The Asus Eee PC 1015PN is the first netbook to have Intel’s 1.5GHz Atom N550 dual core processor and NVIDIA ION graphics under its hood. Needless to say, it is the most powerful 10 inch netbook to ever hit the market. So how does the machine fare in real life usage?

The folks at Engadget have published a detailed review of the netbook. Long story short, they are quite impressed with the Eee PC 1015PN except for one thing – its inability to support the NVIDIA Optimus technology.

Look and feel
The Eee PC 1015PN has more or less the same looks and case design as other Seashell netbooks from Asus. It has a wide screen bezel and soft-to-the touch lid. The netbook measures 1.4 inches in thickness and weighs around 2.8 pounds. The six-cell battery protrudes from the bottom of the laptop, but some people might like it because it also props up the keyboard. The overall build quality is satisfactory.

Ports
Port selection is satisfactory. The Eee PC 1015PN has 3 USB ports, an Ethernet port, HDMI and VGA jacks, a 4-in-1 media card reader, and a headphone and mic jacks.

Keyboard, touchpad, and screen
The Eee PC 1015PN has a chiclet style keyboard. The keys provide decent feedback while typing. On the down side, some people may not like the shrunken right shift key. But that is an arrangement you will get used to. The touchpad is wide for a netbook of this size and shows decent sensitivity. It has a single mouse button which according to the folks at Engadget is mushy but better than the one found on the Eee PC 1018P.

The Eee PC 1015PN has a matte display which is quite viewable in bright surroundings. Viewing angles are also good. The speakers are loud enough for personal listening, but music aficionados will definitely want to invest in a pair of headphones.

Performance and graphics
The Eee PC 1015PN has a dual core Atom processor. The extra core does improve everyday performance. That said, the machine isn’t significantly faster than a single core netbook. It has enough power to handle day to day jobs like word processing, web surfing and chatting. The netbook comes standard with 1GB of RAM. By upgrading to 2GB of RAM you will be able to speed things up a bit more.

Graphics performance is impressive. The ION graphics deliver significantly better performance than Intel’s integrated graphics. It even rivals AMD’s ATI Radeon HD 4225 that comes bundled with the Athlon Neo K125 processor. Needless to say, you can stream Flash video at full screen, watch local HD video content and indulge in modest gaming. When the ION graphics is on, the 1015PN has no difficulty playing 1080p HD video on its screen. It can also transfer HD video to an HDTV via the HDMI port.

On the flip side, the 1015PN doesn’t support the NVIDIA Optimus technology. Asus ships the netbook with Windows 7 Starter Edition. Obviously, the company wants to keep the cost down. The result is that you have to reboot the computer every time you want to switch between the integrated and discrete graphics options. Of course, you can keep ION enabled all the time, but doing that will reduce the battery life you will get.

Battery life
The netbook has a 6-cell, 56Wh battery. If you keep the ION graphics enabled all the time, you will get only around four and a half hours of battery life. Switching to the integrated graphics option will lengthen the battery life and you will get close to 6 hours.

Conclusion
The Eee PC 1015PN is unarguably one of the most powerful 10 inch netbooks on the market. It delivers impressive CPU and graphics performance. The only downside, perhaps, is that you have to reboot the computer every time you want to switch between graphics. Of course, you can solve this problem by upgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium which supports the Optimus technology. Or you can spend $70 more and buy that 12.1 inch 1215N.

Pros
Great display
Good graphics performance
Decent battery life

Cons
Doesn’t support the Optimus automatic graphics switching technology

The Asus Eee PC 1015PN is now available from Amazon for $425

The Asus Eee PC 1015PN is one of the first 10 inch netbooks to ship with second generation NVIDIA ION graphics. It has the light edition of ION which isn’t as powerful as the ION chipset found in larger laptops. That said, it is still powerful enough to deliver decent graphics performance including 1080p HD video playback.

Asus hasn’t started shipping the Eee PC 1015PN the US, but the laptop is now available in Italy and the folks at Eee PC.it have managed to get a review unit. They have also posted some hands-on videos.
At first glance, the Eee PC 1015PN doesn’t look all that different from other recent netbooks from Asus. It has the same chiclet-style keyboard, the touchpad with a single mouse button and a single access panel on the bottom for replacing or upgrading RAM.

The most remarkable feature of the netbook is the ION graphics processor. Unfortunately, the Eee PC 1015PN runs Windows 7 Starter Edition which means that it will not support the NVIDIA Optimus automatic graphics switching technology. Users will have to manually switch between the integrated GMA 3150 and discrete ION graphics.

The Eee PC 1015PN is powered by a 1.5GHz Intel Atom N550 dual core processor with 1GB of RAM.

Asus showed off two Lamborghini branded notebooks at Computex earlier this week. Called VX6 and VX7, the notebooks are stylish and powerful.

The Asus Lamborghini VX6 is a 12.1 inch notebook. It is expected to be available in August for about $699. For that price you will get a 12.1 inch HD displaywith 1366 x 768 pixels, a 1.83GHz dual core Intel Atom D525 processor, NVIDIA Ion 2 graphics, 3 USB ports (2 of which appear to be USB 3.0), HDMI port and a battery that should power the machine for up to 7.5 hours. 

The Asus Lamborghini VX7 is a 15.6 inch gaming laptop. It is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor with powerful NVIDIA graphics. The VX7 has a glossy exterior and a comfortable chiclet style keyboard.

NVIDIA has finally launched its next generation ION platform for 10 and 12 inch netbooks and notebooks. The next-gen ION chipset comes on a PCI Express Card. It is available in two versions. The model for use in 10 inch netbooks will have 8 CPU cores. The other version with 16 CPU cores is meant for use in 12 inch notebooks.

The next-gen ION chipset supports NVIDIA’s Optimus technology which enables automatic switching between dedicated and integrated graphics options.

The NVIDIA ION platform combines a low power Atom processor with high performance NVIDIA graphics. It enables HD video playback on netbooks powered by Intel Atom processors. And since the ION platform supports CUDA technology, you will be able to perform GPU-intensive tasks such as video editing and recording. You can also play graphics rich games, thanks to the 3D acceleration supported by ION.

The next-gen ION differs from the current generation of ION many respects. NVIDIA has, however, said that netbooks running on the new platform will have about the same pricing as those running on the previous platform.

Acer’s just launched Aspire One 532G is the first 10 inch netbook to have NVIDIA ION 2 graphics. Acer’s press release states that the Aspire One 532G will be able to handle 720p HD video on the display and 1080p Video through the HDMI port. The netbook will use NVIDIA’s new Optimus automatic switching technology.

The Acer Aspire One 532G has a 10.1 inch display with 1366 x 768 pixels. Aside from the HD display and the HDMI port, it looks virtually identical to its predecessor the Aspire One 532H. Other specifications include a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, GMA 3150 integrated graphics, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive and NVIDIA ION 2 graphics.
The NVIDIA ION 2 platform is meant to work with Intel’s Pine Trail Atom processors. It will enable 1080p HD playback on netbooks powered by Atom processors.

Pricing and Availability
The Aspire One 532G is expected to be available in March. No word on prices.