STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE

       New Asus notebook rouses the tech style council By Richard Mcleish
       There has been no shortage of ultra thin notebooks on shop shelves lately, and Asus has joined the action with the release of the UX50V. With its strong emphasis on style, the model shakes up the low-voltage class of notebooks, jostling competitively with Acer's Timelines and Lenovo's ThinkPads. Asus seems to be upping the style ante, but the question remains as to whether this is what consumers want. Let's take a closer look at the new offering.
       Visually, the unit seduces on first sight.Its clean piano-black lines taper to a pinch around the edges, making it appear more svelte than its 33mm thickness, and at 2.6kg, it's like a bulkier version of the recently released Asus Eee PC 1005HC netbook. The glossy top screams "fingerprints", even before it is taken out of the box. The matt bottom half might have been a less stylish, but more practical option for the whole case.
       Inside, however, the unit is less dazzling.The Intel Core2 Solo mobile SU3500 processor brags low-voltage usage but barely pips the Atom processors found in newer netbooks, and is considerably less powerful than Core2 Duo processors.
       The 15.6-inch LCD screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio is very watchable, especially for movies, bettering 15.4-inch models that offer a 16:10 ratio.
       The model gains ground with the inclusion of an nVidia Geforce G 105M graphics card that offers smooth 1080p HD playback, but a Blu-ray drive is not included. The benefit of a discrete GPU is that it can be switched off in the system tray to save battery life, but it seems out of place among this model's other more midrange components.
       WORKING
       There's no denying the slick usability of the model. The full-size "MosaicGlow"keyboard has a nice big Enter key and a full numeric pad, and illuminates in lowlight.
       The well-designed hinge holds the screen in position nicely, but the glossy finish can make it hard to read with the reflections it picks up, especially during outdoor daytime usage.
       The large touchpad easily facilitates vertical and horizontal scrolling, making web browsing and document editing simple.The good looking button below the touchpad is badly positioned and hard to press,which is disappointing considering the calibre of the design elsewhere on the unit. The drive release button and the WiFi on/off are also a little tacky and detracting.
       Connectivity ports are largely housed at the rear of the unit, maintaining the clean tapered lines. A memory card port and USB socket are hidden under a flexible plastic lid on the left for easy access, but a headphone jack would be useful there,or even better still, at the front.
       The Altec Lansing SRS speakers offer decent sound in a small room, coping with both the bass of electro and the soaring treble of classical music.
       The press kit claims the unit has six hours of battery life on low energy settings,which comes closer to four with more normal usage, below standard netbook battery life. The extended battery life that would justify the choice of the low-voltage CPU is non-existant, tilting the performance to cost ratio out of favour. The unit stays cool, and runs quietly, which is important for users in tropical locations.
       CONCLUSION
       With an optimistic asking price of just under 40,000 baht, the unit is targeted at standard home users who are willing to pay extra for good design. That said, the clean lines and slick black finish are quite seductive. However, when compared with other models in its class, even the MacBook Air, it wanes in the performance stakes. If aesthetics are your weakness, the UX50V may well entice you, but the rest of us may keep our wallets in our pockets.
       The Asus UX50V, priced at 39,900 baht, is available from Hardware House, Pantip Plaza, Phetchaburi Road,call 02-685-8936.