ASUS Eeebook X205TA

don't waste your money – This is the slowest machine I have ever had to use. Even from brand new it takes well over a minute just to start up. You click on something and it takes close to 10 seconds just to register your choice. I have had it for over 2yrs and only used it probably 6 times, it is incredibly frustrating to use as it is so slow......... A complete waste of money

Cheap, reliable, light weight, long battery life – Bought in 2015 as an everyday, carry to school second device. Does what it should do, no complaints PRO: reasonable price, super light weight. Capable for everyday web browsing, email reading and paper typing. With light use it will last 8-10 hrs. After 3 and half yrs of (ab)use, battery can still last me half day with a fully charge. CON: limited performance, you won't be able to open too many tabs in Chrome, or smoothly streaming 1080P videos (720P is perfectly fine, i still plug it to my TV for 720P Youtube videos). And you won't be playing any modern PC games on this.

Usable, cheap, light weight and epic battery life - buy it for the battery life alone! – I'd been looking for a nice replacement netbook type computer for quite a while after years of good service from a previous netbook. Nothing was hitting the stop and I think my expectations were a bit unrealistic - i basically wanted a low spec macbook air at a quarter of the price - so i was having trouble finding something that matched the brief... Until I found this thing and, after a little bit of quick research to confirm it wasn't a lemon, I went straight out and got one - and i'm still happy with it.

Pros:

- it's cheap (yep most important thing - computers are expenses, not assets, and this thing is not a workstation)

- lightweight - very light due to things like no fan, solid state drive (and no CD drive)

- slim and compact - seriously go into a store and pick one up and turn it around in your hands

- epic battery life - my lived experience feels like it lasts longer than 12 hours that it scores in reviews because it is physically difficult to use a computer non-stop for 12 hours (also fully charges in a little over an hour and the power supply is compact)

- nice screen - just the normal "HD" 1366 x 768, but on an 11 inch screen those pixels are small enough. The kind of screen you don't really notice because it is neither great nor terrible - perfect for a cheap, lightweight computer.

- runs windows 10 - which matters if travelling and a booking websites etc. won't load properly on phone or tablet due to issues with flash

- looks ok too, and the touchpad hasn't been skittish at all like identified in some professional reviews (maybe it got fixed in later production versions?)

Cons:

- It's not an actual macbook air at a quarter of the price

- obviously not a grunty computer - but if i'm going to do something that needs an i7, i'll pony up and get an i7

- not a touch screen (which might be nice, but if it adds weight and cost leave it out!)

- tiny hard drive, but it is a SSD, so keeps it cheap. Just add a micro SD card to the slot if storage bothers you.

- A USB 3.0 port might be worthwhile for a few bucks extra, however.

- apparently the webcam is well below par - but i never use that anyway so happy Asus skimped out there.

Come for the form factor and weight at a cheap price, stay for the epic battery life. Everything else is a worth while compromise. I have a phone (S5), a tablet (Galaxy tab s 8.4), and a laptop (4th gen core i5 Acer with 8gb ram), and this fills a the gap between the more capable laptop and the tablet beautifully. Keep making things like it Asus!