Power efficiency champ: Asus ExpertBook BR1104CGA educational laptop gets the Intel N100 treatment

Intel’s N100 processor has received some praise with quite a few silent mini PC implementations, but how does it actually perform on a laptop? We put the N100 through its paces as we tested the Asus ExpertBook BR1104CGA educational notebook, and the power efficiency turned out to be in a different league compared to similarly specced AMD-powered competitors.

Besides the excellent battery life facilitated by the Intel N100 CPU, some other features that recommend the Asus ExpertBook BR1104CGA include the rugged-like build, the silent cooling system that still maintains lower-than-average temperatures, and a decent port selection with power delivery on multiple USB connectors.

As much as the N100 gets praised for its efficiency, the processing power, especially that of the integrated GPU is among the more obvious downsides of this system. Gaming is not necessarily out of the question, but don’t expect any new AAA titles to be playable. Our tests also reveal that the UFS SATA3 SSD is considerably slower than the usual NVMe solutions, while the 11.6-inch TN display with 1366 x 768 limits the use cases.

Even if the Asus ExpertBook BR1104CGA is not as fast as the competition, the price / performance ratio together with the outstanding battery life and silent operation seem adequate for a sub-400 EUR budget. For a more detailed look at the overall performance of this model, check out our full review below.