I finally got my long coveted lappy two weeks ago: an Asus a2k / a2500k.
I bought it directly from the outlet of NextHS in Milan and therefore was able to check that everything worked before handing in the cash - I especially made sure there were..
NO dead pixels
In this way, there was also no waiting and 0% chance of Fedex/UPS shenanigans.
The price was 1279 euros, which may seem a lot compared to us-prices but here in Italy it's very good. I'm a design student, so the focus of this review will be less on the hardware and more on the everyday use of the lappy.
The exact model is an a2526kuh with the following main specs
- 15' XGA (1024x768)
- AMD Mobile athlon 64 3000+
- 512mb DDR333 ram
- ATI Mobility radeon 9700 64Mb
- 60gb 4200 rpm HDD
- DVD-dual burner
- dimensions: 328 x 270 x 27/42 mm
- weight: 3,4Kg
- 2 years guarantee
- messenger bag & mouse included
You can find more detailed specs/information from the Asus website
APPEARANCE & BUILD QUALITY
This lappy is designed well and built sturdy. It has a solid feel and there's no noticeable giveaway/squeaking anywhere. Although the chassis is of plastic, it doesn't look or feel cheap at all. I really like the looks of this thing and prefer it over the Asus models with more "silver-plastic" parts. The a2k looks slimmer than it really is thanks to beveled lower edges. I've been also lugging it around with me a lot and feel comfortable doing so - it feels light and durable enough.
SCREEN
It's a low-res screen (1024x768) with very bright, vibrant colors, but crap viewing angles. The viewing angles and resolution are propably my main gripes with this lappy. You have to look the screen from straight forward to get the colors come out exactly right - it's a problem mainly when I do graphical design.
KEYBOARD
The keyboard is almost perfect, save for the placement of the fn-key (look at the keyboard picture). It's punchy and responsive making it a joy to write on this thing - I prefer it over my desktop keyboard.
DESIGN ISSUES
The fan is placed on the back of the lappy which is good news for both right and left-handed mouse users. All the ports and drives are placed well. The track-pad is also in good position so your hands won't touch it when typing. The audio dj-controls in front of the lappy are recessed so you don't push them by accident when using the notebook on your lap. The edge on the front of the lappy is a bit pointy and can be a nuisance if you use the little keypad on the right front corner a lot resting your palm on the edge.
HEAT DISSIPATION
This lappy runs very cool and quiet. the palm rests stay cool (the left getting a bit over skin temperature under heavy use) and the only part that gets noticeably warm (not hot) is the area near the power button, which doesn't matter anyway. Even when torturing the lappy with heavy applications and
games such as doom3, it doesn't get much hotter to the touch - only the air that it spews out of the fan in back turns warm. The fan is on most of the time.
NOISE LEVELS
The fan, which is on almost always, isn't loud but can't be compared to the quietness of most centrino systems. I take notice of it only when I'm doing something in silence and happen to concentrate on it. It doesn't bug me though since it's a silent, soothing hum. Under very taxing use like playing new games the fan gets noisier but since the games always make
more noise, I don't notice it. The hard disk doesn't seem to make any noise at all or, at least, I haven't noticed it. The optical drive makes funny sounds usually when first inserting a cd/dvd but otherwise, it's pretty quiet.
BATTERY LIFE
I've made just a couple of tests getting something like 2 hours of battery life (with graphic applications). I'm sure it'll last longer in light use with the screen dimmed down.
HARDWARE & BENCHMARKING
The cpu works like a charm, although the 512mb ram and 64mb gpu-ram make a bottleneck in graphical & 3d applications. It is a very fast lappy but not one of the fastest. It runs doom3 at high settings and 1024x768 resolution smoothly - when there's a lot of monsters, it skips some frames but is still VERY playable. The slow rpm HDD hasn't bothered me in any way yet and I'm hoping it won't. The loading times of programs are fast enough for me anyway.
The standard benchmarks with omegas didn't seem to make a difference at all as compared to stock drivers so I'll just post the stock values:
9139 3dmark2001
2453 3dmark2003
571 3dmark2005
20764 aquamarks (2508 gpu, 6024 cpu)
I'm thinking about overclocking the GPU, like Antonio (another notebookforums a2k owner) did. The cooling IS very good on this lappy so I don't think it'll be a problem.
CONCLUSION
I'm very happy with my a2k and think it's good value for the money. On a scale of 1 to 5, I would give it a 4. It loses one point mainly for the screen, which should've been an SXGA+
Now, I know everyone wants better pictures instead of the standard one from Asus website:
I have them and will add them to this review once I get them hosted permanently somewhere. I also haven't reviewed the dvd-burner since I haven't burned anything with it yet.
Thanks goes to the good people on this forum for giving me valuable information and helping me reach a decision. If there's something someone would like to know in particular, ask away.
I bought it directly from the outlet of NextHS in Milan and therefore was able to check that everything worked before handing in the cash - I especially made sure there were..
NO dead pixels In this way, there was also no waiting and 0% chance of Fedex/UPS shenanigans.
The price was 1279 euros, which may seem a lot compared to us-prices but here in Italy it's very good. I'm a design student, so the focus of this review will be less on the hardware and more on the everyday use of the lappy.
The exact model is an a2526kuh with the following main specs
- 15' XGA (1024x768)
- AMD Mobile athlon 64 3000+
- 512mb DDR333 ram
- ATI Mobility radeon 9700 64Mb
- 60gb 4200 rpm HDD
- DVD-dual burner
- dimensions: 328 x 270 x 27/42 mm
- weight: 3,4Kg
- 2 years guarantee
- messenger bag & mouse included
You can find more detailed specs/information from the Asus website
APPEARANCE & BUILD QUALITY
This lappy is designed well and built sturdy. It has a solid feel and there's no noticeable giveaway/squeaking anywhere. Although the chassis is of plastic, it doesn't look or feel cheap at all. I really like the looks of this thing and prefer it over the Asus models with more "silver-plastic" parts. The a2k looks slimmer than it really is thanks to beveled lower edges. I've been also lugging it around with me a lot and feel comfortable doing so - it feels light and durable enough.
SCREEN
It's a low-res screen (1024x768) with very bright, vibrant colors, but crap viewing angles. The viewing angles and resolution are propably my main gripes with this lappy. You have to look the screen from straight forward to get the colors come out exactly right - it's a problem mainly when I do graphical design.
KEYBOARD
The keyboard is almost perfect, save for the placement of the fn-key (look at the keyboard picture). It's punchy and responsive making it a joy to write on this thing - I prefer it over my desktop keyboard.
DESIGN ISSUES
The fan is placed on the back of the lappy which is good news for both right and left-handed mouse users. All the ports and drives are placed well. The track-pad is also in good position so your hands won't touch it when typing. The audio dj-controls in front of the lappy are recessed so you don't push them by accident when using the notebook on your lap. The edge on the front of the lappy is a bit pointy and can be a nuisance if you use the little keypad on the right front corner a lot resting your palm on the edge.
HEAT DISSIPATION
This lappy runs very cool and quiet. the palm rests stay cool (the left getting a bit over skin temperature under heavy use) and the only part that gets noticeably warm (not hot) is the area near the power button, which doesn't matter anyway. Even when torturing the lappy with heavy applications and
games such as doom3, it doesn't get much hotter to the touch - only the air that it spews out of the fan in back turns warm. The fan is on most of the time.
NOISE LEVELS
The fan, which is on almost always, isn't loud but can't be compared to the quietness of most centrino systems. I take notice of it only when I'm doing something in silence and happen to concentrate on it. It doesn't bug me though since it's a silent, soothing hum. Under very taxing use like playing new games the fan gets noisier but since the games always make
more noise, I don't notice it. The hard disk doesn't seem to make any noise at all or, at least, I haven't noticed it. The optical drive makes funny sounds usually when first inserting a cd/dvd but otherwise, it's pretty quiet.
BATTERY LIFE
I've made just a couple of tests getting something like 2 hours of battery life (with graphic applications). I'm sure it'll last longer in light use with the screen dimmed down.
HARDWARE & BENCHMARKING
The cpu works like a charm, although the 512mb ram and 64mb gpu-ram make a bottleneck in graphical & 3d applications. It is a very fast lappy but not one of the fastest. It runs doom3 at high settings and 1024x768 resolution smoothly - when there's a lot of monsters, it skips some frames but is still VERY playable. The slow rpm HDD hasn't bothered me in any way yet and I'm hoping it won't. The loading times of programs are fast enough for me anyway.
The standard benchmarks with omegas didn't seem to make a difference at all as compared to stock drivers so I'll just post the stock values:
9139 3dmark2001
2453 3dmark2003
571 3dmark2005
20764 aquamarks (2508 gpu, 6024 cpu)
I'm thinking about overclocking the GPU, like Antonio (another notebookforums a2k owner) did. The cooling IS very good on this lappy so I don't think it'll be a problem.
CONCLUSION
I'm very happy with my a2k and think it's good value for the money. On a scale of 1 to 5, I would give it a 4. It loses one point mainly for the screen, which should've been an SXGA+
Now, I know everyone wants better pictures instead of the standard one from Asus website:
I have them and will add them to this review once I get them hosted permanently somewhere. I also haven't reviewed the dvd-burner since I haven't burned anything with it yet.
Thanks goes to the good people on this forum for giving me valuable information and helping me reach a decision. If there's something someone would like to know in particular, ask away.
