ASUS Eee PC 1015PED-PU17-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – Up to 13 Hours of Battery Life
16. Aug, 2010 
1 Comment
ASUS Eee PC 1015PED-PU17-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – Up to 13 Hours of Battery Life
- Intel Atom N475 (1.83GHz)
- 1GB DDR3 RAM, 1 SODIMM Slot, 2GB Max; Intel GMA 3150 graphics
- 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) + 500GB Free Web Storage; 0.3MP Webcam
- 10.1-Inch 1024X600 WSVGA Matte Finish LED Display; 802.11 b/g/n; Bluetooth 3.0; Chiclet Keyboard
- 6 cell battery for up to 13 Hours of Battery Life; Windows 7 Starter Operating System (32 bit)
Embrace mobile computing in style with the new ASUS Eee PC 1015PED. The 1015PED packs the latest ATOM CPU from Intel, the N475, which consumes less power than its predecessors, allowing the 1015PED to get up to a whopping 13 hours of battery life. With built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, users can stay connected wherever they go. The 92%-scaled ergonomic keyboard and Multi-Touch touchpad make it a breeze to type and navigate through content. The 1015PED’s 250GB hard drive and 500GB of free webstorage pr
Rating: 
(out of 1 reviews)
List Price: $ 379.99
Price: $ 379.99
Review by R. P. Davis for ASUS Eee PC 1015PED-PU17-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – Up to 13 Hours of Battery Life
Rating:
I bought this netbook in anticipation of an upcoming 3 week trip to Europe, as I needed a light, easy-to-carry computer with good battery life for my travels. I knew that going with a netbook, I would have to make some sacrifices in screen real estate and performance, but I was assuming I would get a computer that actually works well for everyday tasks. Sadly, this particular one did not…
First the pros:
* Size: The unit is quite compact and light. It is very easy to carry around and feels good in the hand. I think this would have been an excellent traveling computer.
* Screen: The screen is very nice… and it is a matte screen! Matte screens are excellent for airplanes and outdoor use, and the matte screen on this unit had nice black levels and a bright, crisp display. The color reproduction seemed a bit off and viewing angles weren’t great, but it is good for the price.
* Keyboard: I really like the keyboard. I don’t use the right shift key very often, so the smaller size of this key doesn’t bother me. The keyboard is very easy to type on with an excellent feel. The keyboard is definitely one of the best features of this model.
The cons:
* The left speaker is defective: The first thing I noticed when I initially began using this Eee PC was how loud the unit appeared to be. It seemed to have an irritating fan-type noise coming from the left side. I tried to ignore it, but the sound is really loud (louder by far than the CPU fan at its highest setting), and it becomes intolerable with any prolonged use of the PC. I was then looking at the bottom of the unit and saw the outline of the left speaker beneath a vent grille — that was the exact source of the sound. After disabling the speakers in Device Manager, the sound went away instantly. I then deleted and reinstalled the audio drivers from the Asus website, and the sound returned. As a last resort, I tried drivers from Realtek’s site — same thing. Given that only one speaker has the noise, I believe the left speaker has a hardware defect. Interestingly, audio comes out from the left speaker okay, but the noise is surprisingly intolerable. This problem alone was more than enough to sour me on this model…
* A host of network issues: For some reason, the Eee PC did not want to connect to my home network. I have a Belkin Router using WPA2-PSK security, and it took an hour to get the Eee PC to connect to the router and successfully obtain an IP address. Three other computers in the house as well as my phone had no issues whatsoever. After the nightmare of getting the PC connected, I’ve noticed that it has somewhat poor reception. While my Dell Studio XPS 16 will get 4 bars in the kitchen (2 rooms away from the router), the Eee PC will get 1 or 2. The connection then drops frequently, which leads to many issues with downloading files. The most frustrating issue, however, is that the Wifi connection will occasionally (and inexplicably) become limited to 0.3 Mbps with long latencies (>400 ms). I confirmed this finding with multiple runs of online speedtests. Resetting the wireless connection does not work. Shutting off the wireless adapter and then restarting it does not work. Only if I completely shut down and reboot the computer will this problem temporarily go away.
* Was unable to upgrade memory: The final straw for me was that I was trying to upgrade the memory to 2GB yesterday, and after the new 2GB module was installed, the unit would not boot. I thought the memory was not seated properly, so I tried multiple additional times, and I was unsuccessful. I also checked the BIOS settings to be sure I successfully disabled the Boot Booster (and I had). The computer would not even post to BIOS after the new memory was inserted! Reinstalling the old unit restored functionality, so I concluded that the memory module was likely defective. The 2Gb module is now on its was back to Amazon, and a new one is en route. After all the other problems I’ve been having with this Eee PC, however, I no longer know if I think the memory is defective.
Conclusion: My particular unit is clearly defective to some degree, and so anyone reading this review should consider that these problems may not exist in other PCs. I gave the 1015PED 2 stars because the problems I’ve had have been very frustrating and time consuming, and I am no longer interested in owning this computer. The left speaker is definitely defective, but I don’t know if the network issues are due to my defective PC or to poor component selection or driver design. I may have received a faulty memory module, so I don’t know what the problem is with the memory either.
If you are considering this unit, I advise you to be wary. Maybe because the unit is so new, all of the kinks may not yet be worked out, but I, for one, will not be taking another chance on this model…