Asus Eee PC 1215N: Dual-Core, ION and Optimus for under £450

Having just about got over our disappointment at discovering the lack of Optimus technology in the Asus Eee PC 1201PN, we've now noticed that the new Asus Eee PC 1215N has started cropping up in online stores. It's currently available to pre-order for £430 and is a worthy successor for the acclaimed 1201N netbook.

Asus Eee PC 1215N Prices unavailable Recommended alternatives Editor's Choice Asus U36SD One From Apple Apple MacBook Air 13-inch 2011 Tablet or Netbook? Asus EeePad Transformer With Keyboard

The Asus Eee PC 1201N is currently one of our hot picks in our laptops and netbooks buyer's guide as it's no ordinary netbook. It's one of the few models to feature an Intel Atom dual-core processor as well as an NVIDIA ION graphics processor.

Asus Eee PC 1201N Prices unavailable Recommended alternatives Editor's Choice Asus U36SD One From Apple Apple MacBook Air 13-inch 2011 Tablet or Netbook? Asus EeePad Transformer With Keyboard

Over eight months after releasing this successful netbook, Asus is now to launch a new and improved model to replace the Eee PC 1201N. The new Asus Eee PC 1215N has an Intel Atom D525 processor (dual-core, clocked at 1.8 GHz), 2 GB of RAM, a 320 GB hard drive and a 12.1-inch screen (1366 x 768 pixels). It should be the first netbook to use NVIDIA Optimus technology, to help improve battery life and power management, together with a new ION 2 graphics chip. This model will hopefully prove a worthy successor to the cancelled Acer Aspire One 532G, which never even made it to the shelves, and the Asus Eee PC 1201PN, which left users disillusioned.

As the only manufacturer offering a netbook with this kind of spec, the 1215N could be a big hit for Asus. It's already available to pre-order on Amazon for £430 (in black or silver) and comes with Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed.

Netbook or ultra-portable laptop?

The price may seem quite high for a netbook, even though we'd expect its performances to be much higher than the average model. That said, around £500 will get you one of the new ultra-portable laptops with interesting-looking tech specs based on AMD Nile technology (dual-core processor, up to 4 GB RAM, 7200 rpm hard drive (at Dell) and an integrated graphics processor by ATI). The Dell Inspiron M101Z and Samsung X125 look particularly promising, and Acer is also likely to be serving up some decent Intel-based alternatives soon (more on that later).

Autumn looks like a great time for new releases, with a fantastic line-up of new and promising looking netbooks and ultra-portable laptops already taking shape. So let's hope that the Asus Eee PC 1215N will be in stores and in our test lab soon! For the moment the provisional release date is 7 September.

> Test: Asus Eee PC 1201N

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