Laptop Reviews

Showing posts with label Asus. Show all posts

Thursday, October 6, 2011

ASUS U36S Review: Better Than A MacBook Pro ?

Review Summary:

The ASUS U36S is highly recommendable to those searching for a well-rounded portable notebook with good quality and lots of battery life.

Pros

Ultra-thin metal alloy chassis
Good keyboard and touchpad
8.5 hours of battery life
Two-year warranty standard

Cons

Glossy display creates reflections
Touchpad buttons could be quieter
Poor speakers

ASUS U36S Full Review: Better Than A MacBook Pro?

The ASUS U36S is a 13.3-inch ultraportable featuring a magnesium-aluminum chassis that weighs just 3.1 lbs. At just 0.75" thin and with over 8 hours of battery life, could this laptop be one of this year’s best buys? Here's a tip: Keep reading if you are thinking about buying a MacBook Pro for Christmas.

Build and Design

The ASUS U36S ($899.99) has a rather unsuspecting gray and black exterior. The surfaces of the notebook are made of a magnesium-aluminum alloy which is strong and extraordinarily light. The whole notebook including its large 8-cell battery weighs just 3.11 lbs. Additionally the notebook is exceptionally thin measuring just three quarters of an inch with the lid closed.

The build quality is excellent; the chassis is nearly inflexible and the lid has strong protection from the metal alloy backing. I like how the top of the chassis is molded from a single piece of metal alloy including the keyboard surround. Finally, the anti-glare properties of the metal alloy do not show fingerprints or dust and should resist scratches fairly well. The only area of the build quality that could use improvement is the screen bezel; the glossy plastic is difficult to keep clean as is the glossy screen surface.

Unlike many other metal-clad laptops (the ones with fruit logos on the lids), upgrading the RAM inside the U36S is easily accomplished by removing the user-serviceable panel on the bottom of the chassis. Getting to the hard drive is another matter; the whole chassis needs to be taken apart. This is a shame; I imagine a good number of customers will want to upgrade to an SSD or at least a faster hard drive.

Ports and Features
The ASUS U36S has a standard array of ports for a 13.3-inch notebook including a single USB 3.0 port. It does not have an internal optical drive, an ExpressCard slot, DisplayPort, or eSATA. All picture descriptions are listed from left to right.

Front: Air vents, speakers	Back: Battery pack
Left: Kensington Lock slot, AC power, VGA, 2x USB 2.0, cooling exhaust vent	Right: Headphone and microphone jacks, 1x USB 3.0, HDMI out, Ethernet

Screen and Speakers

The 13.3-inch display has a glossy/reflective surface and a 720p resolution (1366x768). The screen has no outstanding qualities. Brightness and contrast are about the same as any other sub-$1,000 notebook; viewing angles are fine horizontally but colors distort from above and below, as expected from a TN-type display. Color reproduction is substandard (as is the case for most notebook screens); everything looks a bit cold/cool with the default settings. Fortunately ASUS includes built-in color profiles; press the [Fn] key and [C] to switch between them. ASUS is the only mainstream notebook maker to include such a feature and it is certainly appreciated.

The screen resolution of 1366x768 is standard for this screen size. I prefer 1600x900 since it has more space to work with (more lines of text can be viewed on the screen without scrolling), however no 13.3" notebook offers it anywhere close to the U36S' price range. Finally, the screen's glossy surface increases clarity but acts like a mirror, creating reflections; for this reason I prefer anti-glare screens.

There are two stereo speakers located under the palm rest; they sound tinny and have no bass. The sound is muffled further when hands are placed over them for typing.

Keyboard and Touchpad

ASUS has modified its standard keyboard design for the U36S; the island/Chiclet-style keyboard is completely integrated into the single piece of metal alloy that makes up the top of the chassis. This keyboard is a significant improvement over the ones used on previous ASUS notebooks; it feels solid and has no flex. The keys have a flat surface and a granular texture that will likely wear shiny over time. The key travel (distance between pressed and un-pressed positions) is just right, more than other ASUS notebooks. Furthermore the keyboard is relatively quiet. Overall the only thing it's missing is backlighting; it continues to be a rarity in the notebook market.

The touchpad is appropriately sized. It has a smooth anti-glare surface and is easy to find by feel. Responsiveness and accuracy are as expected. The single touchpad button could use improvement; the pressure needed to produce a click is inconsistent depending where the button is pressed. Additionally the clicks are louder than they should be; people around you will know you are clicking. Lastly it has a reflective surface which always makes it look unclean.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Asus Eee PC T91

Tablet PCs came out of the closet in record numbers at the recently concluded CES 2010, but Asus had one out for a while. The Asus Eee PC T91 doubles up as a netbook and low-cost tablet PC with touch input support on its 9-inch screen.
Specifications

convertible netbook; Stereo speakers, wireless LAN aerial, Bluetooth aerial; 225x164x28mm; 0.96kg; Intel Atom Z520; 1GB DDR2 SDRAM; 16GB Solid State Drive; card reader: SD Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, SDHC Memory Card; 8.9in TFT, 1024x600 (WSVGA) Widescreen Display, LED-backlit; Sound card: High Definition Audio; Microphone; 0.3 Megapixel webcam; Keyboard, touch-screen, touchpad; Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n (draft), Bluetooth 2.1; Lithium polymer battery; Microsoft Windows XP

Verdict

Asus' experiment with a touch-enabled Eee PC, although commendable, doesn't really fly too well practically. Granted the Asus Eee PC T91's tiny and easy to carry around, but its touch interface isn't quite perfect. The Asus Eee PC T91 is overpriced in terms of features when compared to other Eee PCs on offer.

Asus Eee PC T91 Review

Tablet PCs came out of the closet in record numbers at the recently concluded CES 2010, but Asus had one out for a while. The Asus Eee PC T91 doubles up as a netbook and low-cost tablet PC with touch input support on its 9-inch screen.

The Asus Eee PC T91 sports an all-black look, overflowing with gloss on the screen lid - and it's a huge fingerprint magnet. Its overall dimensions are smaller than the Eee PC 1008HA or Eee PC 1101HA, tinier than most mainstream netbooks found in the market these days.

It is also extremely lightweight, weighing just a shade under 1-kg; easy enough to tuck away in a handbag. The Asus Eee PC T91's touch-enabled resistive screen is 8.9-inch wide, LED-backlit, and swivels around to nestle upside down on the keyboard to become a tablet PC. No complaints on the unit's build quality; it's nice and solid and doesn't feel cheap in any way. An easy-to-use stylus is tucked away in the right corner of the front edge.

The Asus Eee PC T91's resistive touchscreen was a bit of a mixed bag. Navigating your way around was okay with the included stylus: touchscreen accuracy here was good. But when we started using a finger to navigate through the screen, the mouse pointer and our finger-on-the-screen were misaligned: e.g. we put our finger over a window's minimise button only to see the mouse-pointer go hit the close button instead. One had to consciously aim left of the intended target, and it wasn't a great touchscreen experience navigating with the finger.

The touch-tuned interface, however, isn't as bad. App icons are nice and big, typing on the on-screen keyboard is largely easy with the stylus, and handwriting recognition (for the most parts) works well. But apps take a while to load, and there's a distinctive lag while interacting with the touchscreen - not a party pooper but enough for you to take notice.
Part of the reason for its sluggishness lies with the Asus Eee PC T91's internal hardware, which is very netbook-like.

Like the Acer Aspire O751h and Benq Joybook Lite U121, the Asus Eee PC T91 runs on an Intel Atom Z520 1.3GHz processor - slower than the newer Pine Trail Intel Atom processors. It complements it with 1GB of RAM and a paltry 16GB SSD. Asus tries to sweeten the storage deal by bundling in a 16GB card and the option of utilizing 20GB online Eee Storage.

Apart from the standard offering of a card reader, audio jacks, and VGA-out, the Asus Eee PC T91 has merely two USB ports which is disappointing. It supports Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 but not the faster Gigabit Ethernet standard. It comes with Windows XP Home edition, another reason why it isn't really touch-optimised.

For video chatting, there's a 0.3Mp webcam recessed on the Asus Eee PC T91's top screen bezel - and it isn't the best we've seen.

The Asus Eee PC T91's performance was like other Atom Z520-based netbooks we've tested, not better or worse, and the bundled SSD does no favours.

Aside from its hit-and-miss touch interface, and despite its smaller form factor, its keyboard and touchpad were quite nice to use: keys were tightly packed (unlike on the MSI Wind U135) and offered very little flex, and the touchpad was very responsive. It couldn't play HD 720p video files smoothly, but we could listen to music and browse the internet over Wi-Fi without a hitch. Its integrated battery lasted close to five hours (4 hours 48 minutes) while we browsed the net over Wi-Fi, which isn't too bad.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Asus K40IJ

The Asus K40IJ is a portable 14 inch notebook featuring up to 4GB DDR2 system memory, up to 320GB hard drive, and a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam.

Quick Specs
Screen Size: 14-inches
Processor: Core 2 Duo, Intel Pentium Dual Core, Intel Celeron
Graphics: Integrated

Price Comparison

Sorry but pricing is not available on this product as it is either not released yet or is no longer available, please see below for pricing on a similar product.

Asus K40IN

Description

The Asus K40IN features dedicated NVIDIA graphics, a 14 inch 16:9 display, and a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam.

Quick Specs
Screen Size: 14-inches
Processor: Core 2 Duo, Intel Pentium Dual Core, Intel Celeron
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce

Price Comparison

Sorry but pricing is not available on this product as it is either not released yet or is no longer available, please see below for pricing on a similar product.

Asus K61

Description
The Asus K61 features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 6GB system memory, and an HD 16 inch display.

Quick Specs
Screen Size: 16-inches
Processor: Core 2 Duo
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT

Price Comparison

Sorry but pricing is not available on this product as it is either not released yet or is no longer available, please see below for pricing on a similar product.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Asus G51

The ASUS G51-series is a 15.6" gaming notebook offering dual hard drive bays, NVIDIA GTX 260M graphics, and an optional quad-core processor. To enhance the multimedia experience this notebook offers a 1080p 16:9 display, a backlit Chiclet-style keyboard, and Altec Lansing speakers.

Quick Specs
Screen Size: 15.6-inches
Processor: Core 2 Quad
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Review Asus G50VT

Full review of Asus G50VT

Dedicated gaming laptops are not that common, and for good reason; the hardware required to play high-end games takes up a fair amount of space, the components require more power - resulting in shorter battery life, and they are usually very pricey. Our review sample however, is an exception to the last rule, as it's the Best Buy edition of the Asus G50vt - more specifically named G50 VT-X1.

It's equipped with a somewhat slower Core 2 Duo processor than the regular model and you will have to settle for one hard drive instead of two, but it still has the most important component from a gamer's perspective, and that would of course be the Nvidia 9800M graphics card.

At 7.3 pounds, the G50 is quite heavy for a 15" laptop, but considering that most laptops with these specs come in 17-inch frames, it's actually a "thin and light" gaming laptop (relatively speaking).

If the funky patterns and LED lights aren't enough to hint at this being a gaming laptop, the "Republic of Gamers" logo might. For some the design might stand out a bit too much, but it clearly has a lot of personality.

Gaming Performance and Benchmarks

But let's move on to the important parts of the test: benchmarks and gaming performance. The Vista Experience Index has never felt entirely relevant, especially on newer models, as the score often maxes out at 5.9. Our G50 actually scored a 5.9 on everything but the CPU, which stayed at 5.2. In PCMark Vantage it got 3935 points, and in 3DMark Vantage E8541 - both very impressive figures.

To try out some games, we fired up Crysis, Unreal Tournament 3 and FEAR. All of them were fully playable of course. FEAR delivered an average framerate of 45 FPS on high detail settings and 1024x768. UT 3 was no problem either - the framerate stayed between 50-60 FPS with fully maxed out settings. Crysis presented more of a challenge. To achieve comfortable framerates we had to turn the settings down to 1024x768 and medium quality to get around 33 FPS.

Asus also provides a utility to do some "extreme overclocking." This only applies to the CPU and doesn't affect gaming performance by much, however. We noticed an increase of about 2 frames per second with the utility turned on.

All things considered, the G50VT X1 is a great laptop for gamers on a budget. The only issue we had was with the LCD, which didn't provide high enough resolution and had slightly washed-out colors.

Asus G50VT Technical Specifications

Processor 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 4GB DDR2
Harddrive 320GB
OS Windows Vista Home Premium
Weight 7.3 lbs
Screen 15.6
Screen resolution 1368x768
Graphic Card Nvidia 9800M GS
Battery Life 1.5-2 hrs

Friday, October 23, 2009

Asus Eee PC 1000HE

Full review of Asus Eee PC 1000HE

Asus started the netbook craze with its tiny, 7-inch Eee PC. Shortly thereafter, every notebook manufacturer except Apple produced at least one tiny and inexpensive laptop just like it. Nowadays, netbooks are not that tiny anymore - little by little they have increased in size from 7" via 9" and now the standard screen size of a netbook is 10 inches. Even a couple of 12-inch models have been released.

Hardware

What they all have in common is the hardware - with a few deviations it consists of an Intel Atom CPU at 1.6GHz, 1GB or RAM, a 160GB hard drive and integrated GMA950 graphics. The Eee PC, however, has been upgraded with an ever so slightly faster 1.66GHz Atom processor and a higher 667MHz FSB speed instead of earlier models which had 533MHz.

The speed increase is not big enough to be noticeable, but you might feel better purchasing an upgraded model. Asus' main selling point with the 1000HE is the battery life. According to the manufacturer, you should be able to keep it alive for 9.5 hours without resorting to an outlet. To achieve this formidable battery life, you need to use aggressive power-saving schemes, no Wi-Fi and turn the brightness all the way down. In our general usage test it still delivered more than 7 hours, which is still more than acceptable.
Design

As far as the design goes, the Eee PC 1000 HE stays with the concept we've seen in previous Eee netbooks. The keyboard is almost full size (92%) and the trackpad buttons are slightly tilted in the front. The entire casing of the netbook is glossy, which enhances the overall look but also attracts fingerprints easily.

On the whole, the design of the 1000HE focuses on usability; it's not spectacularly thin like some of its siblings, such as Asus S101 netbook, but it certainly gets the job done with flying colors. Besides, keeping the design simple also helps keep the price to a minimum, which is often the deciding factor for a netbook buyer.

Connectivity and Features

The ports have been placed on the left- and right-hand sides of the laptop - none at the back. On the right is a memory card reader, 2 USB and VGA and on the left is another USB port, Ethernet, and audio line in/out.
Summary

While there are better looking netbooks on the market, the Eee PC 1000HE comes at a very attractive price point and offers excellent battery life. It's also very easy to use thanks to the large keyboard, and has all the features that the competition offer plus a little extra. Combine these aspects and you have one of the best netbooks currently available.

Asus Eee PC 1000HE Technical Specifications