When we first looked at the ASUS Eee PC 1201N last year, we thought it was a unique take on the netbook idea, and possibly one of the first acceptably performing netbooks on the market. Fast forward to 2010, and we have the Eee PC 1215N, basically an updated 1201 with a dual-core Atom D525 and Next-Generation ION. But with the release of the dual-core Atom N550 for netbooks and smaller netbooks releasing with NG-ION in tow, does the $499 1215N still have enough appeal to capture the niche market it had before? Read on to find out.

In the second half of our Mobile Buyer's Guide, we focus on portable machines with screens smaller than 14". The market as a whole is getting a thorough overhaul over the summer, both because of brand new chips coming from Intel, AMD, ATI, and NVIDIA (for those of you keeping score at home, that's...everyone) and because of the rapidly approaching back-to-school season, which always means newly refreshed notebook lineups. With so many new systems out there, who's going to put in the groundwork to figure out which ones can hold their own in the market and separate the contenders from the also-rans? We did, and our findings are in this article. Read on for more details!