Review: Asus X102B Laptop – A solid small-scale laptop

Review: Asus X102B Laptop is solid small-scale laptop made of plastic and model is finished in an infectious pink, white and blue.

In this article you will everything about Asus X102B Laptop. When you start looking at budget laptops, the first thing most people will tell you is use a Chromebook. Google’s Chrome OS laptops from HP, Acer and others are affordable, lightweight, and somewhat easy to use – as long as you have an internet connection.

Asus hopes to break that belief with the Asus X102B, a Windows 8 laptop under £ 300 that will suit most kids and students looking to do their homework or study. It offers the familiarity of an operating system that allows you to install almost any software you want while working online or offline.

But does the X102B have what it takes to break the current rule of Chromebooks, or does it have similar weaknesses due to the entry-level price?

What do you get?

For the cover price of £ 300, you get a 10.1-inch touchscreen LCD and full-size keyboard, all packed into a lightweight 1.1kg chassis that’s nearly 3cm at its thickest point.

Asus X102B Laptop is made of plastic and despite its low price, it is not flexible or thin like some competitors can be. Our model is finished in an infectious pink color – not for everyone, of course – but backrest, white and blue are also available.

On the sides are a pair of USB 2.0 connectors, a USB 3.0 connector on the other side, in addition to an Ethernet port and even an HDMI output, so you can connect it to a TV and enjoy content on a larger screen. There is an SD card slot for importing your photos and files and a front webcam for Skype calls and the like.

Asus X102B: Typing experience

We found the keyboard to be responsive, well distributed in the given space, and easy to use for a laptop of this size.

However, the trackpad was a bit small and short for our liking, which was frustrating at times, but it’s a similar experience to other products at this price. Once we got used to it, it was fine, but it’s not a Macbook Air.

Asus X102B: Screen

Screen of Asus X102B Laptop’s quality isn’t the best you’ll see on a Windows 8 laptop, but it is on par with similar Chromebook devices. That means a 1,366 x 768 resolution with reasonable brightness and so-so viewing angles – the latter is one of the biggest issues we’ve had with nearly all the Chromebooks we’ve seen, which is repeated here again on this Windows device. .

However, the addition of a touch sensitive panel means you don’t always have to use that trackpad. Swipe, tap and pinch the screen to easily perform tasks and open apps. The screen may look a bit grubby, but it gives the device more of a tablet-like appeal that many will like. And if not, you are not forced to touch the screen.

Asus X102B: Performance

Under the hood is an AMD A4 1GHz processor paired with 4GB of RAM, which is mediocre rather than super powerful – but then you get what you pay for and this isn’t a powerhouse. The processor means you have to wait a while for certain apps to load, but like a heavy truck once it boots up, the experience doesn’t flow happily – as long as you don’t have to drastically switch willed.

While you can install any Windows 8 applications, don’t expect to perform the most graphically demanding tasks. That means surfing the web, writing documents or texting via Skype is no problem – which ticks the boxes most will buy this device for.

There’s one element that you get what you pay for, but given that that’s only £ 300 instead of a few hundred more we’re still generally impressed with how much the X102B has to offer.

Battery life is acceptable, although it is quoted at a maximum of five hours per charge. What we particularly love is the small scale of the charging cable – it resembles a phone charger in size rather than a giant brick bigger than the laptop itself. Makes it easy to carry and connect when needed on the go.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for the latest and greatest Windows 8 laptop, the Asus X102B Laptop can’t claim it. But it does deliver on the budget and in our opinion wins over a Chromebook solution.

While it’s not always smoother than a Chromebook competitor, it’s largely comparable and there’s that extra depth of Windows 8 that makes it a more compelling offering overall. There is the option to run almost any application, but in reality you will wait quite some time for them to load before you can get started.

Our main problem with the Asus X102B Laptop is what it isn’t: you might want to buy a tablet with a keyboard dock as an alternative instead, given its better viewing angles, smaller scale and overall versatility. Asus makes similar crossover devices, including the Transformer Book T100, so in terms of future-proofing, the X102B gets a thumbs up for its touchscreen operation, but it doesn’t excel in this post-PC era where there are so many other options.

The Asus X102B is a solid small-scale laptop that is affordable and capable of doing the basics. The only reason it doesn’t rank higher is because we’re not convinced that a laptop like this is the best solution these days.