ASUS B23E Review: Almost Everything a Netbook Should Be Discussion

ASUS promises the 12.5-inch B23E to be a reliable business netbook with good performance and user-friendly features. Our review unit is packed with the kind of hardware you'd find in a mainstream business desktop...except in a tiny, 3.4 pound form factor. It has an Intel Core i7-2620M processor at 2.7GHz, Intel HD graphics, and a 500GB Seagate Momentus hard drive at 7200rpm. Read our full review below for more information!

Read the full content of this Article: ASUS B23E Review: Almost Everything a Netbook Should Be

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Great review of a system I've been wanting to know more details about. Worth noting the 11.6" Asus U24E is somewhat similar but with a consumer grade build, glossy LCD and missing the business features like an expresscard slot.

This system is not going to be competing with any netbooks at it's pricepoint. It's Asus having a go at the ultraportable market with the big guns being the 12.5" Lenovo X220, Dell E6220 and HP 2560P. All of those better the B23E by offering a ton of accessories like docking stations, 3/6/9-cell batteries and most importantly for business continuity, NBD global warranties. Asus will need to figure a way of offering some similar warranty cover if want entry into the corporate sector.

For the small business/home user it will certainly be a good option to consider alongside the low end X220, E6220 and 2560P offerings with standard depot warranty when purchased at the Outlets or as HP's Smartbuy.

 

The B23E has a docking port which can be used with the ASUS Power Station II, but this wasn't mentioned in the review.

I would have been interested to see a comment on the idle noise from the fan. B-series notebooks tend to have a higher idle fan speed than other ASUS models.

"Netbook" and "Ultraportable" aren't synonymous, and there are ASUS Business Netbooks, like the Eee 1016P for example. The title is probably going to confuse people.

 

Seems to me the machine runs a little hot - although I was also surprised with the battery life a 3 cell was able to squeeze out!

Hmm. Still prefer the Lenovo X220 I have though....

 

The B23E uses a Boston Sonata 3-cell battery pack, rated at 48Whr. A E6220's 3-cell is rated at 30Whr, so the Asus' 3-cell is more like a 4.8cell battery.

 

Too bad the battery life isn't better (e.g. by having a larger battery) compared to e.g. X220 (which is too old/ugly from the inside, IMHO). I get the same (or a bit more) out of my Acer 1810TZ which I'm trying to find the replacement for so still searching, I'm afraid..

 

The B23E has a 48Whr Sonata 3-cell battery, X220 has a 63Whr 6-cell or 31% more than the B23E so it will get noticably better battery life.

A Dell E6220 has more contemporary styling than the X220 plus a 60Whr 6-cell battery so we'd expect similar battery life to the X220. They are sometimes sold at the Dell Outlet for very low prices. A X220's IPS LCD has also been retrofitted to a E6220 in case you need the wider viewing angles.

 

ASUS B23E Specs, Performance and Benchmarks

Page 2 of review, 3dmark 06;
Why does the Asus Zenbook X31 get a better score than this laptop?
This laptop has a regular voltage CPU 2620m with a constant GPU clockspeed of 650MHZ whereas the X31 is 350MHZ. Then there's turbo.

X31:4058
b23e:2397

The X31 should get lower than the b23e, as the X31 has the ULV CPU with the lower clocked integrated GPU.

 

The B23E has only a 1x4GB (single-channel) RAM config. The X31 would have been tested with a dual-channel RAM config which gives anything up to 100% better performance. Eg: I got a 3dmark06=4311 with a i5-2540M + 2x4GB RAM. The B23E's i7-2620M will get slightly more.

 

I find the "netbook" description misleading because the netbook moniker indicates hardware sufficient for using the net but not up to demanding usage. This is a full-powered ultraportable, except that the ultrabook title has moved into that space (but with some performance compromises).

Regarding the effect of RAM configuration on benchmarks, I did some research last year and put the results in this table.

John

 

Yeah, I know, hence why I wrote "e.g. by having a larger battery"

I'm aware of that upgrade and was actually thinking if the same upgrade is possible on the B23E as I'm not a fan of the E6220 design on the outside (it's partly silver, not boxy enough, has protruding battery, etc.). Too bad there are no 12,5" 1600x900 screens (or even better, 1440x900 if the 16:10 screens were still around)..

The B23E somehow seems rather fat on the side-photos on the NBR review, but the dimensions put it to be thinner than my 1810TZ which is more than thin enough for me. Perhaps the photos are skewed?

 

Agreed, on the netbook term being misleading with this machine. Is Asus marketing this machine as a netbook, or is this the opinion of the reviewer?

 

It is not marketed as a netbook; this is an erroneous characterization and an unfortunate choice for a title.