Asus Computers Laptops
As far as Asus computers laptops are concerned, one model that offers good value for money is the Asus X38Vm-X2. This is a budget laptop which surprisingly offers a good graphics care and some integrated graphics that can’t handle any new games.
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For $800 dollars you can buy this laptop that has a 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 processor which is combined with 4 GB of DDR2 RAM. It also comes equipped with the nVidia GeForce 9600M GS graphics card with 1 GB of video memory and 320 GB of hard disk space. This Asus model looks fancy at the least. It has an interesting lid color which makes it a powerful presence in a store filled with so many laptops. If you want to ever upgrade this laptop, on the bottom you will find two panels which are simple to remove. Be careful with messing with whatever is inside there as not to void the warranty. Apparently, this laptop only has a warranty void sticker on the screw of the heat sink. To everyone’s surprise, the video card is upgradeable. We think that the 9600M GS is good enough so don’t go doing any useless video card removal. The screen is bright so there is not much complaining to be done here. Both the horizontal and the vertical viewing angles offer nothing special but that is what you get with low priced laptops.
The speakers are weak. This is mainly because the speakers are located on the bottom front of the laptop. This is why I am a big fan of speakers which are located above the keyboard because the sound is projected straight up and there is no muffle. To get better sound it is recommended to keep the laptop on a flat surface like a table or desk because the sound is horrible if you keep it on your lap. The keyboard is ok and there is no disturbing flex. The response is ok so typing will never be bothering with this keyboard. Personally, I hate the color of the keys. There is a combination of brown keys, the letters are light brown and the function keys have red letters… it’s a very strange combination and since this budget laptop does not have keys with LED backup, you won’t see anything in low light. The touchpad is ok and it has a nice imprint finish. The problems are the left and right mouse buttons which are stiff and hard to press and they also make an annoying clicking sound. We do recommend and external mouse so you don’t get any headaches.
The ports and connections are in a big enough number to keep you satisfied. There are 5 USB ports, one VGA port, an Express Card slot, a FireWire, an Ethernet port, a HDMI port, an eSATA port and the headphones and microphone jack. This laptop has a Bluetooth indicator light even if there is no Bluetooth device. The processor and the RAM are combined in such a manner so it can handle most applications. Basic tasks are done at good speed. 320 GB is enough free space so you can store all your pictures, documents, music, movies, games and applications. The graphics card has 1 GB of video memory and this can be considered a waste because the processor is not good enough to handle that much memory. 512 MB would have been sufficient. It is easy to overclock the GPU and you will be able to play good games at a native resolution.
For a 14.1 inch laptop, the battery life is quite ok. Of course, we have seen better especially for ultra portables. Of course we don’t expect this laptop to have 7 hours of battery life like a netbook does but still the whole concept of a laptop is portability (except for those big units that are designed to be desktop replacements) and what is portability if the laptop will not stay turned on when you most need it? You will get about 3 hours of battery life if you have the wireless card turned on and the brightness of the display set close to the bottom level. The good thing is that even with the display’s brightness set at minimum level, the screen is legible even under pretty strong light. It is amazing how the fan on this Asus computer laptop manages to keep the unit under normal acceptable temperatures. This is particularly nice especially since you can barely hear any noise coming out of this laptop. You will notice some heat in the areas where the processor and the graphics card but the keyboard and the palm rest area are perfectly usable.
Of course this laptop has some problems but they are not big enough to make you say “I would never buy this laptop”. The price is low for the specs. However, we don’t recommend this unit as a gaming laptop because performance is not that spectacular to let you play games like Far Cry 2. The GeForce 9600M GS will handle some mainstream games but don’t expect to get any super game play experience with this laptop. It’s nice to see that this unit has no problems with heating but I’m guessing that if you use this computer on your lap it will become a bit more heated than if you use it on your desk. It does have all the necessary number of ports and connections so your possibilities are not limited with this laptop. Who knows when you will want to attach an external monitor and enjoy a good movie with a couple more friends? Especially since the horizontal and vertical viewing angles are not good at all.
The combination of colors on the keyboard is not appealing to the eye at all (red and brown?!). The speakers are awful so headphones or some external speakers would be a wise choice for listening to music and watching movies. We didn’t understand the Bluetooth light since there is no Bluetooth but that’s something we can live with.
