Asus EeeBook X205TA 11.6" 32GB Notebook

Short take: At under $200 for a well-built Asus ultrabook with a quad-core processor, this is a steal. The computer is quick, very light, has great battery life, the display is good enough, wifi works, and I can use the keyboard. Here are the answers to the questions I had before I bought this laptop: Q: Will the 1.33 GHz processors be fast enough? A: Yes, since I don't use the computer for highly CPU-intensive tasks such as high-res computer games. The most demanding thing I am likely to ask of this computer is that it play a full screen movie. The x205TA can play a 365MB 1920x1080 H.264 30 second test video file with a (high) bitrate of 100Mbps, in full-screen (scaled down to 1366 x 768) using the free SMPlayer, without pixelation or noticeable dropped frames. That's enough power for my needs. The utility "CPUZ" shows that the processors are not limited to 1.33 GHz, and in fact rarely run at 1.33 GHz. They temporarily ramp up to what Intel calls their "burst frequency" of 1.83 GHz for CPU-intensive tasks, and ramp down to 200-600 MHz at idle. While the CPU frequency never stays at 1.83 GHz for more than a few seconds, the processors seem to be able to run at 1.55 GHz for a long time. It helps to have four processor cores. According to the performance graphs in Windows 8 Task Manager, Windows usually uses all four cores. Q: Is the display quality adequate? A: Yes, after I cranked up the brightness. It's not a retinal display with brilliant saturated colors, but it is perfectly OK for a 1366 x 768 screen. Text is sharp, videos look good. Q: Can I type at full speed on the keyboard? I hope to get there soon. The key action is good. It is not quite a full sized keyboard, and I miss having dedicated Page Up, Page Dn, Home, and End keys. Instead, the keyboard uses fn+cursor keys for those tasks. Q: Is there a way to swap the 32GB eMMC drive for something larger? A: From what I have read, no. Unlike a user-swappable SSD, the eMMC drive is soldered to the motherboard. Also, an 8GB recovery partition reduces the already-limited free space on the eMMC. I hope to back up that partition, delete it from the drive, then expand drive C with the Windows Drive Management utility. Q: Can I get away with using a fast microSD card as a D drive? A: Yes. While SD cards are not nearly as quick as their advertised speeds for typical Windows use, the card that I purchased, PNY Elite-X 64GB microSDXC Card with Adapter - UHS-I, U3 - up to 90MB/sec (P-SDU64U390EX-GE), seems about as fast as a typical USB 2.0 flash drive. It works fine for storage, and I can play videos from that drive. File copying from the SD card to the eMMC runs at about 23 MB/sec. Copying from the SD card to a USB 2.0 flash drive runs much slower, about 5-6 MB/sec. Q: Is Bitlocker disk encryption really turned on? A: Surprisingly, yes. Microsoft says the performance hit from Bitlocker encryption is "in single digits." I doubt that is true in all circumstances, but since the computer is fast enough for me with Bitlocker running, I'll leave it on. Windows 8 provides an option to decrypt the disk if you want to disable Bitlocker for better performance and easier file recovery. If you want your Bitlocker encryption key, you will have to set up a Microsoft account and get the key from Microsoft. Q: Do the metal tabs at the bottom of the lid really scratch tabletops? A: Explanation: The laptop has four typical rubber pads/feet on its base. However, the rear pads do not support the rear of the computer when the lid is opened for use. The lid pivots backward and downward when opened, to the point that the rear of the computer is actually supported by two small semicircular metal tabs that project from the lid's bottom edge. I think that a delicate, polished tabletop might be scratched by the metal tabs, though they are not sharp. Another problem with the metal tabs is that they don't stick to the table like rubber pads, so the computer slides fairly easily on a slick surface. To solve these problems I just attached two small (about 1/8" thick) adhesive rubber pads to the rear of the underside of the computer. This slightly raises the back of the computer, so the metal tabs never touch the tabletop, and the computer stays in place. These pads SODIAL (R) Square Self Adhesive Rubber Pads for Furniture12mmx12mmx6mm 12 in 1 are a bit thicker than the ones I used, but they look about the same. Asus really should have used larger rear rubber feet. Q: Will a Bluetooth mouse be OK? I bought a Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Bluetooth Mouse (H3S-00003) to use with this computer. I have had plenty of problems with it, some of which were solved by changing Windows settings. I don't know if the remaining problems are the fault of the computer or the mouse. At first, the mouse was slow to connect, requiring at least 12 seconds after booting to the password screen before a cursor showed up on the display. Occasionally the cursor never showed up at all until I rebooted. Another problem was mouse lag. There was sometimes a 1/3-1/2 second delay after I moved the mouse before the cursor started wandering toward its destination. This was an intermittent problem, that showed up every few days. Rebooting always got rid of the lag. How to (partly) fix these problems: First, hold the Windows key down and press x. Type R or select and start "Run." Enter "services.msc" without quotes. Scroll down to "Bluetooth Support Service" and change the startup type from Manual to Automatic. While you are there, make sure that the Bluetooth Driver Management Service startup type is also set to Automatic. Second, use Windows key + R again, and enter "devmgmt.msc" without quotes. That will do the same thing as starting Device Manager from the Control Panel. Select Bluetooth, and below that, Bluetooth Radio. Double click Bluetooth Radio, open the Power Management tab, and uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." After applying those fixes, the mouse still lags on rare occasions, but the lag goes away before long. The mouse still requires about eight seconds to reconnect if I turn it off and then back on. By comparison, my Microsoft USB wireless mice always connect instantly, and there is never any mouse lag. Here's a problem that was not fixed: If the mouse is not turned on when I boot the computer, I sometimes have to reboot to get it to connect. Again, these problems might be the fault of the mouse, not the computer. Q: Is this computer 32 bit or 64 bit? A: 64 bit processors, running 32 bit Windows Home. The bootloader is 32 bit. It is a strange design. Q: Will Linux run on this computer? A: I still don't know. Many people have tried, and some report some success. Etc: The computer power light, the battery charge indicator light, and the caps lock light are all simply too small. They could each be covered by the head of a pin. They are all but invisible during the day. I am still looking for a good utility program that shows caps lock status on the display, because I will never notice that tiny light. The surface of this computer is not glossy, and it is not a fingerprint magnet. However, oily smudges do show up, so I still wind up cleaning it often. The 80211n wifi works well, but it is not 802.11ac. The USB2 ports work, but there are only two of them, and they are not USB3. This is yesterday's technology. At this price I can live with it. I estimate that the battery will provide about 9 hours 20 minutes of continuous use. It recharges from 10% to 100% in about two hours. Charge drops about 2% overnight with the computer turned off. Sound from the speakers is not loud enough to fill a room, and there is no noticeable bass. Use earbuds or something else. To compensate for the missing ethernet port and the insufficient number of USB ports, I purchased this: Anker 3-Port USB 3.0 HUB with 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Converter (3 USB 3.0 Ports, A RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet Port, Support Windows XP, Vista, Win7/8 (32/64 bit), Mac OS 10.6 and above, Linux) Black. It works well. And finally, here's the pretty good case : Case Logic AUA-311 11.6-Inch Laptop/Chromebook and iPad Slim Case (Black). All the products linked above have worked out well, except the mouse. Review update: I have now used this computer for two to four hours most days, for about 22 months. It has been perfectly reliable. I still think it is a terrific computer and a great bargain. Second update: After almost four years of daily use for two-four hours, it is still going strong. Mostly. However, it recently developed a problem. With the computer on, the display remains blank, except at certain display angles. I have to move the display back and forth to find one of the spots where it displays normally. So far this just requires a few seconds of playing with the screen position. For now it is no big deal, but I expect that I will eventually have to open the computer up and see if I have to replace the display cable. Third update: Over five years of use, and still doing well. I purchased a new cable for the display, but so far I have not had to install it. To date, the blank display problem has always been solvable by fiddling with the display position. All in all, this computer has been a great purchase. Well done, Asus! Added on 12-2-22: Still going strong, though I do keep replacing power supplies.