The big question is battery life. Asus is quoting 5 hours but given how optimistic vendor quotes can be, battery life may be a downer.

I think this is something for people, like me, who don't need a full blown laptop, and aren't really concerned with having 11 hours of battery life, either. It would be nice to play a couple of games, surf the net, etc., all while watching TV, and not have to pay $800+ with something with nVidia or ATi graphics suitable enough for gaming. I doubt your true netbook crowd, those with a need for all day battery life, will be interested in something like this.

the guys over at electricpig are going to post a full review soon. Hopefully within the next week or so. :O

This isn't any thing special, I don't think! Full-sized laptops have been on sale at $299 for a while now. Even ones with Windows 7 Premium (i.e. NOT Starter Edition). Where is the extra $200 in this unit? Are they hiding it? Is Houdini at play here?

Windows 7 isn't even a plus in netbooks yet as it harms battery life.

And the only thing that could make this one worth it is battery life — which probably isn't all that impressive either. So it's a fail for me.

Esp. with an Atom processor (dual core or not), I see no reason why this thing could be even remotely described as being worth an extra $200 over what is currently available — heck no. Not in the world of computing. A 500 GB hard drive can be had for $88 and a 640 GB Scorpio Blue is $129. I'd rather purchase a cheaper netbook then outfit it with a larger hard drive. Rather than be stuck with the 250 GB hard drive loaded on this thing — which isn't any better than the standard paltry 160GB netbook drive of two years ago — and either way needs replacing. This puts the total at $654 in my book which is a ripoff ($523 + $88 for a bigger drive + tax).

You would have gotten much more with a $299 15-inch laptop (DVD Burner, 250GB Drive, Windows 7, 6-cell battery) plus a $199 Black Friday Netbook. Two laptops for the same price as this 1201N including Windows 7 Premium and XP.

Even the Gateway EC1430u CULV probably makes much more sense at $549. And a further shock is the 1201N's 0.3MP webcam. Not for me.

I'll pass on this.

Umm, CULV processors don't seem to be that much more powerful than dual core atom processors from everything I've been reading, an atom 330 actually runs within about 10% of the performance of the CULV SU2700 in the gateway you're quoting, which may be one of the key reasons that Intel has been fighting so hard to keep 330s out of netbooks. The difference comes down to whether Ion is worth the price. From all the benchmarks and everything I've seen it most definitely is, especially when the competition is the GMA 4500HD graphics.

The extra $200 is in the ION graphics chip, the larger screen, the bigger hard drive and the extra RAM. And it's not “really” an extra $200; more like an extra $150 or $100 depending on what models you compare it to.

The HP Mini 311, another ION netbook which has an inferior single-core Atom compared to this one, absolutely blows away both standard netbooks and 4500MHD-packing CULVs in 3DMark06.

If Asus's quoted five hours of battery life is accurate (it may not be as the Atom 330 is a *nettop* processor and uses more power than the N or Z series Atoms) this will be *the* portable multimedia solution.

Full 1080p video playback through HDMI via DXVA and even a little casual gaming, all for $500? That's a damn good deal, especially since non-ION netbooks typically choke and die when commanded to play back 720p h.264 encodes.

For a lot of folks a tiny and inexpensive computer with a decent graphics chip is a godsend.

Hey Cori, I understand what you're saying. I'm not fully against this netbook — only against it's $523 pricetag being touted as paltry. Without users willing to pay a premium for 'less', then real deals would probably dry up over night.

I also disagree (respectfully, of course!) that the extra $200 is in the larger screen, bigger hard drive, and extra RAM. The LCD screen is usually the most expensive component on a laptop and the 1201N is inferior in each of these three respects to much larger 15.6-inch laptops that have sold for 40% less. It also doesn't come with a DVD Burner included so I don't see where the 'extra' is there either.

But we still want to believe that it is okay to pay more for something that is less (i.e. smaller, etc.)? This thinking is silly! I'm not taking the bait and am looking forward to ARM-based netbooks to expose this artificial pricing we've been swallowing for the past decade.

The extra $200 is only in ION as far as I'm concerned — which some may see as an okay buy and I can understand that. It's just a “Heck NO” for me. Not when real netbooks are available at $199 and — $300 — is leftover to spare.

For gaming, the XBox 360 is $199 and a big screen 40″ Dynex 1080p (panel made by LG) is $499. The 42″ Dynex 1080p TV (which, by the way, trumps the 12″-inch joke on the Asus) — was $549. Also, a 1.5TB Hard Drive is $109.00 (no tax and free shipping at ChiefValue or Newegg). Rosewill 3.5-inch enclosure = $19.99 (no tax either). These are real deals. HD Multimedia Player — $99, etc. Microsoft Streets & Trips 2007 with GPS Locator ($23.00 New on Amazon). 2007 GPS Locator used with MS Streets & Trips 2010 for 60-days (free). Streets and Trips on a netbook — AWESOME! The list can go on.

…Going back on topic. The killer for me with the 1201N is battery life since portability and battery-life go hand in hand, I think, and this is actually a 4-hour step backwards — something many of you don't seem all that concerned with. I'm sure that some will still be willing to pay the extra $200. And, in any case, the price will likely drop to what it should be a few months after it is released anyway.

Point taken Cori! I understand that people would be happy for this graphically-tough netbook! But, sheesh, at $523 I think it is a bit overpriced. I don't think it is for the mainstream netbook crowd by a long shot (Hey, we agree!). It is a step backwards. Netbook battery life should be increasing and the price decreasing — not the other way around. I can also imagine that most people who would seriously want the 1201N would have ample reason to already be packing something better.

I, for one, know that there is no way in heII I'll drop down to using a 250GB hard drive again ever — esp. not at $500 bucks. There's no chance. But Apple fans, for example, don't seem to mind it.

For $500, I expect nothing less than a Core 2 Duo — and there certainly are a few laptops available right now with the '2 Duo' for less than $500 (Dell has a customized Inspiron 14-incher with 2.2ghz at $469 — add a 9-cell battery and it becomes $544). There's also 13-incher as well as regular-sized laptops with Core 2 Duo for around or a little over $500.

But then I don't really need a Core 2 Duo on the go either (99% of the time). Netbooks were about portability, price, and battery life.

The truth is simple and we haven't forgotten it! The most anticipated netbook of the year was discontinued (the MSI Wind U115 hybrid) thanks to the price inflating hounds at Microsoft. Now they are back overcharging for less with Windows 7 included. And, even with their manipulating of prices, 25-hour battery life still is on the horizon!

The 1201N is a step backwards in value as well as an insult to what netbooks have been all about, IMHO.

Point taken Cori! I understand that people would be happy for this graphically-tough netbook! But, sheesh, at $523 I think it is a bit overpriced. I don't think it is for the mainstream netbook crowd by a long shot (Hey, we agree!). It is a step backwards. Netbook battery life should be increasing and the price decreasing — not the other way around. I can also imagine that most people who would seriously want the 1201N would have ample reason to already be packing something better.

I, for one, know that there is no way in heII I'll drop down to using a 250GB hard drive again ever — esp. not at $500 bucks. There's no chance. But Apple fans, for example, don't seem to mind it.

For $500, I expect nothing less than a Core 2 Duo — and there certainly are a few laptops available right now with the '2 Duo' for less than $500 (Dell has a customized Inspiron 14-incher with 2.2ghz at $469 — add a 9-cell battery and it becomes $544). There's also 13-incher as well as regular-sized laptops with Core 2 Duo for around or a little over $500.

But then I don't really need a Core 2 Duo on the go either (99% of the time). Netbooks were about portability, price, and battery life.

The truth is simple and we haven't forgotten it! The most anticipated netbook of the year was discontinued (the MSI Wind U115 hybrid) thanks to the price inflating hounds at Microsoft. Now they are back overcharging for less with Windows 7 included. And, even with their manipulating of prices, 25-hour battery life still is on the horizon!

The 1201N is a step backwards in value as well as an insult to what netbooks have been all about, IMHO.