14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is trying to stop the wide adoption of Chromebooks with what is being touted as Bingbooks by the media. These are light and cheap notebooks with Windows 8.1 which pretty much resemble Chromebooks in terms of specifications.
Back at IFA 2014, ASUS talked about its own Bingbook, the EeeBook X205 which was said to arrive on the market for a price tag of $199 / €159.
ASUS jumps on board with Microsoft to build a Bingbook
However, the company didn't mention when we would be able to pick up this particular model, but our wait has come to an end at this point, because Amazon is currently offering the EeeBook X205 for purchase for the previously announced price.
The Eee PC mini-laptop lineup was birthed by ASUS back in 2007. The first model to be making an appearance had a 7-inch display, ran an Intel Celeron processor under the hood and sold for a $400 / €320 price tag.
However, the price of the 2014 model gets reduced by half. A while back, tiny laptops (netbooks) would sell for a heftier price tag than the normal one, but this is not the case anymore.
Netbooks have failed to impress customers in recent years, but apparently ASUS believes it’s worth giving a shot in trying to revitalize the brand, hoping folks looking for portability above all when purchasing a new laptop will be satisfied by what that notebook has to offer.
Like most Chromebooks out there, the EeeBook X205TA comes equipped with an 11.6-inch display boasting 1366 x 768 pixel resolution and takes advantage of an Intel Atom Z3735 quad-core Bay Trail processor fitted with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
Other specifications include a micro SDXC card slot, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0 ports, micro HDMI port plus a headset jack. Last but not least, we should mention the notebook has stereo speakers and a VGA webcam.
ASUS says the laptop is capable of sustaining a life cycle of up to 12 hours (given the low-power processor), which is not bad at all given the fact that this notebook is focused on portability, above anything.
Customers can have their pick at black, white, red or gold models.
An alternative to the ASUS EeeBook X205TA is the HP Stream 11
While we’re on the topic, if you’re not a big fan of ASUS, HP also sells a very similar notebook. It’s called the HP Stream 11 and arrives with an 11.6-inch HD panel (1366 x 768 pixel resolution), an Intel Celeron N2840 Bay Trail fitted with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
