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Most have now come to associate Asus with its light and tiny netbooks that are also light on the pocket. But Asus is more than the under S$900, under 10 inch Eee PC wonder.
The Taiwan tech firm, which started out offering computer components such as motherboards, graphic cards and optical storage devices, has made its presence felt firmly and decisively in the notebook niche with products that range from scented laptops to monster 17 inch desktop replacements.
With the market swamped with netbooks with screens no larger than 10 inches on one end and the standard 14-15 inch at the other, the new black for notebooks is 12-13 inch devices.
If you prefer not to squint at the screen but still want the freedom of portability minus bulk or weight, it’s worth taking a look at the latest U/UX Series from ASUS.
The latest in the line-up of the Taiwan firm, the UX30 and U20 are sleek yet very functional laptops.
In the looks department, the silver UX30 can easily be mistaken for a MacBook Air, which only someone with the real deal or a tape-measure being able to determine that the Asus at 1.96cm, is slightly thicker compared to the Mac’s 1.94cm.
You can try carrying it around in a plain office envelope, but forget that old stunt and port about the brushed aluminum device which easily balances on the palm of one hand since it weighs only 1.39kg (with battery).
The UX30 which has a 13.3 inch screen plus on-board camera and microphone was just right for work, play and everything in between with a near full keyboard.
The touchpad runs seamlessly into the body but still stands apart with its tactile surface.
The design decision not to leave the touchpad smooth for fingers to slide around was to me, slightly puzzling and rather disconcerting to the touch. Then again, navigation is always a personal toss-up and others may just appreciate it.
Under the hood, the UX30 boasts the new Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400 Processor running at 1.40GHz with 3MB L2 cache, which coupled with the GS45 Express Chipset, promises users access to a host of commonly used applications in under 10 seconds.
Based on the review unit which came with a basic single core Intel Processor SU2700 (2M Cache, 1.30 GHz, 800 MHz FSB), I am quite sure most will find little quarrel with the full-fledged UX30 or even the U20 that runs a Core2 Solo SU3500 Processor (1.40GHz, 800MHz, 3MB L2), as the unit didn’t strain even when running a number of jobs simultaneously.
One plus point of the new SU processor is its low power consumption which will allow you to safely take the sleek Asus out and about without worrying too much about having to find a power outlet, even though the charger is exceedingly tiny and lightweight.
The 13.3 inch Colorshine and Crystalshine LED was just right for cropping photos, unfortunately the 8-in-1 Card Reader tucked under the front panel didn’t offer easy access as the laptop had to be tilted up each time the card was slotted in or taken out.
The finishing has all ports and outlets neatly enclosed within small drop-down side casings built flush on the laptop's body. These, placed on the left and right of the UX30 hide a host of accessible outlets from USB to LAN.
Of all the Asus laptops I’ve seen so far, the UX30 stands out as a device that is all-round impressive.
However, all good things come with a price.
In the case of the 13.3 inch UX30, it's S$1,898 while the single core 12 inch U20 is priced at S$1,598.
- CNA/sf
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