Ultrabook is slowly taking over the market
and every brand that makes notebooks is definitely jumping onboard. However, in
the sea of pricy ultrabooks, ASUS introduces an alternative in the form of the
ASUS U32U notebook. It is an affordable notebook that comes with an AMD A50M
chipset meaning it has a little bit more power than a netbook.
ASUS
U32U
1. Looking good
The exterior has a brushed aluminium finish
to it, so fingerprints aren't too much of a problem. The interiors have also
been well designed as the palmrest is also made out of brushed aluminium. Also,
the thin profile gives the U32U that oomph. Obviously, it's not as thin as an
ultrabook, but it is one of the thinner notebooks in the market. It got a slim
profile and is definitely more portable than your average notebook. But this
form factor also means that the DVD writer slot needs to be eliminated.
The
interiors have also been well designed as the palmrest is also made out of
brushed aluminium.
2. Sturdy screen
The LCD panel has some good support with
two sturdy hinges. They're quite strong and tough and offer good resistance to
the screen wobbling problem that I often see in laptops. The 13.3-inch screen
itself has been reinforced pretty well from all sides. It's thin, but durable.
As for watching movies with the display (1366 X 768 pixels); it is bright,
clear and crisp. There are hints of pixels when shadows appear in a movie but
there is none when it plays a solid black colour. Weird but not annoying.
3. A peek inside
The notebook is powered by an AMD E-450 APU
at a clock speed of 1.65 GHz. As an added bonus, the U32U comes with an
integrated graphics card - AMD Radeon HD 6320. ASUS is also generous when it
comes to free software as it has AMD VISION engine control centre that's
basically a one stop shop for all the tweaking and setting. Not forgetting the
inclusion of USB charger plus, boot optimiser software and a secure delete application. It’s well loaded with the
basic stuff you'll need to organise and control the laptop.
The
U32U comes with an integrated graphics card - AMD Radeon HD 6320
4. Easygoing
The boot up time from a complete shutdown
didn't really impress me as it took roughly under a minute to log onto Windows.
However, it has an instant on option available but that is booting it from
sleep and it is fairly fast. Memory heavy applications might slow down the
laptop a little, but for light usage like surfing and viewing videos, the
laptop works just fine. Thankfully, the Asus U32U is strapped with a rather powerful battery (and a slower
processor, which means better battery life, anyway).
5. Familiar keyboard
The U32U has a standard-sized keyboard and
this has got to be one of the most comfortable keyboards I have ever used. The
keys have the right amount of feedback and the chiclet-styled keyboard ensures
long hours of typing without any discomfort. The trackpad is quick and
responsive, but the keys are rather hard, so you’ll have to get used to that.
