ASUS Eee PC 1201N On Linux

With the Crafty chess engine benchmark the Eee PC 1201N lost to the older 10.6" netbook when comparing the 32-bit performance, but the 64-bit support is much better in this heavily computational test.

The dcraw image processing performance was virtually the same between the two netbooks running Linux, as it is only able to utilize a single processing thread.

From the video playback and gaming tests to many of the computational benchmarks, the ASUS Eee PC 1201N with its dual-core Atom N330 and NVIDIA ION graphics had dramatically outperformed the Samsung NC10 with its common N270 + 945G platform. However, as we shared earlier, this better desktop performance does come at the cost of significantly higher battery consumption and operating temperatures that were quite warm at above 60°C and almost to the point of being a concern. If computing performance is more important than battery life for this ultra-portable 12" netbook (or some may feel it is more of a laptop/notebook than netbook), the ASUS Eee PC 1201N is a worthy contender.

It is a pity that ASUS does not offer a 1201N model with Linux pre-installed, but for now, they are continuing their love affair with Microsoft Windows 7. Installing Linux on this Eee PC isn't too troublesome besides having to deal with getting the 802.11 b/g/n WiFi adapter to work and then needing to either install the Nouveau or NVIDIA proprietary graphics driver to take better advantage of the ION. What's also to love about the ASUS 1201N besides the performance is the 1366 x 768 12" display and the full size keyboard while the weight for this netbook is just about 1.4 kilograms.

At $500 USD the ASUS 1201N-PU17-BK is actually not a bad deal in comparison to other ION-equipped netbooks. Availability on this netbook is quite limited but there should be greater supplies at the various Internet retailers beginning in January. Amazon's product page expects the ASUS Eee PC 1201N to be available beginning on the 15th of January, but they are accepting pre-orders. If shopping for this ASUS Eee PC or any other netbooks and computer hardware, please use our NewEgg and Amazon affiliate links (and/or join Phoronix Premium too), especially as the Eee PC 1201N had to be purchased outright through retail channels just to provide the very first Linux results for this brand new, high-end netbook.