Asus X205TA-RHATMN01: 100-Dollar Black Friday 2014 Laptop

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The Asus X205TA-RHATMN01 is the cheapest known Black Friday laptop PC offer ever. Staples will be selling the 11.6-inch mini notebook for only $100, according to retailer’s Black Friday ad preview. The specs are the same as on the X205TA models currently selling for $200 and up.

Regarding hardware, the X205TA is worth its regular price of $200, let alone $100, although there are some limitations. The notebook is quite adequate for the daily home and office chores and even some occasional gaming, thanks to the Intel Atom Bay Trail Z3735F quad-core processor. But, it has only 32GB of internal storage, reducing usability of the machine despite support for storage expansion via a microSD card. RAM size of 2GB could have also been larger, since a minimum of 4GB is unwritten standard for modern notebooks. On the positive side, Asus claims the battery life last up to whooping 12 hours. The laptop is quite portable, too. It weighs only 2.2 pounds and is 0.7″ thin.

The display has a standard resolution for a budget 11.6-incher – 1366×768 pixels. Touchscreen input is not supported. Instead, you can use its chiclet-style keyboard and multitouch trackpad.

The Asus X205TA-RHATMN01 has stereo speakers, a VGA-quality webcam, Wi-Fi wireless, Bluetooth, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, HDMI video output, a combo audio jack, and microSD slot.

Components are encased in a plastic chassis with dark blue matte finish.

A 1-year Microsoft Office 365 Personal subscription for free is apparently missing in the X205TA-RHATMN01 package, while some other X205TA models and the similar 200-dollar HP Stream 11 have it included. You’ll miss opportunity to get unlimited OneDrive cloud storage for free for the period of Office subscription, a deal available to all Office 365 subscribers. But, you can always separately purchase Office 365 Personal for $70 per year (or $7 per month) and get the free storage deal.

As a sidenote, the X205TA-RHATMN01 is also listed as X205TA-BING-FD0 model on Staples’ website, but they’re the same thing. Both are listed under the item number 1387726 at Staples. The retailer will start Black Friday sales a day earlier, on Thanksgiving Thursday.

UPDATE: Staple’s offer is an “in stores only” deal, according to their printed ad. Sales start on Thanksgiving Thursday 6PM (till 10PM). On Friday, they’ll open at 6AM.

For more Black Friday and Cyber Monday laptop deals, please check out and bookmark this page.

Asus X205TA-RHATMN01 Staples 100-Dollar Laptop Black Friday 2014

Specifications of the Asus X205TA-RHATMN01

Here are the specs of the Asus X205TA-RHATMN01 with descriptions of its features. For comparison against other laptops, you can use the "Compare Specs" button.

Brand Asus
Screen Size 11.6-inch

This is a very small display size, given the most frequently used laptop screen size is 15.6".
Screen Resolution 1366x768 pixels HD

This is an entry-level screen resolution, oftentimes found on budget laptops. It doesn't deliver picture sharpness and space on the screen like the Full HD or higher resolution laptop displays do.
Touchscreen No

This laptop doesn't support touchscreen input.
Other Display Specs TN type

Displays based on the old TN technology lack wide viewing angles you can find on IPS screens. The colors may look washed out or inverted at certain viewing angles.
Processor (CPU) Intel Atom Z3735F quad-core 1.33-1.83GHz 2MB cache (User Benchmark CPU score: 13)
Graphics (GPU) Intel HD integrated graphics of low-end CPUs (only for the lightest gaming)
System Memory (RAM) Size 2GB RAM

2GB RAM size is rare nowadays and makes laptops with it almost unusable due to the low capacity. The recommended size is at least 8GB.
Data Storage 32GB eMMC

A barely usable capacity.
DVD Optical Drive None
Keyboard & Input Non-backlit keyboard without dedicated number pad

The keyboard has no backlit keys and no separate numeric pad you can usually find on the right side of the keyboard on many laptop models.

Touchpad with click buttons built into the surface

The left and right click buttons are built into the surface of the touchpad, as opposed to separate physical buttons.
Speakers & Audio Stereo speakers

As usual, the device features a pair of built-in stereo speakers.
Camera Front-facing web camera

Laptops usually feature a frontal webcam located on the display bezel. This laptop is no exception.
Wi-Fi Wireless 802.11N

802.11N is an old Wi-Fi standard, precursor of the 802.11AC and the latest 802.11AX with improved data transfer speeds and connectivity. 802.11N is rarely used in modern laptops.
Ethernet Network Port No

This laptop has no Ethernet LAN port for wired internet and networking connectivity.
Mobile broadband (4G LTE) No
Bluetooth Yes

This laptop has a built-in Bluetooth module. It enables you to connect the computer to Bluetooth mice and other Bluetooth peripherals, smartphones, and other Bluetooth-equipped devices.
USB Ports 2 x USB 2.0

A pair of traditional full-size USB ports.
Video Output Ports 1 x HDMI

HDMI is a widely used digital video output port. You can find HDMI-in ports on most computer monitors and TVs.
Media Card Reader MicroSD card reader

The laptop has a slot for MicroSD memory cards. These are small SD cards commonly used in smartphones.
Battery 38Wh, 12 hours for web browsing
Weight 2.2 pounds
Height 0.7"
Width 11.3"
Depth 7.6"
Windows Version Windows 8.1

Windows 8.1 is eligible for free upgrade to Windows 10 Home. Check Windows.com for more info.
Warranty 1-year

A typical laptop warranty.

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User Reviews and Q&A on the Asus X205TA-RHATMN01

Below you can read and submit user reviews, questions, and answers about the laptop. Thank you for your contribution.

Current rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  1. Danijel Z

    @Tara: For the tasks you mentioned this laptop will be perfectly fine. Its performance will be similar to what’s presented in this review: http://laptoping.com/intel-atom-benchmark.html

    As for the printer, if it has a USB connector, you can connect it to the X205TA.

  2. Tara

    My 11Yr son wants a Ipod 5th generation or laptop for christmas he already has ipod 4. Since this is much cheaper an the ipod 5 i’m wondering would this be good for him. He would prob watch youtube or play games thats what he does on my desktop! Also i don’t understand memory or speed my desktop is on last leg i mostly just check email look up stuff on internet and download photos with picasa is this good for that? Can you hook a printer up to it? Thank You

  3. 4 out of 5

    Gina Sarabia

    Is it going to be available online, or only in store???

    • Danijel Z

      Only in stores, according to their printed ad. Sales start on Thanksgiving Thursday 6PM (till 10PM). On Friday, they’ll open at 6AM, but I can bet the laptop will be sold out quickly on Thursday.

  4. nycrr

    is it upgradeable?? HDD and memory?

    is it OS downgradeable?? Win8.1 to Win7?

    • Danijel Z

      Unfortunately, everything is soldered on the motherboard, so you can’t upgrade memory and storage. It actually doesn’t have a mechanical hard drive, but Flash-based storage. As for downgrade to Windows 7, Asus doesn’t officially provide drivers for it, so you might end up with missing Wi-Fi drivers for instance. Instead, I would choose to customize Windows 8 to get Windows 7 feel. http://laptoping.com/how-to-optimize-windows-8-1-for-laptops-to-be-like-windows-7.html

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