Asus P320

The Asus P320 is the latest Windows Mobile offering by Asus. It is one of the most stylish smartphones ever made by Asus. It is very light weight at just 105 gms. The Asus P320 is amongst the cheapest Windows Mobile smartphones and does miss out on a lot of features. It has slightly better hardware specs compared to other smart phones in the same range. But it still is a good buy considering its price. In this short review, we check out whether it is worth its salt or not.

Asus P320 Specifications:

• Dimensions: 99 x 55 x 13 mm
• Weight: 105 gms
• Display: 240 x 320 px, 2.6“ TFT, 65K Colors
• Camera: 2 MP (1600 x 1200 px) Cam with AF
• Chipset: TI OMAP 850 (201MHz) processor
• Memory: 64 MB RAM, 128 MB ROM
• Connectivity: GPRS Class 10, EDGE Class 10, WLAN 802.11 b/g, USB v2.0
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
• GPS: Built in GPS Receiver
• OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Battery: Li-ion 1100 mAh
• Price (Approx): $299

Design:

The Asus P320 is a very stylish and sleek phone. It is one of the lightest Windows Mobile powered smartphones at 105 gms. The build quality is good with rounded edges and glossy colors and the phone feels compact at 99 x 55 x 13 mm. It has a normal candybar form factor. It is available in three colors - black, white and pink. To add to it, it has a whole lot of features packed in that small body. The design is beautiful with buttons added aesthetically and cleanly to such a small form factor without any cramming. It has the Call, End, Windows, Ok and two Menu buttons and a 5 way thumb control pad on the front face along with the screen. It also has a lock-unlock slider on the right side, which is a novelty when it comes to Windows mobile phones. There is also a Micro SD slot on the left, to add additional memory. The display is good with decent brightness levels. The tiny dimensions do prove to be a bit of a problem though. It is slightly difficult to work on such a small screen on Windows Mobile as Windows Mobile displays are generally jam packed with information, the scroll bars, the buttons, the menus all appear a bit small for comfort.

OS Features:

The Asus P320 features the latest version of Microsoft Windows Mobile : Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. It is a bit underpowered to run it though. It has just a sluggish 201 MHZ TI OMAP processor and a measly 64 MB RAM. It isn’t very good at multitasking either but can manage about 2 apps easily. With it, comes the huge Windows Mobile Application library which give it enough power and makes it smart enough to live up to its name. It comes with Microsoft’s Mobile Office suite and can view, edit and save all type of office documents. The P320 comes with the new Asus Launcher and it own new customized Today screen with missed calls, messages alerts, email alerts, calendar appointments, to do lists, weather information and a large clock. One other disadvantage of the Asus P320 is the lack of a QWERTY keypad which is understandable considering its slim form factor.

Multimedia:

The Asus P320 is basically an Office phone, but performs the multimedia playback part rather well too. IT has a good 2.6″ screen supporting resolutions of 240 * 320 px and 65k colors. Video playback is good and the audio quality is decent. You can play a whole load of formats using 3rd party players. It also has a 2 MP camera with autofocus and captures images at resolutions of 1600 x 1200 px. It doesnt have flash though. The picture quality is decent, one wouldn’t expect more from a 2 MP cam. It doesn’t have a FM radio receiver.

Connectivity:

It features lots of connectivity options like GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, USB 2.0, but misses out on 3G and Infrared. the absence of 3G is one of the biggest drawback in this phone considering it is the standard for high speed data transfer all over the world now. It does have a GPS receiver but again doesn’t support A-GPS which is a drawback. The GPS receiver is decent and has a small lock in period.

It has a powerful little 1100 mAh Li Ion battery which provides about 4-5 hrs of talktime and a standby time of about 200 hrs. It lasts about 1.5 days with normal usage.

Pros:

• Small size
• Stylish Design
• Good Build quality
• Inexpensive

Cons:

• Low RAM, Processor
• Bad Camera
• No 3G
• No FM radio
• No A-GPS

Conclusion:

The Asus P320 is a stylish new phone and is packed with many features However it also does miss out on some important ones like 3G, A-GPS and FM radio. It also is plagued by performance problems due to its low processor speed and low RAM. Nevertheless, considering its price, it is a good deal for many who are looking for a decent smartphone with sleek looks and a small footprint and with regular Office goodies, applications, games and good multimedia capabilities.

Rating: 3.3/5.

Limited Edition Asus Eee to be Released

Limited Edition Asus Eee to be Released

Two special edition Eee PCs are being released in Korea.

Asus is preparing to launch a special edition of the Eee 901 and the 1000H.

The special edition, at least for now, will be confined to Korea. There are a few different, unnamed versions.

The first has a blood-red lid, and is covered in small flower designs (or maybe snowflakes), which likely reduces the number of male customers who will purchase it.

The next sports a bright green lid, and has a small leaf pattern covering the lower half of the lid and the keyboard.

The pre-release mentions a pink version, but it seems that pink actually means "red".

The special editions are available for pre-order through August 22nd. These will probably start hitting eBay around the end of the month.

Asus EEE PC 901

Asus was the pioneer of the ultraportable notebooks, more commonly known as “Netbooks” now. It revolutionized the notebook market in 2007 with its ultraportable offering - the Asus EEE PC 701, a 7″ sub notebook with enough power to run basic applications and became the ultraportable of choice. It was the winner of the first round of the “War of the ultraportables”, mainly because there wasn’t much competition in that segment then. However now, the competition has heated up with loads of sub notebooks with similar features and form factors entering the market, the MSI Wind and the HP MiniNote 2133 being the main competitors.

There are many more yet to come, like the Dell 500, ACi Ultra Mini and Acer Aspire One. The main USP of the EEE PC was the small form factor offering maximum portability while the major shortcomings were its small, low resolution screen and low SSD capacity. Asus is back with the new iterations of the EEE PC, the EEE PC 900 and the EEE PC 901 with a higher resolution 8.9″ LCD display and larger SSD capacities. Both of them have exactly the same configuration with a some changes, the EEE PC 901 is powered by an Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHZ processor while the EEE PC 900 still has the older Intel Celeron M ULV 900 MHZ. Both the EEE PC 900 and EEE PC 901 are available in Windows XP and Linux flavors, with the Windows XP version having only a 12 GB SSD compared to the Linux version’s 20 GB.

In this review we check out the EEE PC 901 and see whether it is a viable option and whether it can beat the other competitors like the MSI Wind and the HP Mininote 2133.

Asus EEE PC 901 Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Atom 1.6 GHz N270
• Storage: 12GB / 20 GB SSD (4GB onboard + 8GB / 16 GB PCI-E mini SSD card)
• RAM: 1GB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz)
• OS: Windows XP operating system
• Display: 8.9-inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution
• Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n Atheros, Bluetooth 2.0
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA monitor out, headphone jack, mic input, SD card reader, Ethernet 10/100
• Webcam: 1.3 MP
• Battery: 6600 mAh 7.2V Li-Ion
• Input: Keyboard and Multi-touch touchpad
• Dimensions: 1.6″ x 9.0″ x 6.9″
• Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Price: $599

Design:

The Asus EEE PC 901 is very different from the original EEE PC 701 and the EEE PC 900 which was just a rehash of the EEE PC 701. It has a much more smoother design with a nice glossy finish and rounded edges. The Asus EEE PC 901 is only slightly bigger than the EEE PC 900. The Asus branding has been replaced by an EEE logo. The build quality is superb and the EEE PC 901 feels sturdy and can easily withstand a light drop. It has a new circular hinge which is stronger than the old EEE 701’s. The EEE PC 901 has dimensions of 1.6″ x 9.0″ x 6.9″ and a weight of around 2.5 pounds which make it the ideal ultra portable computer.

The port configuration is pretty much the same as the older EEE PC’s. It houses an Ethernet port, USB 2.0 port and headphone and mic jacks on the left while there is the card reader, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a VGA out on the right. It also has the shiny new activity and status LEDs on the front near the Touchpad.

Display and Sound:

The Asus EEE PC 901 has a 8.9″ LCD screen which supports resolutions of 1024 x 600 px natively and is almost the same as the display of the EEE PC 900. It has good brightness and contrast levels with solid colors. It has decent viewing angles and good visibility under sunlight. The 1024 x 600 px wide screen resolution is a relief after using the default 800 x 480 resolution on the EEE PC 701. Most webpages don’t need horizontal scrolling at all. You can also plug it to any external CRT / LCD monitor or projector using the VGA port. It also comes with a good quality 1.3 MP webcam above the display.

The Dolby certified speakers add to the overall experience of the EEE as a multimedia device with their great sound quality. The volume is louder than most laptops with amazing clarity. You can also plug in headphones of your choice through the standard 3.5 mm audio jack.

Performance:

The Asus EEE PC 901 is powered by the latest Intel Atom N270 which is clocked at 1.6 GHZ with 512KB L2 cache. It is very power eficient and has a very low TDP of 2.5W. It comes with 1 GB of DDR2 667 MHZ RAM, upgradable to 2 GB. It has the Intel GMA 950 onboard graphics which can manage low end games and multimedia playback easily. It comes with two Operating System options - Windows XP and Linux, with the XP version priced at $50 more than the Linux version having the same configuration. It boots Windows XP in lesser time than most notebooks and can handle 4-5 applications without any lag. The difference between the Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHZ and the Intel Celeron M ULV 900 MHZ is noticeable both in terms of performance and efficiency. It is capable of running all the basic Media, Office and Web applications easily. The configuration of the Asus EEE 901 is very similar to that of the MSI WInd except that the EEE PC 901 sports a 12 GB / 20 GB SSD while the MSI Wind sports a 80 GB 2.5″ HDD. Due to this, the EEE is more responsive and fast and consumes less power. It can also absorb shocks easily due to no moving parts. Overall, the performance of the EEE 901 is great and it is very power efficient due to the use of the new Intel Atom processors and the SSD.

Keyboard & Touchpad:

The keyboard on the EEE PC 901 is the same as the one on the EEE PC 900 with minor differences if any. It feels cramped and the key spacing is a bit less. The MSI Wind and HP MiniNote 2133 have much better keyboards than the EEE PC 901. On the other hand, the EEE PC 901 features a bigger multitouch enabled trackpad. It is far more roomier than its previous versions and feels good to work with. You can use multitouch gestures with the trackpad to perform certain functions like zooming in and out of pictures. The functionality of the trackpad is limited but it is surely going to improve with some updates. The EEE PC 901 now has two separate mouse buttons instead of the single clicker in the older versions which is a welcome change.

Adding to all this, the EEE PC 901 also features 4 new buttons on the top of the keyboard which allow you to turn off the monitor, switch between screen resolutions, change between power saving modes. The 4th button is a user definable launcher. There is also a Power button to the extreme right. You can switch between the following resolutions - 800 x 600, 1024 x 600, 1024 x 768 and 1024 x 768 compressed. There are 3 power saving modes, running the CPU at a clock speed of 1.2 GHZ, 1.6 GHZ and 1.8 GHZ respectively to increase battery life. You can also lower the display brightness and turn off Wi-Fi to increase battery life.

Battery life:

The Asus EEE PC 901 comes with an awesome 6 cell 6600 mAh 7.2V Li-Ion battery which is very powerful and can easily keep the EEE PC 901 juiced up for 4.5-5 hrs. This is partly due to the new low power Atom processors being used and the use of an SSD. To extract more juice out of the battery, you can turn off Wi-Fi, use the power saving mode to underclock the processor and lower the display brightness. The battery life comes up to be one of the strongest plus points of the EEE PC 901.

Pros:

• Bigger, Better Display
• Light and Portable
• Multitouch Trackpad
• Great battery

Cons:

• Cramped Keyboard
• Slightly Expensive

Conclusion:

The Asus EEE PC 901 comes out to be an ideal ultra portable, offering a great blend of portability, power and style. It scores nearly the same as the MSI Wind in most criterias and does better it in some like battery life, less weight, smaller dimensions, better trackpad etc. However it is priced higher than the MSI Wind which can account for all the added features. It has some really cool new features like the multitouch trackpad which make it a great buy. However, new customers may want to wait for the upcoming EEE PC 1000 series.

Rating: 4.20 / 5.

Asus P750

Touchscreen phones have taken off in a jiffy after the introduction of iPhone. Windows Mobile platform is a favorite among manufacturers to launch a touchscreen phone. Its capabilities have been pushed to the limit and the world is awaiting the launch of Windows Mobile 7 eagerly. Asus P750 is based on Windows Mobile 6.0 Pro and comes loaded with features to challenge its counterparts.

Asus P750 specifications :

• Dimensions : 113 x 58 x 17.4 mm
• Weight : 130 g
• Display : 2.6″ TFT, 240 x 320 pixels
• CPU : 520 Mhz
• RAM : 64MB RAM, 256 ROM
• GPRS, HSCSD, EDGE, 3G
• WLAN : WiFi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• Camera : 3.2 megapixel with autofocus
• GPS receiver with SiRF III chipset
• OS : Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional
• Approx. price : $700

The Asus P750 has highly professional looks and has a sturdy and compact design. At first look, you will notice that it does not include a QWERTY keyboard, which is a big drawback. The display is also smaller at 2.6″ against 2.8″ ones commonly found. The display can only be operated through the stylus.

Picking it up in your hand for the first time will make you feel its heaviness. The build quality of the mobile as brilliant as high quality materials have been used. The front has a brushed metal look with high grade plastic used at the back. Accessories bundled with it include leather holster, stereo handsfree, USB data cable, car charger and surprisingly a windsheel mount holder.

The display has QVGA resolution and has good clarity. But visibility under sunlight isn’t good and you can barely see it. The display is basically a VGA screen which has been reduced to QVGA one. A little bit of hacking can lead you to its VGA resolution.

The keypad is a regular style keypad which offers good tactile feedback. The metallic keys offer a neat look to the keypad but no backlighting renders them useless in low lighting conditions.

The right side has a lot of keys stacked up. It also has a slot to plug in external antenna to boost GPS reception. Slider lets you switch between standby and keypad lock. Other keys include camera key and a reset hole.

Windows Media Player is the preinstalled multimedia player which allows watching videos and also TV streaming. You can filter content by artists, genre, album etc and also create playlists. The music quality on the device is just about average. The loudspeaker doesn’t fare much better either.

The camera has a resolution of 3.2 megapixels and autofocus. Seems good enough with the specifications unless you start using it. The interface is good and offers a variety of customisation options. It also features geotagging letting you tag photos based on where you took them. The image quality is average and fine details are not captured. Video quality is of the same stature.

Internet Explorer Mobile is the default browser which isn’t the best you can get on this platform. You are better off with installing a much better browser like Opera etc. The organiser is good as expected and has the same set of time-management features found on other Windows Mobile platform.

Pros :

• Windows Mobile 6.0 Pro
• Fast processor
• SiRF Star III GPS chipset
• Good build quality
• Great accessory bundle

Cons :

• Small screen
• No QWERTY keyboard
• Bad camera quality
• Audio quality average
• Low RAM

Final Thoughts

The Asus P750 is a good offering from Asus turned bad. The specs on paper look good but the handset underperforms. Small screen, no qwerty keyboard, bad camera quality etc. are its downpoints. There are not enough strong points to cover them up and considering its steep price point, it might not be worth investing it unless you want a small and sturdy touchscreen PDA.

My Rating : 2.85/5

ASUS Eee PC 901

The ASUS Eee PC 901 is the new update to the Eee PC ... the affordable mini notebook that shook up the notebook market in 2007. This $550 mobile companion features the new Intel Atom processor, but is it the best choice for your next travel laptop? We took an in-depth look at the Eee PC 901 to find out if this mini notebook has enough performance and features to take the top spot in the popular budget ultraportable category.

First, let's review the system specs for the all new Eee PC 900:

• Intel Atom 1.60GHz processor
• Integrated Intel GMA 900 GPU
• 12GB of Flash-based storage (4GB onboard SSD and 8GB PCI-E mini card SSD)
• 1GB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz)
• Windows XP Home Edition operating system
• 8.9-inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA monitor out, headphone jack, microphone input, SD card reader (SDHC compatible), Kensington lock slot, Ethernet 10/100
• Webcam (1.3 MP)
• Battery: 6-cell 6600 mAh 7.4V Li-Ion
• Wireless: 802.11b/g/n
• Input: Keyboard and Multi-touch touchpad
• Dimensions: 6.87" x 8.87" x 1.63" (L x W x H)
• Weight: approximately 2.42 lbs with battery
• One-year warranty

Build and Design

Like the original Eee PC, the designers at ASUS had no easy task creating an attractive ultraportable notebook while also making it cheap to produce. Customers also indicated that they wanted a larger screen and a larger touchpad, so both of these features had to be incorporated into a very small footprint.

The chassis seams match up with reasonably tight tolerances, plastics feel thick (though the pearl-like white plastics look cheap) and the display hinges are molded into body with the battery. Overall, the Eee PC 900 is almost identical to the original Eee PC. The only obvious differences are the larger screen and the slightly deeper dimension (front to back) in order to accommodate the larger touchpad.

Lifting the display cover you find the same amazingly small keyboard surface found on the original Eee PC. In short, the build quality is quite high despite the low cost.

The design of the original Eee PC was something truly unique in the market. Weighing in at just two pounds and delivering a performance level similar to a full-featured budget notebook, the only notebook that came close to "directly" competing with the Eee PC in 2007 was the Fujitsu LifeBook U810 tablet PC ... which retailed for more than $1,000 last year. After the success of the original Eee PC, other manufacturers have started to flood the market with low cost mini notebooks. The Eee PC isn't the only kid on the block anymore, which is why Asus is trying to raise the bar with the Eee PC 900.

Screen

The Eee PC 901 (like the Eee PC 900) features a nice 8.9-inch display with 1024 x 600 resolution. While this might not be the most impressive resolution we've seen, it's much nicer than the native 800 x 480 resolution on the original Eee PC 4G. Still, many owners of the original Eee PC 4G use modified display drivers to scale 1000 x 600 or higher resolutions on the original Eee PC ... so this higher resolution screen isn't as impressive as it could be.

In any case, the screen on our review unit was free from any problems such as stuck pixels and color and backlighting were both excellent.

Operating System and Software

Unlike the original Eee PC, this configuration of the Eee PC 901 doesn't come with Linux. This notebook comes pre-installed with Windows XP. While XP might not be the most modern operating system on the market, XP is still one of the most robust and stable versions of the Windows OS. Most importantly, Windows XP doesn't have massive system requirements ... so it still runs fast on a relatively under-powered notebook like the Eee PC 901.

Speakers

ASUS received some criticism over the speakers on the original Eee PC because of there massive size located on both sides of the screen. The bezel around the screen on the Eee PC 901 is much thinner than the thick bezel on the original Eee PC and the speakers have been relocated to the bottom of the notebook. Speaker output quality is good, but because of the location of the speakers the sound is quite muffled when you're using the Eee PC 901 as a "laptop."

Keyboard and Touchpad

Most low-priced notebooks currently on the market feature poorly built keyboards that show significant flex/bounce when typing pressure is applied. Much to our surprise, the keyboard on the Eee PC 901 (like the original Eee PC) is remarkably firm, though the keys are small and have a large degree of "wiggle" when pressed.

The keyboard on the Eee PC 901 is very, very compact. The first few days spent typing on this keyboard probably will be quite frustrating as the small footprint and tiny keys require you to use a "hunt and peck" style of typing rather than traditional touch typing methods. This means that passwords get mangled, emails look like gibberish, and playing games that require keyboard commands becomes quite aggravating.

Of course, once I got used to typing on the tiny keyboard the keys felt just fine ... but this keyboard isn't designed to be used as a primary/main computer. For users who would buy this notebook as their "main computer" in their home or office, a full-size keyboard and external mouse are recommended.

The touchpad and with dual buttons are easy to use and responsive. The Eee PC 901 actually has a slightly larger touchpad button than the previous Eee PC 900 which makes it much more comfortable to use than the original Eee PC.

ASUS also includeed several hotkeys for quick access to functions such asbuilt-in screen off, screen resolution, power mode (power saving, auto high performance, high performance, and super performance), and Skype.

Performance

Overall, the Eee PC 901 is a snappy little budget notebook. The new Intel Atom 1.60GHz ultra-low voltage processor doesn't have the performance of a modern Core 2 Duo processor but provides a nice browsing experience. The flash-based storage drives on the Eee PC 901 help with performance since they provide virtually instant data access times.

One odd issue that we encountered with our review unit was that the Eee PC 901 produced a remarkably low PCMark05 synthetic benchmark. PCMark05 generally provides an accurate indication of overall system performance, but the Eee PC 901 produced a score much lower than its "real world" performance. It's also worth mentioning that the last Atom-based notebook we reviewed in our office (the MSI Wind) was unable to run PCMark05 at all.

Synthetic benchmark issues aside, the Eee PC 901 provides plenty of performance for travel and short-term use, but this mini notebook isn't designed to be a primary computing workhorse.

Port Selection and Expansion

Front: Indicator lights (and speakers on the bottom)

Left side: Security lock slot, 10/100 Ethernet port, USB 2.0 port, air vent, microphone in, and headphone jack.

Rear view: Battery and hinges

Right side: SD card reader, two USB 2.0 ports, VGA out, power jack.

If you open the bottom panel on the Eee PC 901 you'll find a standard DDR2 RAM slot and a PCI-E mini card slot. The PCI-E mini card slot in the Eee PC 901 uses the same 8GB SSD module found in the Eee PC 8G. Again, in order to reach the 12GB storage capacity on this notebook ASUS essentially just combined the Eee PC 4G and 8G: the motherboard has 4GB of flash storage soldered to it and the PCI-E mini card slot has a 8GB flash storage module.

Heat and Noise

Even with the low voltage processor and SSD drives, the ASUS Eee PC 901 produced an incredible amount of heat. While the temperatures didn't get as hot as some mini notebooks we've reviewed, the 901 did produce hotter temperatures than the MSI Wind. The bottom of the notebook got quite hot even under normal use. Fan noise was among the quietest we've heard. The only way to tell the fan is blowing is to put your hand next to the air vent to feel the warm air blow past.

Below are heat overlay images showing where the Eee PC 901 warmed up (in degrees Fahrenheit) during normal extended use:

Wireless

Unlike previous Eee PCs that used an Atheros AR5BXB63 wireless module for 802.11b/g wireless Internet access, the Eee PC 901 uses a 802.11b/g/n from Ralink. Reception is quite good for a budget notebook. The Eee PC 901 maintained a connection to my home router from anywhere inside my three-level home and from anywhere in my front or back yard. At the editorial offices for NotebookReview.com the Eee PC 901 managed to stay connected to the office router even after I left the building and walked across the parking lot.

Battery

Under normal use, in "Super Performance" mode, backlight at 100 percent and using wireless for web browsing and typing a text document, the Eee PC 901 managed to deliver more than 4 hours of battery life (4 hours and 13 minutes) with the standard battery. Needless to say, this was rather impressive. The original Eee PC 4G was able to deliver more than 3 hours of battery life with a smaller screen and weaker processor.

Fortunately, unlike the Eee PC 4G and Eee PC 900, the battery meter was accurate and always indicated when the power adapter was unplugged and gave correct estimates on battery life.

Conclusion

Last year our editorial staff was absolutely amazed by the original Eee PC. The original Eee PC finally delivered something that many consumers have wanted since laptops first arrived on the market: an extremely portable laptop with reasonable performance for travel at an extremely low cost. The new Eee PC 901 is an impressive update to the Eee PC line, but we have trouble getting excited about this mini notebook

The problem is that the budget mini notebook market has exploded in recent months, with many capable alternatives on the market. Worse still is the fact that ASUS itself has already trumped the 901 with the new Eee PC 1000 series notebooks.

The Eee PC 901 is still an impressive mini notebook or "netbook" for your travel needs, but we hesitate to recommend this particular notebook over the newer Eee PC 1000H which features a larger keyboard, larger screen, and a larger capacity traditional hard drive.

If you want a smaller Atom-based notebook then the Eee PC 901 still might be a better choice than the Eee PC 1000H, but we suspect most consumers would rather have the slightly larger screen and keyboard found on the latest Eee PC notebooks.

In short, if you're in the market for a low cost travel notebook the original Eee PC 901 is still a great notebook ... but you may find even better options from ASUS if you shop around.

Pros

• Small and light

• Reasonably well built and durable

• Flash-based storage

• Intel Atom processor surprisingly capable

• Surprisingly acceptable battery life

Cons

• Impressive, but ASUS already has several superior Eee PC models on the market

• 12GB of storage isn't a single drive (one 4GB drive and one 8GB drive)

• White plastics feel nice but "look" cheap

• Keyboard too small/cramped

• Temperatures are a little too hot

Asus M70SA-X2

You always expect something special from Asus and they rarely fail to live up to their expectations. Asus M70SA-X2 is another such product from Asus’ labs. It boats of never heard specifications on a laptop. It isn’t priced exorbitantly which is the icing on the cake. So does this laptop make the cut as one of the best gaming laptop, lets find out.

Asus M70SA-X2 specifications :

• 
• Dimensions : 16.1″ x 11.7″ x 1.5″
• Display : 17″ TFT active matrix
• Display resolution : 1920 x 1200
• Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz
• Data bus speed : 800 MHz
• Chipset : Mobile Intel PM965 chipset
• RAM : 4GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz
• Hard Disk : 1TB (2×500 GB) SATA ATA-II
• Optical drive : Blu-ray drive
• Graphics : ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 (1GB)
• Webcam : 1.3 megapixel
• Battery : 8-cell Lithium-ion
• OS : Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
• Warranty : 2-years
• Approx. price : $2400

This one surely has impressive specifications with a TB of hard drive space, a gig of video memory on the graphics card and a blu-ray drive. And not to forget the state-of-the-art processor with 4 gigs of memory, perfect!

The 17″ monsters are always bulky and this one is even bulkier, so moving it around frequently isn’t an option. The build quality of the laptop is solid and its lid is made up of reflective material. The keyboard is gray in color which is glossy and attractive. The keyboard has a 10-digit numeric keypad which is becoming standard on 17″ inch laptops.

The display is exceptional as it supports full HD resolution ie. 1920 x 1200. Coupled with a Blu-ray drive, it will come it very handy while watching HD movies. The display has an ambient light sensor for automatic adjustment of the display brightness, sweet. If that was not enough, the display incorporates Asus’ Splendid Video Intelligence Technology for automatic adjustment of brightness, contrast, color saturation etc based on the application you are running. Webcam sits pretty on top of the display.

The touchpad is a beauty to say the least. It isn’t like those normal touchpads, it is a dual touchpad. It doubles up as a multimedia control with the touch of a button. It changes it color and reveals touch sensitive keys which can be used to control the media player. Scroll turns into a volume slider. It also has a couple of programmable buttons.

There are a whole lot of ports that it incorporates which includes HDMI port, eSATA port, S/PDIF out, S-Video in apart from the regular set of ports. The speakers haven’t been left behind the revolution, four speakers with subwoofer make the way for full balanced sound.

Performance isn’t something you would worry about after looking at the specs! It ships with 32-bit Vista, so only 3GB RAM gets recognized sadly. Also the graphics card isn’t the most powerful around. CPU has a lot of juice in it and that shows in CPU-intensive tests. Gaming performance isn’t top notch but still its very good. Battery will last more than 3 hours on normal usage which is highly acceptable.

Pros :

• 
• Top-line specifications
• Solid build quality
• Full HD 17″ screen
• Brilliant touchpad
• Awesome speakers
• Good performance
• Great battery life

Cons :

• Bulky and large
• 32-bit OS does not support full 4GB RAM
• GPU a bottleneck

Final Thoughts

The Asus M70SA-X2 is a hell of a laptop and offers awesome specifications at an aggressive price. Apart from a average GPU, everything else on this laptop is close to perfect. Be it the screen, speakers or even the touchpad, all them impress. So get this one if you can live with a bit lower frame rates in the games!

My Rating : 4.25/5

Asus Lamborghini VX3-A1

Ever wanted to own a Lamborghini? Asus has fulfilled your wish by introducing it for just $3000 odd dollars! Jokes apart, Lamborghini is the latest invention the Asus’ labs. The laptop has been designed specially to look similar to the famous sports car. The laptop comes in both yellow and black colors.

Asus Lamborghini VX3-A1 specifications :

• Dimensions : 12″ x 8.7″ x 1.2″
• Processor : 2.5 GHz Intel Core2 Duo
• Display : 12.1″ TFT with 1280 x 800 resolution
• RAM : 4GB DDR II SDRAM 667 MHz
• Hard Disk : 320GB SATA-150 5400 rpm
• Optical Storage : DVD Writer
• Graphics : Nvidia GeForce 9300M G 256MB
• Webcam : 0.3 Megapixel
• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
• Approx : $3100

The laptop has excellent build quality and is mostly targeted towards auto enthusiasts who associate themselves strongly with the Lamborghini brand name. Asus has made sure that the laptop does give you the feel of a Lamborghini by taking great deal of pain in its detailing.

The yellow color variant has a glossy yellow back lid with a Lamborghini badge on it. The wrist pad has been made of leather with a stitched border which gives a nice look. The keyboard features large keys which are snugly fitted and it feels great while typing on the keyboard. Being an ultra-portable laptop, it misses out on dedicated media keys and volume control keys.

When started up, the laptop flashes the Lamborghini logo and plays the sound of a Lamborghini engine revving-up. The display is a glossy 12.1″ TFT screen with a display resolution of 1280 x 800. The screen is not quite anti-reflective though and using it in sunlight will be a tough task.

The configuration of the laptop is quite good but certainly not as good as you would expect in a $3000 laptop. The 4GB RAM and the 2.5 GHz processor will do suffice to all the tasks you want to perform on it. The Nvidia GeForce 9300M will take care for your gaming needs. The graphics card is powerful enough to run most games at medium settings.

The battery life on the laptop is highly disappointing. It can handle just over an hour of DVD playback. Although doing casual routine work on the laptop is not so taxing on the battery and it can last upto 2 hours.

Pros :

• Excellent build quality
• Leather wrist pad
• Good configuration
• Nice graphics card

Cons :

• Highly Expensive
• Not great performance for the configuration
• Poor battery

Final Thoughts

The Asus Lamborghini VX3-A1 laptop is not a value for money laptop but more of a show-off for people who are ready to splurge money. It has a solid build quality and good performance but the price tag is exorbitant. If you are a huge Lamborghini fan or have just won a lottery, go buy this immediately!

My Rating : 2.5/5

Asus compact Eee

The Asus compact Eee compact laptop is one of several compact PCs to hit the market. Of late it competes with other manufacturers such as the Intel Classmate and One Laptop Per child XO. The Eee is a great little device with its 7 inch screen, and weighting in at only .92kg, Low end Intel mobile CPU, 512MB of Ram and 4GB solid state hard drive, there is also an 8GB model available. This compact laptop isn’t going to be your video or photo editing laptop for high end work loads with those kind of specifications but for day to day general computing needs this device has got it covered. With Wifi 802.11 b/g, built in camera, SD slot, Linux OS modified by Asus with an easy to use interface and a fast start-up time, it also comes with a ton of built in application, a tough shock proof design, and 3.5hrs of battery life I found the Eee great for most of my general computing and communication needs on the go.

Technical specifications

• LCD Display: Color 7″ TFT LCD with LED backlight at 800×480 resolution
• Intel CPU: 900MHz Intel Celeron-M ULV 353, Dothan-512 ultra-low-voltage, 90 nm
• Chipset: Mobile Intel 915GM Express Chipset with GMA900 GPU
• Graphics: Integrated Intel GMA 900 graphics processor using shared RAM
• Audio: High-Definition Audio CODEC with stereo internal speakers
• Input: Full size (for a notebook) keyboard and capable touchpad (as a mouse)
• Operating System: Linux, custom Xandros version. Able to run Windows XP (not included).
• LAN: Built in 10/100 Mbit Ethernet by Attansic Technology Corp.
• Wireless: 802.11 B/G WiFi, Atheros chipset
• Memory: 512 MB DDR2 (Non-upgradeable).
• Hard Drive: 4GB S.S.D. Storage (does not corrupt due to bumps and shakes)
• Card Reader: One slot reads MMC/SD/MS/SDHC cards
• Audio: Built in High Definition audio, Stereo speakers, Microphone.
• USB: 3 x USB v2.0 ports for maximum device connection
• Video-Out: Standard analog 15pin port for an external monitor (1600х1200 max)
• Audio-Out: Standard stereo 3.5″ jack for headphones or external speakers
• Battery: 4 cell, 7.4V 4400 mAH NiMH battery, around 2.8hrs of normal continuous use*.
• Other: AC adapter, recovery CD, a manual are all included.
• Major Applications: Firefox, Thunderbird, Open Office, Adobe Reader, Skype, Media Player
• Measurements: 9″ wide, 6.5″ long, 1″ high when closed, 2.25LB with battery.

What I really like about this product

I really like its portability, and of course the $399 price is great for what you get. The Asus Eee is great as a second computer or a PC you won’t mind taking with you on holidays or business trips because of its low cost. If it was stolen, lost or broke you wouldn’t be so worried compared to losing your Mac Book Pro. If you are in the market for a device for young kids to start their PC learning experience, this computer is definitely worth taking a look at.

Things that really need improving

For me there’s always a negative going to compact PCs, I have large hands and the first time when I used the Eee I did find myself mashing keys a bit but soon got used to the compact keyboard. I found this device to be a little sluggish when multi tasking as to be expected but single tasks usage it performed great. Also the low resolution screen could be upgraded in future models. Last but not least the size of the hard drives was a problem with all those application pre-installed on the Eee they was only 2 GB left of the 4 GB, these days that is just not enough, if your like me I don’t like to carry around extra USB drives and have thing hanging off my laptop to cover my storage needs but the nice thing is you can pop in an 4GB SD card and double you storage.

Pros

• Ultra portable sleek solid design.
• Very low cost.
• Great device to travel with.

Cons

• Cramped keyboard
• Needs more than 4GB or 8GB storage space.
• Could do with a higher resolution screen

Final Thoughts

Over all I like the Asus Eee its a great device to keep in touch, browse the net, for a traveling companion, and an excellent first PC for kids. With just a few tweaks in future models the Eee is surely going to keep making waves in the ultra compact PC market. With more and more of these devices been release and whispers of Apple releasing its own ultra compact laptop in early 2008 they will need to keep making great improvements to this range of compact PCs to stay in the top of the market.