Hi everyone, Mike here and in this video we’re going to talk about the Asus EeeBook X205TA / X205, which is a brand new compact laptop selling for only $199 (actually, it’s even cheaper now than initially announced).
There are a few other notebooks that go for around the same amount of money these days, like the 11 inch Acer Chromebooks. But this one comes with Windows 8.1 and that allows it to run most of the software you’re already familiar with from your other computers.
Well, at least to some extent, as the X205 is not a power-horse, not by far. But we’ll get to that in a few second.
First though, check out the specs sheet, so you’ll know what to expect from this laptop, and also the video review, if you don’t feel like reading the block of text (however, some details are not included in the video).
Later update: Asus have recently launched updated EeeBooks and a handful of other ultra-compact laptops, which we’ve covered in these follow-up articles: this one about sub-12-inch mini laptops, this one about modern ultrabooks, and this one about modern and affordable ChromeBooks.
The Asus EeeBook X205TA is a compact and affordable Windows laptop
The X205TA is not yet available in stores at the time of this post, but the unit I’ve tested is pretty much identical to what you’ll be able to buy in a few weeks.
| Asus EeeBook X205TA spec sheet | |
| Screen | 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 px, TN |
| Hardware | Intel Atom BayTrail-T Z3745D CPU and Intel HD graphics |
| Memory | 2 GB RAM |
| Storage | 32 GB flash-storage |
| Connectivity | Wireless N, Bluetooth |
| Ports | 2x USB, micro-HDMI, microSD card reader, proprietary PSU, headphone jack |
| Battery | 38 Wh |
| OS | Windows 8.1 |
| Size | 288 mm or 11.3 in (L) x 196 mm or 7.7 in (W) x 18 mm or 0.70 in (H) |
| Weight | 954 g (2.10 lbs) |
| Others | stereo speakers, available in several colors, webcam |
The Video Review
Hardware and daily use
The EeeBook X205TA is primarily meant for light everyday activities. It can then handle browsing between a couple of different tabs, watching video content and listening to music, editing some texts and maybe some pictures as well. It can run Microsoft’s Office suite (does come with a Trial version of Office that requires activation and the final release versions will include a 12 month Office 365 Personal license) and software like Adobe Photoshop if you want to, just make sure you’re not going to ask too much out of it, as it will choke easily if pushed.
And that’s because this EeeBook is built on an low-power high-efficiency hardware platform, with an Intel Z3745D processor, bundled with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage, which can actually become a problem quite fast. Both the RAM and eMMC storage are soldered and NOT upgradeable.
The thing is you’re not left with a lot of spare space after having Windows installed (roughly 14 GB), so Asus definitely had to cut a corner here to meet the low price tag. And that leaves you with two options: either use the included cloud space offered for free in Asus’s WebStorage environment, or expand the storage space with the help of a microSD card.
To be frank, I was a bit disappointed this laptop does not support standard sized SD cards, that would have been useful for downloading pictures from my cameras while on the go, but that’s probably not such a big deal for most potential buyers.
Overall though, the X205 is a fairly capable little fellow and it can do a lot of things for you.
The daily experience is enhanced by the loud and punchy speakers placed on the belly, but towards the front of the chassis and by the fact that this runs completely noiseless, since it houses no fans and no moving parts inside.
The EeeBook X205TA is the modern netbook: faster, thinner, lighter than before, and at the same time noiseless
The Wi-Fi chip is fairly capable of well. It can’t match my Internet speed, going to only about 30 Mbps near the router, but at least the speed and signal strength don’t drop away fast as you step a bit further. I was able to stream 1080p video content with no buffering and download all sorts of things of the Internet without feeling slow, and in my book that’s good enough for a computer that only sells for $199.
The laptop’s belly has no cooling cuts in it, and none are in fact needed, which leads to a simple and beautiful design. You can take it apart by unscrewing the 12 or so regular Philips screws that hold in place and that gives you access to the internals.
However, it won’t help much, as everything seems to be soldered on the motherboard. In fact, you can see how small the MB is and how most of this laptop is occupied by the battery, which is also hold in place by a few screws and could be replaced down the line, if needed (and if Asus or third parties will provide replacements).
I was hoping to be able to upgrade the storage, but there seem to be no dedicated storage stick like on some of the other mini-laptops I’ve tested, so there’s no way to up the 32 GBs through a hardware upgrade. At least none that I can tell of, and that’s a bit annoying, as the 32 GB of space is hardly sufficient for a Windows 8.1 laptop. You could try to go the Linux road. I planed to try Ubuntu or Mint on this myself, but my Linux knowledge is virtually null and I did not have the time to do it this time. Hopefully in the next few weeks.
One final thing I was looking to mention here are temperatures and performance under load. The X205’s case remains cool under light use and the temperatures won’t reach for the stars when running the Prime95+Furmark stress-test either. You can see the numbers in the pictures below.
It could be worth mentioning that the internals get to about 80 C under stress and both the CPU and the GPU run and sub-default frequencies (around 900 Mhz for the CPU and 300 Mhz for the GPU), but these should not matter much for the average buyer Asus targets with this laptop, who should understand from starters the the X205 is meant for light casual activities, and not serious chores or multitasking.
Keyboard and trackpad
The typing experience is not bad on the X205 and is helped by a fairly good keyboard and a nice typing position, thanks to the roomy palm-rest and the laptop’s low profile.
The keys are firm and offer decent travel and feedback, for this size range of course, but they do feel a bit cheap to touch, plasticky. And besides these, the layout is vertically cramped, as Asus opted for shorter rectangular keys and not the square keys I was expecting, and the arrow keys are small, just like on the older Asus EeeBooks launched a few years ago.
The shorter keys do leave room for the spacious palm-rest mentioned before and an oversized trackpad, which I do appreciate. In everyday use though, the latter proved occasionally erratic and moody, although it worked alright most of the time. But sometimes ti double clicks all by itself or sends the cursor flying to the edges, and these mostly happen when you put the computer under a heavier loud than it can handle.
Even so, this is one of the few aspects where the X205 needs extra tweaking. Luckily, the jumpy cursor is usually a software problem and could, at least in theory, be addressed by future drivers updates. We should hold our judgement for further reviews, just keep the potential issues in mind.
Design and build quality
Now, let’s take a few steps back and have a wider look at this thing. The EeeBook weighs just under 1 kilo, which is about 2.1 pounds. It’s also thin and has a compact footprint, so it will easily fit in a backpack or even a bag. And besides these, it’s fairly tough and definitely doesn’t look bad either. If you’ll grab it firmly and squeeze it, you’ll heard the creaks associated with cheap plastic machines, but judging by how much this thing cost, I’d say it’s more than adequately built and finished.
The entire case is made out of soft matte plastic that spreads across the lid, the interior and the belly, with the screen’s bezel being the only black element on this laptop, and Asus will offer the X205 in a few different colors. The materials feel nice to the touch and there’s little to complain about the finishing quality.
However, If we’re to get picky, I do have two nits to mention: first of all, the case catches smudges and finger oil easily, which are especially visible on this dark blue version, and second, the lid-cover does flex a little bit, but that doesn’t seem to affect the screen’s integrity in any way, although pressing the lid hard does translate in ripples on the screen, so you might want to get a sleeve for this thing when carrying it in your backpack and be careful not to have many heavy objects sitting on it.
And there is one other thing that I’ve noticed: the laptop’s rubber feet seem poorly made and I fear they are going to wear off easily. Time will tell, but again, a minor aspect.
Display
There’s an 11.6 inch display on this laptop, with 1366 x 768 px resolution, a glossy finishing and a TN panel. The latter translates in rather poor vertical viewing angles, with the Costner and colors quickly fading away, which is characteristic for low priced screens, but even so, as long as you get to look at it heads-on, this aspect shouldn’t bother you much.
The screen leans back to about 130-140 degrees, which is not perfect, but will do, and actually lifts itself up on two small plastic feet, which leaves more space underneath the laptop (better cooling) and slightly raises the keyboard (better typing position). I just hope these feet won’t break in time, but they seem solid, so there’s no reason to worry much.
The screen lifts up on two small plastic feet
In fact, I for one was fairly happy with the display. If you’ll look at the numbers below you might say otherwise. The measured contrast is appalling, the screen having trouble displaying accurate blacks at high brightness. The colors might sound awful as well and the laptop does have a very cool (as in blueish) glow, which could be addressed with the included Splendid app if you enjoy warmer images. But the truth is, when you’re actually using this thing in practice, it’s not going to be that bad as the numbers are suggesting.
- Panel HardwareID: AU Optronics AUO235C;
- Coverage: sRGB 58% , NTSC 41%, SdobeRGB 43%;
- measured gamma: 2.3 ;
- max brightness in the middle of the screen: 247 cd/m2 on power;
- contrast at max brightness: 90:1 (?);
- white point: 7900 K;
- black on max brightness: 2.78 cd/m2;
- average DeltaE: 8.48 uncalibrated, 4.37 calibrated .
Asus could have gone with a matte finishing, since this is not a touchscreen anyway, but they decided instead, which is going to affect bright-light legibility. They’re using the same approach on the C200 Chromebook, with whom the x205 might actually share the screen.
The screen is a notch better than what’s you’re getting on another $200 computer, the Acer C720
Battery Life
I did mention earlier that the EeeBook X205 does last for a long while on a charge, and that was no underestimation.
There’s a 38 Wh battery inside this laptop and paired with the efficient hardware, this translated for me in about 10 hours of daily use, that includes browsing through a few different tabs, writing several thousand words, watching a few Youtube clips once in a while and occasionally listening to some music, with Wi-Fi ON, screen at about 60% and the default Power profile (you don’t have Power Modes on this platform). I was also able to loop a 720p .mkv file for about 9 hours in WMP-HC and stream the Big Bunny HD 1080p clip from Youtube for nearly 8 hours.
On top of that, the laptop can last in stand-by for weeks and Intel’s Always Connected ability will make sure that all your updates and emails are waiting for you the moment you decide to bring this one out of sleep.
It comes with a very compact 10Wh brick and a long cable. Charging the battery from 5 to 99% takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes, providing you’re not doing anything on it during this time.
Big battery, compact charger with a long cable – a winning combo
Pricing and availability
Update: The X205TA is now available in the US and it’s actually cheaper than initially predicted. See this link for details.
$199 in the US/CA , 199 euro across the pond and £169.99 in the UK. That’s how much you’ll have to pay for the EeeBook X205TA , starting October 14th, when this little fellow will start shipping. That that was bogus. I can’t say for sure when this thing will actually hit the stores. My Asus contact said (in the first part oc October) that “it’s not coming anytime soon”, but couldn’t provide even a rough estimate. However, it might reach other countries sooner.
Wrap-up
At the end of the day, Asus actually did a great job with the EeeBook X205TA, which checks most of the right boxes.
After using it for the last week, there’s a single thing that really annoyed me, albeit only occasionally: the trackpad. I was also not happy with the microSD and microHDMI slots (would have preferred full-size versions) or the fingerprint magnet case, but these are definitely not deal-breakers. The limited storage space could be though, you’ll really need to properly organize your content and leave the included partition for Windows, if you don’t want to have to reinstall it fresh once every couple of months.
But that’s about it, there’s only that little to complain about on a 200 bucks laptop. That’s why I believe this thing can be a solid travel companion, especially since it’s light, sturdy and lasts for a long while on each charge. It will also do good as a laptop for kids and school, because it’s so affordable that you won’t mind as much if it gets dropped or it breaks. And last but not least, it could be an option for anyone looking for a small inexpensive computer that runs Windows and all the compatible software.
There’s not much to complain about the X205TA, that’s why this could be a great Windows-running mini-laptop if you’re on a very tight budget
Just make sure you understand what the Atom platform inside this X205 can do and what it can’t and adjust your expectations accordingly. Otherwise, it might prove too slow, but if you do plan on using it for light daily tasks, there’s imh no other more capable mini-laptop you can buy brand-new for $200 these days. Not even a Chromebook. But I’m confident Asus won’t be running free in this segment for long. HP already announced their Stream notebooks for the end of the year, and the other manufacturers will soon follow, which is great for us, the average consumers.
Cheap windows laptops are coming back. Netbooks are coming back, only better than before. Are they something many will be interested in? Perhaps, perhaps not… We’ll see.
Anyway, there you have it, these were my impressions on the Asus EeeBook X205TA. Let me know what you think about it in the comments section below and post your questions as well, if any, I’ll be around to reply. And if you’re in the market for an affordable and compact laptop, you should definitely check out this post as well.
ERIC
October 10, 2014 at 7:14 pm
You can upgrade the RAM? Or it’s built-in?
Thanks
Andrei Girbea
October 12, 2014 at 1:13 pm
Built IN. It’s specified in the review..
FILA
November 17, 2014 at 9:39 pm
no, only the storage was specified in the review where its soldered, nothing was mentioned about the RAM. I was wondering the same thing. I would of bought this and upgraded the RAM but looks like you cant. Sucks. And I doubt using a memory card for RAM will be fast enough
wil
November 28, 2014 at 12:28 am
Thanks for the review was worried fits my needs in front of store now 99us plus 32gb sandisk 9us !!!
Henry
January 5, 2015 at 8:42 pm
I’ve purchased 3 of this Asus X205T and love everything about it, You mention that the 32GB Flash Storage is NOT upgradable, Is that really True? Bumber, maybe there another possible way????? and If i purchase any microSD Card that is maybe anywehre from 64GB to 128GB will the Flash storage of the X205T continue to start using and microSD when the built-in 32GB storage goes to end of line or gets Low on Storage Space. I tried doing all the Window Update on the OS and it ended up using all the Flash Storage and the Windows Update was NOT even finish yet but the good news after using all the storage is that the OS didn’t really Slow Down you can still use the laptop, you just can’t store or install anything else. So…do you know if the microSD card that you attach can actually extend the Life of the current Factory built-in Flash Storage?
Andrei Girbea
January 6, 2015 at 1:50 pm
Yes, the eMMC is not upgradeable from waht I know.
And no, the system won’t automaticaly use the microSD card when it runs out of internal space. You’ll have to carefully manage the space yourself and store all your content on the card.
Windows updates eats a ton of space, that’s true, but I can’t see a way past that, other than peform only some of the updates.
Henry
January 5, 2015 at 8:47 pm
I’ve purchased 3 of this Asus X205T and love everything about it, You mention that the 32GB Flash Storage is NOT upgradable, Is that really True? Bumber, maybe there another possible way????? and If i purchase any microSD Card that is maybe anywehre from 64GB to 128GB will the Flash storage of the X205T continue to start using and microSD when the built-in 32GB storage goes to end of line or gets Low on Storage Space. I tried doing all the Window Update on the OS and it ended up using all the Flash Storage and the Windows Update was NOT even finish yet but the good news after using all the storage is that the OS didn’t really Slow Down you can still use the laptop, you just can’t store or install anything else. So…do you know if the microSD card that you attach can actually extend the Life of the current Factory built-in Flash Storage? I did have a 64GB of USB Flash Drive and that did get recognized during all the Windows updates.OR I meant it did NOT continue and extend the Life of the built-in 32GB Flash Storage.
Mike
March 8, 2016 at 12:04 am
As Andrei said, it’s mentioned in the review that the RAM and flash storage are not upgradeable:
“Both the RAM and eMMC storage are soldered and NOT upgradeable.”
What you can do is use a high-capacity Class 10 and install most of your programs there. Some won’t install to an SD card, but most will, including Firefox, Opera, Corel PaintShop Pro X6, LibreOffice, Dropbox, Filezilla, Notepad ++, Foxit PDF Reader, Avira Antivirus and others. Certain programs won’t, and you can’t easily run a virtual machine from the SD card.
Overall, it’s a fast computer. My next project: Install Linux (LXLE distro) on this.
Richard Sachs
March 6, 2016 at 6:20 am
Just bought one to replace my HP Stream 11, which I use for travel. Slightly disappointing; 1 as the screen cannot be dimmed all the way and 2, if you do turn the screen off, the computer will go to sleep. I listen to Pandora, much the same as a clock radio, and I like the screen off or at least “auto-off” in a few minutes. The power management does not give you this option as does the HP. Same Windows 8.1 but different options 🙁 I’m ready to put it on ebay! Any help?
Jason
October 13, 2014 at 2:03 am
Excellent review Mike. I’m interested in the 64GB version of this. What are the three LED’s on the left front of the keyboard? I’m hoping one is a drive activity light. TIA
Andrei Girbea
October 13, 2014 at 2:22 am
The first one on the left is drive, the middle one is battery and I can’t remember what the last one is 🙁 . The 64 GB version is a better buy imh as well, but it depends on how much it’s going to cost. $229 would be fair, but not more.
Ganesh
November 12, 2014 at 4:36 am
Bro can I ask you about the charger. Is it like most notebooks where the brick will allow 240v and also 110v that is used in the US?
I live in a country with 240v but I am going to US for a holiday and plan to buy the x205.
Hope you can help me on this
Mathias
October 13, 2014 at 12:43 pm
Where did you get the release date from? You’re the only one with one, so just wondering
Andrei Girbea
October 13, 2014 at 3:50 pm
Some of the Italian websites reported on this release date a while ago, after a press release in their countries. Knowing Asus though, I’d expect delays.
Mathias
October 14, 2014 at 2:11 am
I’ve been waiting for bay trail laptops for a while now, and this one is really cool. Also badly in need of a laptop, so please do update when you get more info on availability :D!
Andrei Girbea
October 14, 2014 at 11:22 pm
I asked my Asus contact today about this 14th of October date and he couldn’t give a definite answer. All he knew is that over here in Romania it won’t be available this month, but it could be available earlier in the western countries. Will get back if I find out anything.
Mathias
October 18, 2014 at 9:09 pm
A french guy on YouTube told me that “F205TA-BING-FD019B” – A 4GB version of the Eeebook x205 had shown up on several sites in France, noting that it would arrive in the following days.
I’m guessing early November, as many sites, including Windows’ blog, notes that it’ll start shipping “in November”.
Mathias
October 13, 2014 at 12:44 pm
Hey, how do you know October 14th is the release date? Can’t seem to find it anywhere else.
Fábio
October 14, 2014 at 12:01 am
Hi. Very informative review, however I still have a few questions.
Will the microSD go completely in, so we don’t have to worry about it breaking off by accident?
How well does the microphone (and camera) perform when using something like the popular Skype?
Is the power supply universal? Or is it standard micro USB like most phones and tables?
Andrei Girbea
October 14, 2014 at 11:19 pm
the MicroSD card goes all in. The Mic and the camera are, well, decent, but not great. Will handle Skype decently in a properly lit room, but if you’re in darker environement everything is going to look noisy and grainy. The Power supply is not universal, it has a proprietary tip (NOT microUSB).
Interested in this buddy
October 17, 2014 at 4:52 pm
Hi. What is maximum capacity of microSD card this laptop supports, and in what speeds, or classes?
Andrei Girbea
October 17, 2014 at 6:00 pm
64 GB from what I’ve been told, but haven’t tried it, I don’t have such a big card available. Should handle Class 10 without a problem
:)
October 17, 2014 at 6:12 pm
Thx. Any news about launch date in europe?
Andrei Girbea
October 18, 2014 at 11:43 am
no really, not for now
hshs
October 17, 2014 at 4:59 pm
Hello can you have review for HP stream 13 and which is better in case of performance thx
Andrei Girbea
October 17, 2014 at 6:02 pm
I’ll try but can’t promise. Not sure if the HP Streams will be available over here. Performance wise though, they are goign to be close, since they are built on similar hardware
MC
October 19, 2014 at 2:11 am
Hi, thanks a lot for this really great review.
Does the screen look really bad? I want to use it for watch few videos sometimes and I’m a bit scared by the x205’s screen quality
Andrei Girbea
October 19, 2014 at 1:39 pm
Depends how you define “Bad”. As long as you’ll watch it straight ON, should be OK. From and angle though, viewing angles are bad. And as you can see from my tests, blacks aren’t great on this and are mostly displayed as dark-grays, that’s why the contrast is poor.
SteamDine
October 20, 2014 at 10:31 am
Excellent review. Question is – will it be linux friendly out of the box , and accept Ubuntu or Mint distribution instead of Win8.1 ?
Andrei Girbea
October 20, 2014 at 1:32 pm
I wanted to try this out by didn’t quite have the time. I might get it back just for this, but my experience with Linux is pretty much none. How’s yours? Can I get in touch via email in case I get this back and get stuck?
SteamDine
October 22, 2014 at 12:11 pm
No problem. I ordered this netbook (amazon pre order), and probable some where in Mid November will try to put the Linux on
Any way , you may always try to put Ubuntu or Mint on SD card and try to make it boot from it with no effect on Win8.1 on SDD .
Andrei Girbea
October 22, 2014 at 7:56 pm
I wanted to do that but was a bit short on time when I had this for reviews. Will try to get it again just to try Linux on it.
John
November 27, 2014 at 6:59 pm
I’m really interested in this question as Amazon reviews of this model have people complaining that the BIOS is crippled so that Linux cannot be used at all. With this item on sale Black Friday I have very little time to make purchase decision.
eargent
October 21, 2014 at 11:28 pm
Just found your site, it’s really great. Thanks for the very in depth reviews! Since both this ASUS X205TA and the Acer C720 got a 4/5 from you, would weigh in on which one do you think you would pick? Disregarding that one is Chrome and the other is Windows 8.1, just on performance. Which one would you go for? Maybe you can do a side by side comparison like you did one for the Acer C720 & ASUS C200 in the future. Thanks!
Andrei Girbea
October 22, 2014 at 7:55 pm
Hi, I already posted a comparison on my other website, you can find it here: http://www.ultrabookreview.com/4726-acer-chromebook-c720-vs-asus-chromebook-c200/
As someone who owns the C720 and use it occasionally, I’d probably go with the Asus, as ut runs WIndows and can do things a Chromebook can’t. Chromebooks and Chrome OS are fine if all you need can be done in a browser, but not if you might need specialized software (edit images, maybe a small clip, run a certain program, etc). Besides this, the X205 (or the C200) is fanless, and that matters a lot. On the other hand, the C720 is somewhat snappier, the X205 will choke faster if you try to run multiple things at the same time.
ktriebol
October 28, 2014 at 3:40 pm
Does this laptop run the full version of Windows 8.1, or is it lightened in some way?
Andrei Girbea
October 28, 2014 at 3:54 pm
full version
Mike
October 28, 2014 at 8:44 pm
do you know the supply voltage level of the X205?
Andreas
October 29, 2014 at 9:42 am
Thanks for the review! What is the voltage of the power supply? 12V? 19V?
Andrei Girbea
October 29, 2014 at 5:22 pm
Hmmm, I haven’t checked that out, to be frank. But why is this important?
Andreas
October 29, 2014 at 5:32 pm
We are planning to charge it with a 12V solar system and need to know if that is possible. And I cant find that inforation anywhere else.
Andrei Girbea
October 29, 2014 at 7:06 pm
I see. Well, sry I can’t help you.
Daniel
October 29, 2014 at 4:14 pm
What charging voltage does this Laptop require? Is it possible to charge this with a 12V or is 19V required?
ktriebol
October 29, 2014 at 10:59 pm
Is Windows 8.1 that is installed on this laptop 32 bit or 64 bit?
Andrei Girbea
October 31, 2014 at 2:17 pm
32 bit
Interested
October 31, 2014 at 2:20 pm
In your opinion does that matter and if yes whats the difference between those two architectures?
Andrei Girbea
November 1, 2014 at 12:55 pm
It shouldn’t. Maybe there are some programs that only worj on the 64bit version, but the vast majority will work on both. And since there’s no way to upgrade RAM on this thing, in which case having a 32 bit OS could have been problematic (32 bit Windows can only use 3.2 GB of RAM).
James
November 29, 2014 at 4:19 am
Is the ASUS capable of running 64 bit windows?
Windows 7, or 8
Drivers?
The graphics are great I’d just like too see if this little thing can run Left for Dead 2 and some higher end games.
porpo
November 2, 2014 at 12:36 pm
Does the usb of asus x205ta can read an external hard drive? 1tb?
Andrei Girbea
November 2, 2014 at 1:46 pm
yes, it can read USB external hdds
Mathias
November 2, 2014 at 6:40 pm
Have you heard anything about a release in Europe, or other parts of the world? France was supposed to get it, but I haven’t heard or seen anything about a release date.
Andrei Girbea
November 3, 2014 at 5:04 pm
Not more than what I’ve noted in the review
Artem
November 4, 2014 at 6:41 am
Hello! Can I install ubuntu? Will it work in full force? Drivers have a ubuntu on it?
Andrei Girbea
November 4, 2014 at 4:47 pm
Not sure, haven’t tried it
Tejas
November 5, 2014 at 8:38 am
Are there any other laptops coming in the near future which are better than this in the 200$ segment, or would you still suggest this.
Andrei Girbea
November 5, 2014 at 3:23 pm
THere’s the Chromebook C720. Not necesarily better, but different, worth checking out. HP announced their Stream line, starting at $199, but can’t say how good those are going to be yet. Nothing else that I know of.
Robin Majumdar
November 7, 2014 at 5:10 am
Excellent review – thanks for sharing, it’s just been released for ordering here in Canada.
Sara
November 7, 2014 at 7:26 am
Does this laptop have a cd/DVD drive? If so, can it burn CDs? I
Andrei Girbea
November 7, 2014 at 7:01 pm
it doesn’t. you can buy an external DVD drive and use it to play/burn dvds and cds
Bruce
November 10, 2014 at 12:29 pm
Will programs run from an attached hard drive or micro SD?
Andrei Girbea
November 10, 2014 at 1:03 pm
Yes
Benjamin
November 12, 2014 at 3:40 pm
Is it possible to see which eMMC module this is using ?
Peter
November 13, 2014 at 9:29 pm
Do you have any idea at all when the 64gb version will be available? I haven’t been able to find any information at all.
Andrei Girbea
November 23, 2014 at 7:08 pm
No, no idea right now. And I can’t say for sure whether a 64 GB model will actually be available at all.
Brad
December 13, 2014 at 11:52 pm
Hi. I got asus x205t. I Can u help me bro. I was trying to install windows 7. I have dvd writer usb stuff. I just didn’t understand boot. How can I set to boot. I did lot of laptops windows 7. Can u help me ???
Jason Ku
November 14, 2014 at 4:44 am
Hi, I was wondering, does this laptop have the capability to handle some games? Such as League of Legends which I doubt but I’m wondering. Also, is the memory expandable?
Andrei Girbea
November 23, 2014 at 7:09 pm
the Memory is soldered and not expandable. As for LOL, no, I’d say it wouldn’t be playable even on the lowest settings in 13 x 7
Robert Tau
November 15, 2014 at 12:03 am
Funny, entertaining, and informative! Thanks for the great article! Looking forward to your review on the HP Stream notebooks…
Greg
November 15, 2014 at 5:23 am
I just purchased this for my wife from the Microsoft website. Have read on Amazon reviews that people have put in a 120 GB card and it worked fine. Even if just a 64 works you are still going to end up with about 80gb to play with. For web surfing a back up pc, I don’t see how one can go wrong. By the way, $179 at Microsoft right now, run don’t walk!
Andrei Girbea
November 23, 2014 at 7:10 pm
But the card does not sit flush when connected, which is annoying. There might be some sollution to use a microSD card and a special adapter though, so the card won’t potrude on the side.
Prabin
November 16, 2014 at 5:16 am
How well does office 13 perform on it?
Andrei Girbea
November 23, 2014 at 7:13 pm
Decent as well as you don’t mind waiting for things to load and don’t plan to use huge excel files
Jon
January 28, 2015 at 4:17 pm
So does that mean that multi page excel spreadsheets with calculations connected between the page like loan calculators will be show or will the computer just freeze??
Andrei Girbea
January 28, 2015 at 11:21 pm
Should show. Will probably take a while to load. Can’t tell for sure cause I don’t know how complex those excells are. DO they lag on a regular computer? If yes, than the X205TA will perform poorer, if not, you should be alright.
Ruf
November 17, 2014 at 11:32 pm
The touchpad issue is a “deal breaker”. Lots of complaints about the lack of scrolling w/ Smart Gesture. What’s worse is that ASUS doesn’t have a fix. Stay away from netbook for now.
Jay
November 18, 2014 at 8:13 pm
Thanks for pointing out that storage cannot be upgraded. That’s what I was concerned about and the reason I wouldn’t buy it. It’s on sale today at BestBuy for $140.
You should definitely try Linux. For this small computer, try PCLinuxOS 32-bit KDE-minime. Much better than LinuxMint (which is the OS I use for all my computers) for newbies (have installed it for my 10 and 12 year old grandchildren and they love it) because it works well in 1G of RAM and uses less than 3G of HD space. Somewhat XP-like (as is Mint). Ubuntu is more like Win8.
You can easily test it on a bootable CD or USB which this Asus supports through its USB ports.
Thanks for your article and YouTube video. You may want to read about the advantages/disadvantages of Linux at starkman.com/articles/Linux4CPAs.shtml
Andrei Girbea
November 23, 2014 at 7:19 pm
Thanks, I’ll look into Linux in the future. Planned to do it for this laptop but didn’t quite have the time for it
John
November 28, 2014 at 9:21 pm
Jay, have you successfully used Linux on this specific model? In the Amazon reviews for this model multiple people say that the model has a crippled BIOS which can’t boot Linux.
Sven
November 19, 2014 at 3:27 am
Can it really handle Photoshop and basic photo editing (300 pics in-row): captioning/color/saturation/cropping/light adjustments etc.? How about smooth youtube / netflix viewing?
Andrei Girbea
November 23, 2014 at 7:20 pm
Youtube and Netlfix FHD are smooth if you’re not running antyhing else at the same time. But I don’t think it can handle batches of 300 pics in photoshop. I’d stick to an older version of Photoshop (CS2, for example) and batches ot 10 pics at a time
Phil
November 20, 2014 at 7:22 am
Great in-depth review and video! I also liked your review of the ASUS T100. Which would you recommend of the two? I have read lots of reviews of the T100 and played with it in store. The keyboard is fine for me. I don’t NEED touch, though it might be fun as a tablet. I just want something I can take away on holiday and use with a full version of Word and Firefox for a work plugin. So something light and cheap, in case it gets stolen. The X205 is cheaper here in Australia – about AUD$145 cheaper – even with the T100 on sale. Anyhow, any opinion would be helpful. I know the specs, I just want to know the gut-feeling from somebody who has used both for some weeks. Thanks!
Andrei Girbea
November 23, 2014 at 7:24 pm
Difficult to compare the two. This thing is basic and cheap, the T100 is a 2-in-1 with a touchscreen and can be used for things the X205 cannot (as a tablet, for reading, watching movies, etc). The T100 also comes with Office included (not sure if that’s the case in AUS as well, check it out). IN the end it’s up to you to decide if the T100 is worth paying extra.
Phil
November 20, 2014 at 7:23 am
Also, will this boot from a USB stick? I want to install Windows 10 technical preview on it. Cheers.
Andrei Girbea
November 23, 2014 at 7:24 pm
Haven’t tried it
kos
November 25, 2014 at 9:59 pm
will work on asus x205 software autocom 2013.3 ???
Sable
November 26, 2014 at 2:28 am
How good will it work for taking online classes?
Writing papers? Reading online text books?
Andrei Girbea
November 26, 2014 at 7:52 pm
Should cope well with those tasks as long as you don’t multitask between many apps at once.
Phil
November 26, 2014 at 3:53 pm
If you are going to write to the masses, try to learn some grammar. “could have went”, and about a dozen others. I’m embarassed for you.
Andrei Girbea
November 26, 2014 at 7:55 pm
Thank you. I’m not a native English writer, as you can probably tell, so mistakes do slip up. I hope the value of the content rises above these, but if you don’t mind and have the time, maybe you could point me towards those “dozen others”? I’d really apreciate that. Thank you in advance.
Kevin
December 3, 2014 at 10:56 pm
Are you serious Phil? Are you so narrow minded that you can’t imagine that some people do not use English as their native language? You should be embarrassed for yourself.
Bruce
November 26, 2014 at 11:08 pm
Phil, I’m embarrassed for you – there are two r’s in embarrassed 🙂
Ryan
November 26, 2014 at 11:49 pm
Thanks for your review. I had thought it’s an old model, yet it turns out to be recently released one. Does it even weigh less than an 11-inch Apple MBA (2.4lbs)? That’s really impressive even considering its plastic material. What I concern is its 2G RAM. Do you need to wait long for initiating a business app like Word or Excel?
Andrei Girbea
November 27, 2014 at 1:26 pm
those apps should start decently fast. howeve,r if you load big files, that will take a while
edchris
November 27, 2014 at 3:29 am
Someone above asked about the charge voltage.
I have an older EEE, running XP, that the charger crapped out on, was hoping this one would fit both. It doesn’t, the ends are different. However the voltages are the same. They all accept 120-240V input, the out puts are 19V. I’m not sure why they didn’t use the more common 12V output, but it says right on the charger-output 19V DC.
Ganesh
November 27, 2014 at 2:53 pm
Thanks bro for your answer. So I can use the US brick in a country that has 240V? You sure?
edchris
November 27, 2014 at 3:33 am
I just picked one up in Canada on Nov 26, my older EEE had the “P” key quit, & I can’t charge the battery. Tried a new battery, won’t take a charge, so I said screw it & spent
$219 CDN for the new X205
Still getting used to Window 8,(the old one was XP).
The Company gives us Ipads, but for a workstation I like the keyboard & touchpad, along with MS Office.
Pretty limited use so far, but it seems fine for use during all the time I spend on planes. the biggest pain I found is it won’t transfer from XP, & I wish it was a full size SD Card.
Ryan
November 27, 2014 at 5:02 pm
Hey bro, where did you get your X205TA? BestBuy or Staples? I am also thinking about getting one.
Dave
November 28, 2014 at 4:16 am
Staples has them for $99 today only. Just ordered one in store.