In terms of multitasking which is better? intel n2800 1.86ghz or AMD E450 1.65ghz? I really need a small notebook or netbook for lite web development..
Mike
February 18, 2012 at 8:03 pm
in terms of straight cpu power, the n2800 is faster. not by much. overall though, the AMD is the more versatile processor for multimedia use
Julien
February 21, 2012 at 12:38 pm
Hello Mike. I’ve seen yours clips and it’s a very good job. That’s help me to choose. I plan to buy this one because I like the flare design and 10′ is too small to me. I would like a N2800 processor, 2 GB of RAM, 320 BG of HDD and blue color for less than 350€, because I’m french. Do you think is that plausible? I’m eager to see your review.
Mike
February 22, 2012 at 8:55 pm
Hey Julien
I’m not familiar with the prices over there but i think it’s probably plausible. Since the 1225ce is going to sell for about $420 in the US, i’d say it will sell for 350 – 380 or so in Europe. Not sure on that color though, that depends. For instance over here it will only sell in black, at least in the first couple of weeks. Maybe over there, since it’s a bigger country, more color options will be available.