ASUS Eee PC 1201N On Linux

Starting with the video-cpu-usage test profile, the benefits of the NVIDIA ION graphics and Atom N330 CPU were clear in comparison to the integrated Intel graphics with the N270 processor. When playing back a 1080p H.264 video file using X-Video with MPlayer, the CPU usage was cut nearly in half in comparison to the Samsung NC10. While a CPU usage of around 30% is still significant, when using the VDPAU acceleration interface with the NVIDIA ION graphics the CPU usage is almost at zero.

The ION-powered netbook is also able to shine when it comes to running basic games. The Intel 945 IGP is rather crippled as is, but with the current Mesa 3D stack for Linux not being optimized, its performance is in the gutters compared to the discrete GeForce 9400M graphics and then NVIDIA's highly-optimized proprietary graphics driver stack. The ioquake3-powered OpenArena game ran at just 18 FPS for the Samsung NC10, but with the ASUS Eee PC 1201N it was nearly at 80 FPS. This game could have run at ease as well with the native 1366 x 768 resolution.

World of Padman is powered by the ioquake3 engine too, and here the NC10 with the Intel graphics common to a majority of the netbooks on the market had an average FPS of just 17.5 in comparison to 56~57 FPS with the Eee PC 1201N.

Tremulous was definitely unplayable with the Samsung NC10 with an average frame-rate of 12 FPS while the Eee PC 1201N was at a more modest 30 FPS. Beyond the ioquake3 games, the Intel 945 graphics in many netbooks with its slower processor cannot handle many Linux games beyond those.