Asus EEE PC 1015PEM

Just last friday, Ae, my officemate, bought a new netbook for herself. The lucky device that was chosen is a metallic red Asus EEE PC 1015PEM.

At 16.5kPhp it is among the most affordable and most powerful of any netbook series out today, primarily due to the Intel Atom550 dual-core processor that drives it. I got to play around with it come the monday after for some reconfiguration of sorts.

The default setup comes with Win7 Starter pre-installed and licensed to the device. No support cd’s or dvd’s of any sort come with the device but all of the drivers can be taken down from the Asus support site should you need it. I was with her when she bought the machine at PCWorx and she got a flurry of free stuff with it: mouse, headset, and an 8gb flash drive.

Tip: I learned from the sales people that these ‘freebies’ actually have a monetary limit and as long as it is within the boundary, you can actually ask for another item or set of items.

The Build – as expected with Asus products, those within the seashell line in particular, the feel is very sturdy and the finish is almost matte which is very good in warding off unwanted fingerprints on the outside. The keyboard is nicely sized and the touchpad, while not too tactile, is wide and allows for sweeping gestures to be done with ease.

The Features – the devices boasts 10 hours on a charge using its hybrid engine but I wont be able to test that for myself, during the course of my reconfiguration though I only found the need to plug it in after I was almost finished just because she might want to be using it on the fly right after.

The matte screen was a very nice touch and that made it easy to use, one thing I found unfriendly though is the native resolution of 1024 x 600, this was a hindrance during installs and the actual operation of some programs and definitely with plenty of games, for the average user though, this wouldn’t make so much of an impact, the bigger icons actually match the 10 inch screen well.

There was also hardly any weight on the device, which is a very good thing for portables such as this one, And even though the vent was just a small grilled opening on the left, there was no heating issues while I was tinkering with the device for a little more than 4 hours.

For me personally, the real test would be HD playback and at 720p, the 1015PEM didn’t disappoint, there was a little seeking issue but it wasn’t all that unexpected.

At the price point, Id say nothing else on the market comes close to the computing capacity that this one had to offer, it was a very good purchase and I would recommend those who are looking to keep this one within their sights.