ASUS Eee PC 1215BT-BU17 12.1" Netbook Computer (Black)

Comments about ASUS Eee PC 1215BT-BU17 12.1" Netbook Computer (Black):

This netbook is one of the king of the netbooks as far as hardware specifications go. At 12 inches the keyboard is just bigger enough than the 10 inch netbooks to make it more comfortable for those with bigger hands. Battery life is stellar, can easily get 5 hours without a problem and can get more if you turn down the brightness of the screen and turn off the wireless when not in use.

The hard drive does come partitioned into two drives, the C drive at 100GB and the remaining in a D drive. Since most users have no idea how to actually make use of two drives, I used the fantastic PartedMagic tool to delete the D drive partition and expand the C partition to take the entire hard drive. Either have to use an external CD/DVD drive or a USB stick to make that work (I did it using a USB stick with the ultimate boot CD).

The other issue that is just strange looks like it is a manufacturing defect. Lots of documented complaints about the trackpad not working well. The behavior is that about 70% of the time it works fine, but the other time the trackpad is sending a signal to the computer that multiple fingers are being used making it "stuck" in a pinch/zoom sort of function. This is NOT a software issue. Updating drivers does not help. Uninstalling programs (syncables was mentioned as a possible fix) does not help. The issue is hardware related, a skipped step in the manufacturing process it looks like to me, which means returning the netbook for another likely results in getting you another that has exactly the same issue. The problem is a little bit of foil that has been left over a screw hole just under the trackpad. That little bit of foil makes the trackpad not properly grounded, and thus the hardware sends phantom signals to the operating system. This was very easily remidied by taking the entire wrist mount panel (includes the trackpad and all of the space to the left and right of it) off of the netbook. Used a guitar pick to get under the panel, worked from the side nearest the keyboard forward to the side furthest away from the keyboard. Soon as it was removed flipped over the panel and saw the screw that has the little foil over it. The foil has perferation lines on it, so it looks like in manufacturing the foil was supposed to be cut and not there. Remove that little bit of foil (about 2cm square) and clip the panel back on the netbook, and it works perfectly.

Comments about ASUS Eee PC 1215BT-BU17 12.1" Netbook Computer (Black):

Bought this because I was tired of lugging my gaming laptop around on business trips. This thing fit the bill nicely. I wanted something bigger than a 10" screen, but still small enough to be <4 lbs. The weight is perfect. The battery life is awesome at 5-6 hrs for typical use (web surfing, word processing, etc). I ordered some extra memory which arrived 1 week after I received the netbook, all I can say is wow! The extra memory turned this thing into a very snappy unit! It's every bit a quick at everyday tasks as my G50VT was! The only con I have for this is the trackpad. It would work fine for 1-2 min then it would just become completely useless and unresponsive. I wasted a lot of time uninstalling/installing drivers including the latest one from Synaptics to no avail. I also spent several hours searching for a fix via Google and finally came across a solution. Apparently, there's a grounding issue between the trackpad and chassis. I popped open the memory cover on the bottom of the unit and loosened 3 screws 1.5 turns (see picture attached) and it's been problem free for 2 solids days now (If you choose to do this, do so at your own risk). One last issue, the specs show this unit as having 1x SO-DIMM slots with 1x 2GB installed which suggest there's only 1 memory slot available and is occupied by a 2GB stick. However, it actually has 2 slots, one of which has a 2GB stick and the other is empty. The specs also suggest that the max capacity is 4GB RAM. I slapped a 4GB stick in the empty slot and BIOS & Win7 both show 6 GB of RAM (5.6GB available). This made a noticeable difference in performance and was well worth the [$]!! If you're interested in gaming, I can now run COD4 at 1280x720 with no AA and low settings. With such a small screen, the graphics still look decent and the game play is smooth enough to play while I'm killing time at the airport. All things considered, I'm very happy with this unit!