Asus - 11.6" Laptop - Intel Atom - 2GB Memory - 32GB Flash Memory - Blue

This is a good machine for someone who needs something that's inexpensive, light, and can run Windows programs in a pinch. It comes with an Intel Bay Trail ATOM processor, which is surprising capable for everyday tasks like web browsing, email, watching videos, and running office productivity software. It is designed to be extremely low power so that it can easily last 10 hours of normal usage per battery charge. That means you can't run super demanding games (light and older games are fine) or expect it to perform like a powerful desktop computer, but neither can anything else in this price range. Unlike ARM based computers and tablets/phones, or Chromebooks, this is a full fledged x86 Windows OS computer that can run a vast library of Windows (32bit) software that you may already own. This is one advantage that Chromebooks, iPads, and Android tablets/phones cannot compete with. I personally recommend portable apps that you can put on a flash drive (as this machine doesn't have a ton of built in storage) and run without having to install anything, and many of the excellent free Portable Apps (google it) are open source and offer programs in the areas of education, games, graphics & pictures, Internet, music & video, office, and utilities. Windows 8.1 has built-in Windows Defender security software to help protect you from malicious threats on the Internet. While it is true that Chromebooks, iPads, and Android devices are less susceptible to viruses at this time, it is only because they are more limited in functionality. However, as popularity of those devices continue to rise, expect hackers to target them more and more. Furthermore, unlike Windows computers which are capable of installing security patches throughout the operating system lifecycle (and can then be upgraded to the next version of the OS), older iPads and Android devices can only be upgraded for so long before they are no longer supported by the manufacturer. If you don't like the Windows 8 Start Screen, you can install the excellent and free Classic Shell to make your Windows start button behave like Windows XP/Vista/7, at least until Windows 10 is released next year, which will restore the Start Menu functionality that many people are used to. In short, do not pay attention to any of the haters that do not understand or cannot appreciate the full power of a Windows computer. I am a tech lover and feel that all tech products have their places and uses, but I am not so blind as to believe that my smartphone can do things that this machine can. I use my Windows netbook for PC-only activities such as: VPN into work, watch my Slingbox (without having to pay $15-$30 for a smartphone or tablet app), stream flash videos to my Chromecast, running virtual machines, editing office documents side-by-side, and many other things that a Chromebook, Android, or iOS device simply cannot do. If all you need is to watch Netflix and open Facebook, a Chromebook or iOS/Android tablet might be fine for you. However, if you are a more power user or like to tinker with computers, you can't go wrong with this netbook.

I just happened to be visiting Best Buy when this was put on a 1-day sale for $139.99, so I threw caution to the wind and bought one. I was looking for options for a small, light, laptop with a long battery life. This seemed to fit the bill. It weighs noticeably less than my C720 Chromebook and supposedly has almost 50% more battery life. The keys on the keyboard provide just enough resistance when I push the keys down such that I get a a good feel of what I'm typing. A lot of chicklet keyboards these days require such little force to press the keys and the keys are so wobbly. The X205TA keyboard has a nice solid feel. This is the best laptop keyboard I've used in a few years. Regarding the battery life, I feel it drains too quickly. I have the screen brightness one notch above the lowest setting now, and the battery isn't draining as fast. The battery seems to drain quickly in sleep mode as well, which I don't understand at all. Having the X205TA sleep for about 4 hours drained the battery from 74% to 69%. I could leave my C720 asleep for days and I wouldn't lose nearly as much battery. However, the battery does last a full work day, so I guess it's okay. The performance of the computer as a whole is sluggish. I realize I can't expect much from running Windows 8 on 2GB of ram. But seriously, it's already sluggish with just the operating system and running any program just makes it feel even slower. By comparison, my C720 feels much, much snappier than the X205TA. People will say it's an apples to oranges comparison in this aspect, since Chromebooks only run a browser. However, for all practical purposes, Windows 8 on this hardware pretty much limits what you can install and run anyway, so you're better off just using web apps, just like a Chromebook. In summary, the three biggest selling points in my opinion are the X205TA's very light weight, almost no bloatware, and the sturdy keyboard. The drawback is relatively sluggish performance probably due to the Windows 8 overhead. If this had not been on sale, I would not have bought it. Still, there are some applications that are not cross-platform compatible, so there still is a need for Windows.

I've been looking for a little ultra portable laptop to carry around with me since the battery on my bigger laptop (Core i5, 8 gb ram, Intel SSD) is on it's way out and it's a fairly bulky laptop to start with. I was leaning towards the more expensive 2 in 1 setups that generally have touch screens, 4gb of ram, faster processors, and 5400 rpm drives but hadn't pulled the trigger on one yet. I like that this one is rated for several hours more battery life compared to the more expensive 2 in 1's, is completely silent since it doesn't need a cpu fan, and it's bit lighter but I was a pretty sure that with the 2 GB of ram and slower processor it would be frustrating to use. When it popped up on sale though I had to take a chance on it... I was pleasantly surprised... what a cool little laptop! It boots up pretty quick, apps open up quickly, I have the mail program open right now, viber desktop, chrome with 7 tabs open, keepass, openvpn, and it's just humming right along and surprisingly all that is only using 1.3 GB of ram. I don't have any lag switching from one app to another... i'm honestly incredibly impressed. With roughly 3 hours of web browsing, 50 minutes of movie watching (saved mp4 not streaming) my battery is currently at 67%. The only real negative I have is I can't download windows media center... i'm not sure if it's something about this laptop or Windows 8.1 with Bing but I'm not able to pull that up in the Windows Market. I find that incredibly annoying cause this thing easily has the power to play anything I record with WMC, for now I'm playing recorded TV through Plex and that works fine but it would have been more convenient to be able to use WMC. Okay one other negative... the matte finish gets dirty incredibly quickly from the oil on your skin Overall, incredibly happy with my purchase so far and would definitely recommend it to someone that doesn't need a ton of storage or cpu power.

GOOD- 1 We purchased this as gift for our 8 year old grand-daughter. 2. It's the perfect computer for light duty, web surfing, email and entertainment. 3. It came with two years of 100GB storage on "One Drive". You can create documents and store them in the cloud. 4 . The solid state drive is fairly responsive and programs open up quickly. 5. Nice looking case and very light weight. Looks and feels more premium than you might expect. 6. For the price, we got this on a one day sale, for $139.99, this unit is hard to beat. 7. Also comes with 180 days of free anti-virus program, they offer a few choices in the store. 8. Great battery life! I had this on for hours and still had plenty of time left. 9. Touch pad for mouse was fine, not too sensitive. 10. Overall size is great! 11.6 inches and keypad works well. 11. Very portable. 12. Asus build quality, they do things well. JUST OK- 1. It's Windows 8.1 2. No back lit keys, so, you cannot use this in a poorly lit room or in the dark, however, this is not really a con since you should not expect that feature in this price point. 3. Limited storage once Windows is loaded is around 15 GB, but, remember, this is a "cloud based" computer much like a chrome book. Conclusion- For the money, you can't beat this! The minor points are just that ---minor. The pluses definitely outweigh the negatives in this case. If you're on a budget and don't need much computing power, this will do the trick.

My only serious complaint, serious enough to make me consider returning the laptop, is that the touchpad is a mess. The ASUS drivers crash fairly frequently on waking from sleep, eliminating all of the gestures (including 2-finger scrolling) until you reboot. When they do crash, certain other things become better, such as the speed with which a tap is registered as a click, which has a noticeable effect on making the computer feel more responsive (and it *is* remarkable responsive for having such a pokey/efficient processor). And the inertial scrolling (where the screen keeps moving after you swipe) is basically unusable. Sometimes the screen barely scrolls, other times it keeps scrolling forever at a fixed rate, until the end of the page or until you touch the touchpad again. It's too bad it's so bad, really, because the laptop is attractive and silent and small, and the keyboard is nice enough, and the screen is totally tolerable viewed head on. But if you're accustomed to touchpads on Chromebooks or Macs, this one might really irritate you. I'm tempted to switch to a Chromebook and sacrifice some of the slickness of this hardware and the flexibility of Windows so that the basic everyday experience , when I'm not carrying or looking at the thing itself, or doing some oddball task that requires a native program, will be polished and focused and frustration free. I will very happily update this review if a new driver improves the touchpad. And I will recommend this to a friend, but only if they truly need Windows and have tried the touchpad and decided they don't mind it too much.

My daughter, 11, is in love with her own laptop. For all intents, the ASUS X205TA laptop is a fully useable Windows 8 machine - and is fast enough to easily play Roblox, or other online games. My Santa Rosa 2007 Macbook is much slower than this machine. This laptop is inexpensive enough so that I do not have to worry about how my daughter treats her machine - other than to perhaps teach her how to maintain the very long battery life this machine exhibits. Ten hours battery life is not very likely, but one could practice conservation measures and the battery will last that long and perhaps more. My daughter sees this machine as a battery-only device, anyway. She'll be using the laptop at school, carrying it proudly in her backpack. I gave her a choice - this ASUS laptop, or an iPod 5 and (my wallet thanks her) chose the laptop. I wish they had these available to everyone when I was a kid. It's less expensive than a gaming device (e.g. Nintendo DS) and much more versatile and powerful. Its got Wireless N, Bluetooth, all those requisite goodies inside. I cannot stress how cool these little things are - the bang for the buck is a new paradigm! Congratulations to Microsoft for producing the excellent 32-bit Windows variant that can be used by these sub-compact laptops - wish it was MacOS Mini or whatever, though, Windows 8 is weird. . Pros: Decent build quality. Keyboard is rather nice. Time will tell. Trackpad recognizes two-finger gestures. Quad-Core processor (Atom). Fast graphics. Bright Display Expandable storage (MicroSD) HDMI Cons: Trackpad is sensitive to oils and slightly wet fingers. Screen is cheap with low viewing angles. Small 32GB SSD. (For someone who uses only roblox who cares?)

Quite responsive for a person using a HP Envy 17 CTO quad core i7 with 16gb of ram and SSD and Hybrid drive. At $150 or less this Asus is a great secondary machine for light usage. Typing is a breeze. Uninstalled the microsoft office trial that was included and downloaded a new one from my office 355 student account and it works well. The Webcam being only 0.3mp it is usable and quite clear when I tried it on Skype. It also outputs a decent sound from the speakers below the front left and right. The addition of a micro SD card slot is a huge plus for a 32gb model. Pros: Small Lightweight Almost the size of a full keyboard Big trackpad Fast starting time and no need to shut down, just close the lid and be back on what you're working on when you open the lid Battery life is great Comes with 100gb clouddrive space now known as Onedrive Microsd slot Micro Hdmi out Cons: Proprietary charger For the overall performance I couldn't really say that it is slow because for that price range I knee beforehand what I was purchasing so I did not put a high expectation in performance. It loads images and videos fast due to its quad core processor that handles more data crunching at the same time. As of now I am not sure if the other parts inside could be upgraded for a speed boost, bit if possible I'll be using my spare parts to make it happen.

This is a nifty little machine that works well for those that want the Windows environment instead of a Chromebook. You can install actual applications and use everything offline as well. I picked this up to replace my old laptop and am quite happy with the purchase. After a few hours of Windows updates and reboots I am left with 13.7 GB of storage. The keyboard is a bit small for my taste, but works a lot better than I expected for its size. The trackpad, however, is large and has a bit of a lag to it. It's useable, but do yourself a huge favor and get a wireless mouse. I picked this up during the one day sale a couple of days ago for $140 and would easily buy it again at that price. It's a great alternative to those that want a lightweight general use computer and don't want to sacrifice tons of features to get a Chromebook. Perfect for kids, traveling, or light general usage. I have no complaints about the speed since it's a sub 200 dollar machine that isn't meant for heavy usage.