Considering getting EEE PC - opinions on the 1215P (Ubuntu)

[Ivo]

There is a 20% discount on a particular store until the end of the weekend and I'm eyeing the ASUS EEE PC 1215P that comes with Ubuntu. This particular version has 500 GB apparently so my plan is to dual boot it with Windows 7 as I have my own license - so I'm glad that with this particular model I don't automatically pay for a new Win 7 license.

I am however concerned with the apparent lack of a "dedicated" graphic card (well, the ones that EEE PCs usually have anyway), although this model has extra screen size and 2 GB of RAM compared to the more usual EEE PCs it seems to be absent. For running Ubuntu that is probably fine, but as I'd like to dual boot Win 7 I'm wondering about performance issues. Not sure also how it may handle streaming video from e.g. Youtube (although maybe that is a non-issue and I'm just too out of touch with what a graphics card does in one of these light PCs).

Opinions?

For those used to Euros, this is the link to the particular store with the model:
http://www.worten.pt/ProductList.aspx?searchText=1215p

Ivo.

[Pulsar_t]

Anything above €200 for a netbook is too much. But I guess the VAT isn't easy on the wallet either.

[neilencio]

I got the specs from this site. It seems that it has an Intel GMA 3150 as its graphics chipset. You may find that igp a dealbreaker, even if you don't plan on playing the latest games.

I had a netbook that had the same IGP and a similar dual core Atom, and it's really, really crappy. It had no hardware acceleration for Flash videos (so that when you fullscreen a 360p or higher youtube video), it's gonna stutter and skip like hell. It also stutters and skips when playing HD video, and of course, I tried games. It can do Quake 3, HL, and GTA III so I don't think it's slow, rather, it can't do certain things that an average 3D card should do (primarily because it also fails with N64 and Ps1 emulators when using a 3D plugin, even when set to native resolutions. Emu runs smooth when using a software plugin.

[Ivo]

Thanks for the info guys.

I went for it because it has 2 GB RAM and 500 GB HDD and 12'' screen (and keyboard of course). Those are unusual in a netbook for this kind of price (of course in the U.S. it would be cheaper and so on).
There was a specific kind of promotion they do in this shop once in a while, of 20% off (it's actually you pay the whole amount but you can use a voucher of the 20% you "saved" on something else in the following 30 days).

Ivo.

[neilencio]

If the price is right, then it's a good deal Congratulations. Either way, it's good enough for non-gaming use. Especially when you compare it to the first generation of EEE PCs (the ones that had single core atoms, less than a gig of ram, and 10 gigs of hard disk space)

[Pulsar_t]

Congrats Ivo! I was going to get a netbook early this year, but ended up with a laptop instead with a gaming-capable GPU (play far less games on 360 now). It would be nice to see what OEMs come up with for Win8 tablets, since the iPad is shit for my needs, and I don't fancy netbooks any more.