Review and Benchmarks for the ASUS EeeBook X205TA-US01-BL
154Review and Benchmarks for the ASUS EeeBook X205TA-US01-BL Signature Edition.Z3735F Gaming Benchmarks.
The X205TA is kind of like a laptop and a tablet had a baby. This little device is normally priced at $199 US, but can occasionally be found for $150 or less. Asus has put together a smart looking, decent little budget laptop - although it is with it's flaws.
Powered by a Z3735F Processor, the X205TA has the same specs as many tablets out there - and is well within the Windows tablet pricing segment. It's light, thin, sturdy and has a fair amount of features,
Largest Pros and Cons list IMHO:
+ Price is inexpensive and build quality is high
+ Tablet internals means that the battery lasts quite long
+ Atom Quad Core Z3735F is robust and can handle multiple activities
+ Screen, Keyboard and Trackpad are decent and comfortable
+ Steep discounts found when on sale.
+ 2 USB ports, micro HDMI and dedicated power plugs offers more functionality options than sister tablet-devices which have the same internals.
- Case finish really absorbs finger oils and looks messy
- Tiny Metal support "blades" on base of screen will scratch wood furniture
- Proprietary power adapter is not sold in ASUS store.
- Micro- HDMI should have been standard HDMI
- Micro SD card read/write speeds are excessively low.
- No USB3.0
All in all, I'd consider this device 4/5 despite it's flaws.
The competition thus far for this device is the HP Stream 11. Both have 11.6" screens. Both have 2Gb RAM and 32Gb SSD and both are marketed as super-entry laptops.
Because this channel is about Gaming, if I had both devices to choose from at the same price, I would recommend the HP Stream 11. It uses a 2-core Bay-Trail Celeron CPU at 2.16GHz, while the Asus X205TA uses a 4-core Bay-Trail Atom CPU. In testing both of these CPUs, the Celeron and it's higher clock-speed allow for higher framerates at the same resolution. The 4-core Atom however, keeps its framerates consistant and doesn't have as many fluctuations - but make no mistake, it IS slower.
ON Gaming-- I will be testing some games which I have already tested using the HP Stream 7. The extra RAM and higher memory bandwidth of the CPU in this machine should, in theory, mean slightly higher framerates. As well, because of the 11.6" screen's size - it makes it workable to play MMOs or MOBAs where you need to see the tiny fonts those games use. This is normally a problem on tablets because of the smaller screens (10" tablets should be okay though). Keep an eye out for new games here. :)
Also, the microSD port on this unit has terrible Read Write speeds. I will be installing all games to the microSD card in order to demonstrate the lowest expectation for gaming on this machine. (I'll also be researching into the possibility of increasing the speed.. it is surprisingly low).
So. Buy it if you want, but I'd recommend picking one up on sale for extra savings. It's not perfect at all, but if you get it for around $150 or less somewhere, it should be a very good value for your dollar and offers a different experience than a tablet. :)
Specs:
Display 11.6 in (294.64 mm) HD LED-backlit (1366 x 768)
Processor Intel Atom Z3735F 1.33 GHz with Intel Burst Technology up to 1.83 GHz
Memory 2GB DDR3L 1333 MHz
Hard drive size 32GB eMMC
Operating system Windows 8.1 with Bing, 32-bit
PC type Laptop
Media drive Micro SD/Micro SDHC/Micro SDXC
Audio Realtek SonicMaster
Video Intel HD Graphics with shared graphics memory
Ports 2 USB 2.0 • Micro HDMI • Headphone output/Microphone input combo
Battery 2-cell 38 WHr (up to 12 hours)*
Camera VGA camera
Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n (Miracast enabled)
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0
Dimensions 11.25 x 7.61 x 0.68 in (286.00 x 193.30 x 17.50 mm)
Weight 2.10 lbs (0.95 kg)
Color Dark Blue
Other Model number: X205TA-US01-BL • TPM 2.0 • Keyboard: English • Keyboard travel: 1.1 mm • Touchpad dimensions: 105 x 62 mm