Asus 1201n

[Nechen]

I've been keeping my eye on Netbooks for sometime and finally got excited when they came out with ION (I was pretty thrilled they fit the equivalent of a nVidia 9400 in there)

Only thing that seems to depress me in the incredibly weak (Albeit Dual-Core) Atom N330.

Every benchmark/youtube shows decent games running at 30FPS max (Which I feel off about, I usually prefer 45-60)

I will say the only ION experience I've had thus far was with the Acer NetTop my GF bought her Sister, I messed around with it and this thing couldn't even exceed 15FPS in UT2004 regardless of how high or low the resolution ones which hinted to me that gaming performance is an issue on these ION sets either because of the RAM or the CPU.

Be that as it may, does anyone here have an N330/ION Netbook? I only mention the 1201n because its the first one that came to mind

[Bluefalcon13]

I've been keeping my eye on Netbooks for sometime and finally got excited when they came out with ION (I was pretty thrilled they fit the equivalent of a nVidia 9400 in there)

Only thing that seems to depress me in the incredibly weak (Albeit Dual-Core) Atom N330.

Every benchmark/youtube shows decent games running at 30FPS max (Which I feel off about, I usually prefer 45-60)

I will say the only ION experience I've had thus far was with the Acer NetTop my GF bought her Sister, I messed around with it and this thing couldn't even exceed 15FPS in UT2004 regardless of how high or low the resolution ones which hinted to me that gaming performance is an issue on these ION sets either because of the RAM or the CPU.

Be that as it may, does anyone here have an N330/ION Netbook? I only mention the 1201n because its the first one that came to mind

If you want to game on an ultra mobile, thats one thing, but a netbook won't be able to hang what so ever. I have recently purchased an Alienware M11X, which is a great ultra-mobile for gaming (yes bring on the hate for the CPU, I'll wait for it...). Truth of the matter is, if you want to game on a small, lightweight laptop, you will need to buy something a little more robust than a netbook. The nvidia ION is supposed to perform similar to a 9400m IGP.

[Nechen]

Yeah but I would assume the 9400m IGP is pretty dang good (Find 'em in Macbooks) so the problem with Netbooks will always be their FSB and/or CPU no?

[plantarms]

check this out, intel is going to release new dual core atom processors for netbooks, should help out some

http://www.pcworld.com/article/194195/intel_to_launch_dualcore_atom_processor_this_quart er.html

[Nechen]

Good this makes things seem a bit brighter then.

I have an old HP 17'' Laptop with a 2.4Ghz Pentium4 and an ATI x600 and it plays WoW better than all these ION netbooks.

These Atoms need more jiggawatts

[Bluefalcon13]

The thing with ION is its specs might be similar to a 9400m IGP, but I do not think its performance is the same, add in the cpu limitations, and you have a very poor performing gaming system. For 300-400 bucks more, you could goto bestbuy, and pickup an M11X, and get some serious gaming horsepower, as well as some outstanding battery life (get about 5.5 hrs on battery with the IGP and power set to balanced, never used power saver on this thing yet...). I know people knock the M11X, but it is well made machine, and if you buy it at best buy, you get a much better deal than you do from dell (I paid $1200 from dell's site, only difference between mine and best buys model is bluetooth and warranty). Don't get me wrong, the 1201n is a nice netbook, and the only netbook I've ever considered buying, but then the M11X came out, and now I have the best of both worlds, mobility + gaming horsepower. Besides, right after I got this thing, I took my RX8 in for an oil change at my Mazda dealer (on a Saturday) and spent a hour and a half, gaming on battery power in their waiting room. :)

BTW.. those battery times are with the CPU overclocked with the bios OC option: I have never ran this thing without it OC'd... over 5 hrs of battery life with the CPU OC'd 20% is impressive if you ask me...

[Nechen]

Yeah I saw the M11x at BB and creamed my pants.

The GF is looking to replace her 1st gen Asus EeePC and I thought I could get away with buying this for "her" and then stealing it to play WoW amongst other things lol.

I'm not much for mobile electronics or technology, the most I'd ever spend on a laptop is around $450 MAYBE lol