IF you’re looking for a small, sleek laptop computer, and you don’t mind switching to an operating system with a moniker like Mavericks, rush right out and buy yourself a MacBook Air. But if you’re not up to parting with a $1,000 and your computing needs are not complicated—in other words, if you use a laptop for e-mail, browsing the Web, updating your Facebook page and are happy to do your word processing in the cloud—consider the Asus x205TA-DH01. Don’t be intimidated by the model number or Asus’s lack of creativity. Couldn’t they have called it something snappier, like Hewlett-Packard (HP) does with its Stream?
OK, Asus’s 11.6-inch laptop doesn’t have a fancy name. In fact, there’s very little fanciness about this $200 laptop. I compare it to the Stream, because I just finished spending a week with HP’s $200 laptop. Both are bargains if you’re a minimalist.
Like the Stream, the Asus has an Intel processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM and a 32-gigabyte flash drive. It has Wi-Fi and a webcam. Its chiclet keyboard is tolerable, and it surfs the Web just fine. Its display, like the Stream’s, is good enough, which is faint praise. The display is just big enough to do some serious computing, although you’d have to do it in the cloud via Microsoft Office 365 or Google docs, given the small flash drive. Asus, like HP, throws in a year’s subscription to Microsoft Office 365.
The thin, dark blue case looks elegant, unlike the gaudy colors offered by the HP Stream. But if it’s garish you want, the Asus notebook comes in gold, too.
Its footprint is bigger than an iPad and, at 2.2 pounds, much heavier. In fact, when it’s closed, it looks like an iPad 4 protected by a heavy case. Like the Stream, the Asus runs Windows 8.1. It has a mic and headphone jack, Bluetooth, two USB 2.0 ports, a micro-HDMI port and a micro SD slot, which can double or triple the onboard storage. The Stream has all that and a USB 3.0 port. The Asus’s trackpad is wide and sensitive. The Asus’s battery holds a charge for a coast-to-coast trip and will peter out as you’re waiting for a gate assignment at Los Angeles International Airport on the return trip, which in my experience, could take awhile. In heavy use, it will run out of fuel somewhere over Kansas. Asus says the battery will last for 14 days on standby and up to 12 hours in regular use. There is very little not to like about this small laptop.
So, if I had to choose between the Stream and the x205TA-DH01, I’d probably flip a coin. They’re the same price, but the Asus is lighter than the Stream.
This laptop niche—bigger than a netbook, more functional than a Chromebook and smaller than a full-blown laptop—might appeal to users who don’t need much computing power. Needless to say, power users should look elsewhere.
Harold Glicken / Tribune News Service