ASUS’ previous netbook, the 1015PEM seemed to be quite decent in terms of performance and while it wasn’t the best, it still made for a good netbook. Now with the 1015PX, I definitely hope that ASUS is trying to bring in something different here. Design and Build Quality The 1015PX that came in our labs was a white-coloured one. While there’s nothing really great about the design, the non-glossy finish on the lid is a good thing especially to avoid smudges, something that’s pretty common with glossy surfaces. The bottom half of the netbook has a fine textured design which gives it a nice firm grip.
After opening the netbook, the 10.1-inch non-glare LED Backlit screen with a 1024 x 600 pixels resolution which has a matte finish, stood in contrast to the glossy bezel around it. The keyboard has a chiclet design which means that the keys are well spaced out. One issue I had with the keyboard was that the size of the keys was too small. Also, while it’s quite subjective, I somehow feel that the keyboard should have had a nice firm feel to it while being pressed. The trackpad is quite smooth in terms of response, but the button below follows some of the rare conventions of having a single button with both, left and right click functions.
The 1015PX’s build quality is another good thing of the netbook, by which I mean that right from the lid, the screen, keyboard and all the ports around the netbook are very well built and have a solid feel to it.
1015PX is well stocked in terms of connectivity with a Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n @ 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth 3.0 as well. Also, there are three USB 3.0 ports around the netbook which makes it pretty much future proof. Also included are ports for RJ45 and a VGA display port supplied on the left. There’s a SD/SDHC/MMC card reader thrown in as well. While it might not be called the best, the 1015PX’s features are pretty decent. Looking at the specifications, the 1015PX is not meant to crunch numbers but is more for casual use like a editing and viewing documents, surfing the internet, watching a few movies, and so on.
While the scores look quite decent in comparison to most netbooks that we’ve seen recently, there are a couple of other things that should be mentioned as well. The 1015PX’s anti-glare screen definitely adds to comfortable viewing, but the viewing angles themselves are not pretty good. While opening/closing the lid, the screen’s brightness dims. Also, we tried running some videos and music on the netbook. It’s quite safe to say that while watching videos is really nice, it’s the speakers that are not loud enough and don’t have any great sound quality to boast of.